Hays
Hays was given to 17 boys in 2025, #5,467 among boys’ names; 745 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hays by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hays mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hays is “a male given name.”
Spelling variant of Hayes, which has multiple origins.
/heɪz/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hays?
#5,467 among boys’ names, 2025
Hays rose from #5,593 in 2015 to #5,467 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 8.3 to 10.0 per million.
25 babies in 2024, the peak
Hays peaked in 2024, when 25 boys were given it, #4,239 among boys’ names. The 17 births of 2025 are 68% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 17 | #5,467 | 10.0 |
| 2024 | 25 | #4,239 | 14.5 |
| 2023 | 16 | #5,748 | 9.4 |
| 2022 | 21 | #4,762 | 12.0 |
| 2021 | 23 | #4,412 | 13.1 |
| 2020 | 19 | #4,916 | 11.0 |
| 2019 | 17 | #5,411 | 9.5 |
| 2018 | 18 | #5,167 | 9.9 |
| 2017 | 20 | #4,806 | 10.8 |
| 2016 | 17 | #5,393 | 9.0 |
Every recorded year (73)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #5,593 | 8.3 |
| 2014 | 24 | #4,173 | 12.5 |
| 2013 | 9 | #8,350 | 4.8 |
| 2012 | 9 | #8,403 | 4.7 |
| 2011 | 15 | #5,771 | 7.9 |
| 2010 | 8 | #9,092 | 4.2 |
| 2009 | 10 | #7,904 | 5.0 |
| 2008 | 7 | #10,259 | 3.4 |
| 2007 | 10 | #7,794 | 4.8 |
| 2006 | 13 | #6,224 | 6.3 |
| 2005 | 9 | #7,868 | 4.5 |
| 2004 | 11 | #6,695 | 5.5 |
| 2003 | 6 | #10,029 | 3.0 |
| 2002 | 7 | #8,789 | 3.6 |
| 2000 | 9 | #7,032 | 4.6 |
| 1999 | 5 | #10,502 | 2.6 |
| 1998 | 9 | #6,494 | 4.7 |
| 1995 | 6 | #8,168 | 3.2 |
| 1989 | 6 | #7,328 | 3.0 |
| 1988 | 5 | #7,708 | 2.6 |
| 1985 | 9 | #4,459 | 4.9 |
| 1982 | 5 | #6,723 | 2.8 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,271 | 3.1 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,131 | 4.0 |
| 1970 | 5 | #5,013 | 2.7 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,368 | 2.9 |
| 1959 | 5 | #4,237 | 2.3 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,373 | 3.2 |
| 1956 | 6 | #3,700 | 2.8 |
| 1950 | 6 | #3,473 | 3.4 |
| 1948 | 7 | #3,133 | 4.0 |
| 1947 | 5 | #3,962 | 2.7 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,469 | 6.2 |
| 1944 | 5 | #3,625 | 3.7 |
| 1942 | 6 | #3,360 | 4.3 |
| 1941 | 5 | #3,730 | 4.1 |
| 1940 | 7 | #2,985 | 6.0 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,317 | 5.4 |
| 1937 | 6 | #3,307 | 5.6 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,281 | 11.1 |
| 1932 | 6 | #3,544 | 5.7 |
| 1931 | 8 | #2,954 | 7.7 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,769 | 5.5 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,096 | 7.4 |
| 1928 | 6 | #3,901 | 5.4 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,008 | 8.0 |
| 1926 | 9 | #3,005 | 8.1 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,014 | 8.1 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,644 | 6.2 |
| 1923 | 11 | #2,685 | 10.0 |
| 1922 | 11 | #2,696 | 10.1 |
| 1921 | 22 | #1,674 | 20.0 |
| 1920 | 13 | #2,384 | 12.2 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,229 | 8.2 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,609 | 10.9 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,369 | 7.6 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,437 | 27.0 |
| 1915 | 13 | #2,107 | 15.3 |
| 1914 | 11 | #2,029 | 16.8 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,002 | 17.6 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,315 | 37.8 |
| 1904 | 7 | #1,013 | 54.6 |
| 1880 | 5 | #974 | 45.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Hays a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Hays has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 73 years of records.
Girls and boys named Hays: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hays, and how old are they?
An estimated 459 Americans named Hays and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (62% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 6 and 24. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 489 people named Hays (49 women and girls, 440 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 360 born in the U.S. The Census count is 36% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 22,631 babies since 1880, Hays is the second most given (3.3% of them). In 2025 it was given to 17 of their 2,344 babies (<1%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Hays and names like it
- Compare Hays and HayesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sHays peaked in 2024.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hays since 1910.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Hays.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Hays alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with HMost given first.