Hedwig
Hedwig was last recorded in 1968, when 6 babies were given it; 3,077 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1968 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hedwig by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hedwig mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hedwig is “a female given name from German.” Its etymology gives the senses “fight” (*haþuz) and “battle” (*wīgą).
From German Hedwig, from Old High German Haduwig, Hadwig, from Proto-Germanic *Haþuwīgą (from *haþuz (“fight”) + *wīgą (“battle”)).
/ˈhɛ.dwɪɡ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hedwig?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,514, in 1968; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
159 babies in 1918, the peak
Hedwig peaked in 1918, when 159 girls were given it, #563 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 6 | #6,514 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 6 | #6,279 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 9 | #4,661 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 7 | #5,361 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #5,815 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,439 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 7 | #5,016 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 11 | #3,647 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 12 | #3,389 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,371 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (83)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 15 | #2,856 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,542 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 8 | #4,087 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 12 | #3,064 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 11 | #3,217 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 10 | #3,548 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,794 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 8 | #3,491 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #3,499 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,481 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 16 | #2,247 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 17 | #2,042 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,346 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 14 | #2,236 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,804 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 16 | #2,040 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,955 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 16 | #2,041 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,949 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 13 | #2,316 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 24 | #1,578 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 27 | #1,434 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 27 | #1,508 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 28 | #1,462 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 41 | #1,193 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 52 | #1,068 | 0.04 |
| 1926 | 78 | #832 | 0.07 |
| 1925 | 61 | #955 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 81 | #835 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 99 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1922 | 115 | #680 | 0.10 |
| 1921 | 125 | #659 | 0.10 |
| 1920 | 128 | #637 | 0.11 |
| 1919 | 152 | #559 | 0.13 |
| 1918 | 159 | #563 | 0.14 |
| 1917 | 137 | #577 | 0.13 |
| 1916 | 157 | #527 | 0.15 |
| 1915 | 152 | #504 | 0.15 |
| 1914 | 114 | #524 | 0.15 |
| 1913 | 67 | #630 | 0.11 |
| 1912 | 52 | #701 | 0.09 |
| 1911 | 57 | #570 | 0.14 |
| 1910 | 43 | #649 | 0.11 |
| 1909 | 30 | #735 | 0.09 |
| 1908 | 37 | #632 | 0.11 |
| 1907 | 26 | #746 | 0.08 |
| 1906 | 30 | #670 | 0.10 |
| 1905 | 28 | #674 | 0.10 |
| 1904 | 29 | #647 | 0.11 |
| 1903 | 29 | #615 | 0.11 |
| 1902 | 41 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1901 | 27 | #608 | 0.11 |
| 1900 | 18 | #895 | 0.06 |
| 1899 | 32 | #530 | 0.14 |
| 1898 | 44 | #467 | 0.17 |
| 1897 | 28 | #575 | 0.12 |
| 1896 | 36 | #494 | 0.15 |
| 1895 | 41 | #445 | 0.18 |
| 1894 | 26 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1893 | 28 | #523 | 0.13 |
| 1892 | 26 | #545 | 0.12 |
| 1891 | 47 | #363 | 0.25 |
| 1890 | 28 | #495 | 0.15 |
| 1889 | 18 | #608 | 0.10 |
| 1888 | 34 | #429 | 0.19 |
| 1887 | 25 | #453 | 0.17 |
| 1886 | 12 | #675 | 0.08 |
| 1885 | 11 | #673 | 0.08 |
| 1884 | 19 | #468 | 0.15 |
| 1883 | 8 | #724 | 0.07 |
| 1882 | 12 | #544 | 0.11 |
| 1881 | 5 | #874 | 0.05 |
| 1880 | 7 | #704 | 0.08 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Hedwig a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Hedwig has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 83 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Hedwig: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hedwig, and how old are they?
An estimated 194 Americans named Hedwig and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (6% of everyone recorded); the median is 78 years old and half are between 72 and 86. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,107 people named Hedwig (1,090 women and girls, 17 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 310 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.6 times 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).
Where are babies named Hedwig born?
The states with the most babies named Hedwig are Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, with 62% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 370 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| New York | 321 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| New Jersey | 223 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Michigan | 143 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Connecticut | 132 | not ranked | 4.0× |
| Massachusetts | 98 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 59 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Wisconsin | 42 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 41 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Minnesota | 16 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Hedwig is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hedwig is most over-represented in Connecticut: since 1910 it was given 4.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Hedwig with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Hedwig
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Hedwig and names like it
- Compare Hedwig and AlbinaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sHedwig peaked in 1918.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hedwig since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Hedwig: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Hedwig.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Hedwig alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.