Heidi
Heidi was given to 894 girls in 2025, #340 among girls’ names; 149,687 Americans have been recorded with it since 1929 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 139,000 Americans named Heidi and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 36 and 57.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Heidi by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Heidi mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Heidi is “a female given name from the Germanic languages.”
From Swiss German Heidi, a pet form of Adelheid, equivalent of English Adelaide and Alice. The name became internationally popular due to the children’s book Heidi (1880).
/ˈhaɪdi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Heidi?
#340 among girls’ names, 2025
Heidi rose from #343 in 2015 to #340 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.53 to 0.56 per 1,000.
4,741 babies in 1972, the peak
Heidi peaked in 1972, when 4,741 babies were given it (4,723 girls, #64 among girls’ names). The 894 births of 2025 are 19% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 894 | #340 | 0.56 |
| 2024 | 906 | #345 | 0.56 |
| 2023 | 868 | #352 | 0.54 |
| 2022 | 858 | #370 | 0.52 |
| 2021 | 795 | #396 | 0.48 |
| 2020 | 810 | #382 | 0.50 |
| 2019 | 845 | #373 | 0.50 |
| 2018 | 901 | #354 | 0.53 |
| 2017 | 855 | #364 | 0.50 |
| 2016 | 889 | #366 | 0.50 |
Every recorded year (96)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 955 | #343 | 0.53 |
| 2014 | 957 | #346 | 0.54 |
| 2013 | 903 | #354 | 0.51 |
| 2012 | 931 | #339 | 0.53 |
| 2011 | 954 | #331 | 0.54 |
| 2010 | 1,069 | #303 | 0.60 |
| 2009 | 1,117 | #295 | 0.61 |
| 2008 | 1,168 | #289 | 0.62 |
| 2007 | 1,122 | #303 | 0.58 |
| 2006 | 1,124 | #294 | 0.59 |
| 2005 | 994 | #324 | 0.54 |
| 2004 | 934 | #343 | 0.51 |
| 2003 | 978 | #315 | 0.54 |
| 2002 | 954 | #322 | 0.53 |
| 2001 | 831 | #356 | 0.46 |
| 2000 | 880 | #351 | 0.48 |
| 1999 | 915 | #331 | 0.52 |
| 1998 | 848 | #343 | 0.48 |
| 1997 | 885 | #326 | 0.51 |
| 1996 | 994 | #291 | 0.57 |
| 1995 | 961 | #289 | 0.55 |
| 1994 | 1,016 | #275 | 0.57 |
| 1993 | 1,143 | #244 | 0.63 |
| 1992 | 1,242 | #225 | 0.67 |
| 1991 | 1,328 | #218 | 0.71 |
| 1990 | 1,466 | #200 | 0.77 |
| 1989 | 1,540 | #181 | 0.84 |
| 1988 | 1,746 | #162 | 1.0 |
| 1987 | 1,914 | #144 | 1.1 |
| 1986 | 2,123 | #131 | 1.2 |
| 1985 | 2,321 | #125 | 1.3 |
| 1984 | 2,671 | #101 | 1.6 |
| 1983 | 2,915 | #95 | 1.7 |
| 1982 | 3,392 | #86 | 2.0 |
| 1981 | 3,738 | #84 | 2.2 |
| 1980 | 4,027 | #79 | 2.4 |
| 1979 | 3,670 | #83 | 2.3 |
| 1978 | 3,567 | #83 | 2.3 |
| 1977 | 3,640 | #81 | 2.4 |
| 1976 | 3,890 | #70 | 2.7 |
| 1975 | 4,294 | #66 | 2.9 |
| 1974 | 4,683 | #60 | 3.2 |
| 1973 | 4,396 | #65 | 3.0 |
| 1972 | 4,723 | #64 | 3.1 |
| 1971 | 4,714 | #77 | 2.8 |
| 1970 | 4,642 | #81 | 2.7 |
| 1969 | 4,532 | #80 | 2.7 |
| 1968 | 3,913 | #89 | 2.4 |
| 1967 | 3,865 | #88 | 2.3 |
| 1966 | 3,966 | #87 | 2.3 |
| 1965 | 3,559 | #105 | 2.0 |
| 1964 | 3,452 | #124 | 1.8 |
| 1963 | 2,940 | #140 | 1.5 |
| 1962 | 2,662 | #156 | 1.4 |
| 1961 | 2,521 | #166 | 1.2 |
| 1960 | 2,341 | #170 | 1.2 |
| 1959 | 1,912 | #187 | 0.94 |
| 1958 | 1,946 | #187 | 1.0 |
| 1957 | 1,453 | #218 | 0.71 |
| 1956 | 1,352 | #223 | 0.67 |
| 1955 | 1,030 | #261 | 0.53 |
| 1954 | 867 | #288 | 0.45 |
| 1953 | 681 | #314 | 0.36 |
| 1952 | 411 | #421 | 0.22 |
| 1951 | 319 | #466 | 0.18 |
| 1950 | 247 | #519 | 0.14 |
| 1949 | 248 | #521 | 0.14 |
| 1948 | 237 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1947 | 203 | #599 | 0.11 |
| 1946 | 154 | #637 | 0.10 |
| 1945 | 83 | #825 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 100 | #765 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 92 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1942 | 70 | #939 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 43 | #1,140 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 40 | #1,160 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 52 | #983 | 0.05 |
| 1938 | 50 | #1,012 | 0.05 |
| 1937 | 18 | #1,870 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 11 | #2,584 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,628 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 15 | #2,123 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 8 | #3,242 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,332 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 10 | #2,936 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,511 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Heidi a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Heidi has been given almost only to girls: 361 boys in 96 years of records.
Girls and boys named Heidi: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Heidi, and how old are they?
139,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 149,687 Americans ever recorded as Heidi. The median Heidi alive today is 49 years old; half are between 36 and 57.
The 2020 Census counted 137,519 people named Heidi (137,391 women and girls, 128 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 137,215 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 275 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 20,700 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 61,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 29,700 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 15,500 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 11,400 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 Heidi born?
The states with the most babies named Heidi are California, New York and Ohio, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 18,657 | #437 | 1.1× |
| New York | 9,014 | #617 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 8,119 | #319 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 7,289 | #491 | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 7,173 | #584 | 1.0× |
| Minnesota | 7,105 | #478 | 2.3× |
| Wisconsin | 7,054 | #332 | 2.1× |
| Illinois | 6,839 | #411 | 0.9× |
| Washington | 5,937 | #419 | 2.2× |
| Texas | 5,439 | #323 | 0.5× |
Where Heidi is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Heidi is most over-represented in Utah: since 1929 it was given 2.6 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 Heidi with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 161,684 babies since 1880, Heidi is the most given (93% of them). In 2025 it was given to 894 of their 1,019 babies (88%), again the 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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Heidi
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 Heidi and names like it
- Compare Heidi and HeidyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sHeidi peaked in 1972.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Heidi since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Heidi: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Heidi.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Heidi alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with HMost given first.