Hero
Hero was given to 65 boys in 2025, #2,195 among boys’ names; 1,025 Americans have been recorded with it since 2000 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,020 Americans named Hero and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 8 years old and half are between 4 and 12.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hero by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hero mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hero is “a female given name from Ancient Greek of English-speakers.”
From Ancient Greek Ἡρώ (Hērṓ).
/ˈhɪɹ.oʊ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hero?
#2,195 among boys’ names, 2025
Hero rose from #2,284 in 2015 to #2,195 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 30.3 to 38.1 per million.
82 babies in 2022, the peak
Hero peaked in 2022, when 82 babies were given it (69 boys, #2,141 among boys’ names). The 70 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 85% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #15,764 | 65 | #2,195 |
| 2024 | 5 | #16,186 | 62 | #2,295 |
| 2023 | 5 | #16,072 | 67 | #2,157 |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,223 | 69 | #2,141 |
| 2021 | 8 | #11,494 | 70 | #2,084 |
| 2020 | 11 | #9,164 | 58 | #2,329 |
| 2019 | 6 | #14,450 | 49 | #2,636 |
| 2018 | 11 | #9,402 | 48 | #2,621 |
| 2017 | 6 | #14,788 | 53 | #2,430 |
| 2016 | 22 | #5,863 | 51 | #2,489 |
Every recorded year (26)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12 | #9,156 | 58 | #2,284 |
| 2014 | 20 | #6,287 | 16 | #5,562 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,415 | 21 | #4,522 |
| 2012 | 8 | #12,639 | 19 | #4,918 |
| 2011 | 12 | #9,365 | 15 | #5,773 |
| 2010 | 6 | #15,670 | 22 | #4,414 |
| 2009 | under 5 | 14 | #6,218 | |
| 2008 | 10 | #11,087 | 7 | #10,268 |
| 2007 | 5 | #18,649 | 20 | #4,698 |
| 2006 | 5 | #18,169 | 7 | #9,945 |
| 2005 | 9 | #11,230 | 10 | #7,313 |
| 2004 | 7 | #13,248 | 5 | #12,004 |
| 2003 | 5 | #16,676 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 7 | #12,692 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 5 | #16,252 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,100 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Hero a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,025 Americans recorded as Hero, 21% are girls and 79% boys. In 2025 it went to 5 girls and 65 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Hero: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hero, and how old are they?
1,020 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,025 Americans ever recorded as Hero. The median Hero alive today is 8 years old; half are between 4 and 12.
The 2020 Census counted 714 people named Hero (226 women and girls, 488 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 600 born in the U.S. The Census count is 19% 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 204 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 813 |
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 Hero born?
The states with the most babies named Hero are Texas, Georgia and California, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 6 | #2,384 | 0.5× |
| Georgia | 6 | #1,273 | 0.9× |
| California | 5 | #2,598 | 1.0× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Hero 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 1,347 babies since 1880, Hero is the most given (76% of them). In 2025 it was given to 70 of their 86 babies (81%), 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 Hero
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 Hero and names like it
- Compare Hero and HeruBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sHero peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hero since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Hero: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Hero.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Hero alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with HMost given first.