Herschell
Herschell was last recorded in 1997, when 5 babies were given it; 1,059 Americans have been recorded with it between 1897 and 1997 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Herschell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Herschell?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #9,815, in 1997; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
33 babies in 1924, the peak
Herschell peaked in 1924, when 33 boys were given it, #1,277 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 5 | #9,815 | 2.7 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,621 | 3.0 |
| 1988 | 6 | #6,724 | 3.1 |
| 1986 | 5 | #7,122 | 2.7 |
| 1985 | 8 | #4,858 | 4.3 |
| 1983 | 5 | #6,655 | 2.8 |
| 1981 | 5 | #6,658 | 2.8 |
| 1980 | 7 | #5,155 | 3.9 |
| 1978 | 5 | #6,170 | 3.0 |
| 1975 | 9 | #3,762 | 5.8 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 5 | #5,218 | 2.8 |
| 1970 | 5 | #5,018 | 2.7 |
| 1969 | 9 | #3,165 | 5.0 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,375 | 2.9 |
| 1967 | 10 | #2,671 | 5.7 |
| 1966 | 9 | #2,868 | 5.0 |
| 1965 | 11 | #2,531 | 5.9 |
| 1964 | 16 | #2,067 | 8.0 |
| 1963 | 9 | #2,932 | 4.4 |
| 1962 | 6 | #3,801 | 2.9 |
| 1961 | 12 | #2,467 | 5.6 |
| 1960 | 13 | #2,364 | 6.1 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,759 | 2.8 |
| 1958 | 8 | #3,145 | 3.8 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,377 | 3.2 |
| 1956 | 18 | #1,908 | 8.5 |
| 1955 | 9 | #2,859 | 4.4 |
| 1954 | 7 | #3,279 | 3.4 |
| 1953 | 14 | #2,141 | 7.1 |
| 1952 | 9 | #2,762 | 4.6 |
| 1951 | 9 | #2,748 | 4.8 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,497 | 5.6 |
| 1949 | 12 | #2,273 | 6.8 |
| 1948 | 16 | #1,908 | 9.1 |
| 1947 | 16 | #1,949 | 8.7 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,472 | 6.2 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,182 | 8.2 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,120 | 8.8 |
| 1943 | 19 | #1,664 | 13.3 |
| 1942 | 16 | #1,830 | 11.6 |
| 1941 | 14 | #1,946 | 11.4 |
| 1940 | 24 | #1,381 | 20.7 |
| 1939 | 18 | #1,599 | 16.3 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,541 | 18.0 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,038 | 12.2 |
| 1936 | 14 | #1,922 | 13.5 |
| 1935 | 25 | #1,376 | 24.0 |
| 1934 | 19 | #1,635 | 18.4 |
| 1933 | 15 | #1,869 | 15.1 |
| 1932 | 24 | #1,442 | 23.0 |
| 1931 | 17 | #1,801 | 16.4 |
| 1930 | 21 | #1,619 | 19.1 |
| 1929 | 24 | #1,498 | 22.3 |
| 1928 | 18 | #1,863 | 16.3 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,539 | 22.2 |
| 1926 | 30 | #1,341 | 27.0 |
| 1925 | 29 | #1,375 | 26.0 |
| 1924 | 33 | #1,277 | 29.1 |
| 1923 | 30 | #1,341 | 27.4 |
| 1922 | 32 | #1,295 | 29.4 |
| 1921 | 25 | #1,526 | 22.7 |
| 1920 | 21 | #1,722 | 19.7 |
| 1919 | 31 | #1,282 | 31.6 |
| 1918 | 22 | #1,625 | 21.7 |
| 1917 | 18 | #1,776 | 19.4 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,440 | 27.0 |
| 1915 | 29 | #1,228 | 34.2 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,517 | 26.0 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,005 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,806 | 20.9 |
| 1911 | 8 | #1,329 | 35.4 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,494 | 30.9 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,125 | 47.0 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,401 | 33.2 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,135 | 44.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Herschell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Herschell has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 75 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Herschell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Herschell, and how old are they?
An estimated 296 Americans named Herschell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 58 and 78. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 370 people named Herschell (25 women and girls, 345 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 374 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% below that prediction.
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).
How common is the spelling Herschell?
Herschell is a less common spelling of Herschel: SSA has recorded 1,059 Herschell and 10,674 Herschel since 1880.
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 11,733 babies since 1880, Herschell is the second most given (9.0% of them). In 2025 none of their 34 babies recorded by SSA was a Herschell (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Herschell
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 Herschell and names like it
- Compare Herschell and HerschelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHerschell peaked in 1924.
- Indiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Herschell since 1910.
- The top names of 1924The year the most babies were named Herschell.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Herschell alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.