Hershell
Hershell was last recorded in 1994, when 5 babies were given it; 1,847 Americans have been recorded with it between 1899 and 1994 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hershell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Hershell?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #9,348, in 1994; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
45 babies in 1920, the peak
Hershell peaked in 1920, when 45 boys were given it, #1,041 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 5 | #9,348 | 2.6 |
| 1988 | 7 | #6,018 | 3.7 |
| 1987 | 6 | #6,401 | 3.2 |
| 1984 | 6 | #5,856 | 3.3 |
| 1983 | 9 | #4,277 | 5.0 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,243 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,142 | 3.9 |
| 1980 | 6 | #5,807 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,623 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 7 | #4,725 | 4.3 |
Every recorded year (84)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 8 | #4,333 | 4.9 |
| 1976 | 10 | #3,575 | 6.4 |
| 1975 | 6 | #5,046 | 3.8 |
| 1974 | 7 | #4,340 | 4.5 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,303 | 6.4 |
| 1972 | 15 | #2,471 | 9.3 |
| 1971 | 17 | #2,316 | 9.6 |
| 1970 | 8 | #3,635 | 4.3 |
| 1969 | 15 | #2,252 | 8.4 |
| 1968 | 9 | #2,981 | 5.2 |
| 1967 | 13 | #2,282 | 7.5 |
| 1966 | 17 | #1,918 | 9.5 |
| 1965 | 8 | #3,087 | 4.3 |
| 1964 | 9 | #2,942 | 4.5 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,163 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 23 | #1,690 | 11.1 |
| 1961 | 15 | #2,177 | 7.1 |
| 1960 | 25 | #1,639 | 11.7 |
| 1959 | 24 | #1,641 | 11.2 |
| 1958 | 19 | #1,863 | 9.0 |
| 1957 | 35 | #1,327 | 16.2 |
| 1956 | 29 | #1,460 | 13.7 |
| 1955 | 25 | #1,554 | 12.1 |
| 1954 | 28 | #1,447 | 13.7 |
| 1953 | 29 | #1,415 | 14.7 |
| 1952 | 26 | #1,500 | 13.4 |
| 1951 | 25 | #1,500 | 13.3 |
| 1950 | 25 | #1,481 | 14.0 |
| 1949 | 29 | #1,360 | 16.3 |
| 1948 | 29 | #1,362 | 16.5 |
| 1947 | 38 | #1,180 | 20.8 |
| 1946 | 24 | #1,450 | 14.8 |
| 1945 | 28 | #1,254 | 20.8 |
| 1944 | 29 | #1,246 | 21.3 |
| 1943 | 43 | #1,027 | 30.1 |
| 1942 | 36 | #1,153 | 26.1 |
| 1941 | 36 | #1,096 | 29.3 |
| 1940 | 38 | #1,055 | 32.8 |
| 1939 | 39 | #1,019 | 35.2 |
| 1938 | 44 | #954 | 39.7 |
| 1937 | 37 | #1,062 | 34.7 |
| 1936 | 40 | #999 | 38.6 |
| 1935 | 41 | #1,000 | 39.4 |
| 1934 | 32 | #1,180 | 31.0 |
| 1933 | 43 | #973 | 43.4 |
| 1932 | 32 | #1,206 | 30.6 |
| 1931 | 29 | #1,296 | 27.9 |
| 1930 | 28 | #1,375 | 25.5 |
| 1929 | 35 | #1,181 | 32.5 |
| 1928 | 37 | #1,174 | 33.4 |
| 1927 | 40 | #1,134 | 35.5 |
| 1926 | 33 | #1,268 | 29.7 |
| 1925 | 41 | #1,097 | 36.7 |
| 1924 | 40 | #1,147 | 35.3 |
| 1923 | 27 | #1,445 | 24.6 |
| 1922 | 42 | #1,093 | 38.6 |
| 1921 | 40 | #1,130 | 36.3 |
| 1920 | 45 | #1,041 | 42.3 |
| 1919 | 35 | #1,198 | 35.7 |
| 1918 | 20 | #1,738 | 19.7 |
| 1917 | 35 | #1,143 | 37.8 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,441 | 27.0 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,686 | 21.2 |
| 1914 | 13 | #1,818 | 19.9 |
| 1913 | 15 | #1,403 | 29.3 |
| 1912 | 10 | #1,672 | 23.3 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,150 | 44.3 |
| 1910 | 5 | #1,699 | 25.7 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,564 | 30.5 |
| 1908 | 5 | #1,489 | 32.4 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,318 | 37.6 |
| 1903 | 8 | #871 | 67.1 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,212 | 40.8 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,117 | 47.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Hershell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Hershell has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 84 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Hershell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hershell, and how old are they?
An estimated 611 Americans named Hershell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (33% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 58 and 79. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 658 people named Hershell (26 women and girls, 632 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 770 born in the U.S. The Census count is 15% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
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 Hershell born?
The states with the most babies named Hershell are Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas, with 65% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kentucky and Tennessee are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 137 | not ranked | 3.2× |
| Tennessee | 74 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Texas | 64 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Oklahoma | 60 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Alabama | 55 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Arkansas | 21 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Missouri | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Hershell is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hershell is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 3.2 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 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 Hershell with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
How common is the spelling Hershell?
Hershell is a less common spelling of Hershel: SSA has recorded 1,847 Hershell and 10,334 Hershel since 1880.
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 13,023 babies since 1880, Hershell is the second most given (14% of them). In 2025 none of their 48 babies recorded by SSA was a Hershell (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 Hershell
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 Hershell and names like it
- Compare Hershell and HershelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHershell peaked in 1920.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hershell since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Hershell.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Hershell alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.