Heyward — boys' name
2,018 babies named Heyward in U.S. Social Security records since 1896, with the highest year being 1928. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
17% of everyone ever named Heyward was born in this single decade.
43 babies were named Heyward in 1928 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Heyward
The Social Security Administration has registered 2,018 babies named Heyward between 1896 and 2023, spanning 128 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Heyward currently falls outside the top 1,000 boys' names for 2023. The name reached its historical peak in 1928, when 43 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Heyward performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 343 births during that ten-year window. Across the 14 decades of recorded activity, Heyward shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in South Carolina, which accounts for 1,258 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by Georgia and New York. In total, SSA state-level files list Heyward in 3 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Heyward in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 2,018 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Heyward at a glance
Last recorded 2023Peak year
Current rank
Active since
Heyward popularity over time
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2023–1896
- Peak year (1928)
- 43
- Annual births at peak — across 128 years of records
No longer in the modern top-1000 — last recorded 2023.
2,018 total births across 128 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1928 with 43 births in a single year.
Heyward by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1920s
- 343 births that decade — 17% of Heyward's all-time total
Heyward decade highlights
- Peak decade 343 births
- Runner-up 330 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1920s was Heyward's strongest decade
343 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 17% of all-time use.
Heyward by state
Where Heyward concentrates geographically — total births since 1896
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | South Carolina | | 1,258 | 62.3% |
| #2 | Georgia | | 72 | 3.6% |
| #3 | New York | | 13 | 0.6% |
1,258 of 2,018 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 3 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- South Carolina 62.3% of nationwide
- Georgia 3.6% of nationwide
- New York 0.6% of nationwide
Recorded in 3 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
South Carolina accounts for 62.3% of all recorded births nationwide — a strong regional concentration for this name.
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1896–2023 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.