Honor
Honor is given to both girls and boys: 75 girls and 88 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,390 among girls’ names and #1,814 among boys’, #2,547 among all names counting both); 4,604 Americans have been recorded with it since 1888 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Boys have outnumbered girls among babies named Honor every year since 2023.
An estimated 4,150 Americans named Honor and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 5 and 17.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Honor by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Honor mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Honor is “a female given name from English.”
Shortened from Honoria and Honora; later also interpreted as a virtue name by Puritans.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Honor?
#2,390 among girls’ names, 2025
Honor fell from #1,707 in 2015 to #2,390 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 69.5 to 46.7 per million.
247 babies in 2021, the peak
Honor peaked in 2021, when 247 babies were given it (117 girls, #1,752 among girls’ names). The 163 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 66% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 75 | #2,390 | 88 | #1,814 |
| 2024 | 91 | #2,109 | 109 | #1,585 |
| 2023 | 100 | #1,970 | 112 | #1,562 |
| 2022 | 120 | #1,737 | 116 | #1,543 |
| 2021 | 117 | #1,752 | 130 | #1,414 |
| 2020 | 95 | #1,983 | 103 | #1,582 |
| 2019 | 107 | #1,878 | 104 | #1,597 |
| 2018 | 105 | #1,904 | 95 | #1,674 |
| 2017 | 106 | #1,910 | 98 | #1,625 |
| 2016 | 106 | #1,901 | 73 | #1,980 |
Every recorded year (123)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 124 | #1,707 | 46 | #2,655 |
| 2014 | 109 | #1,858 | 51 | #2,470 |
| 2013 | 134 | #1,607 | 65 | #2,076 |
| 2012 | 134 | #1,615 | 63 | #2,143 |
| 2011 | 99 | #1,989 | 48 | #2,560 |
| 2010 | 87 | #2,226 | 44 | #2,753 |
| 2009 | 103 | #2,008 | 36 | #3,184 |
| 2008 | 40 | #3,958 | 28 | #3,764 |
| 2007 | 28 | #5,146 | 11 | #7,279 |
| 2006 | 34 | #4,296 | 15 | #5,618 |
| 2005 | 28 | #4,747 | 7 | #9,481 |
| 2004 | 36 | #3,928 | 6 | #10,448 |
| 2003 | 45 | #3,251 | 9 | #7,468 |
| 2002 | 42 | #3,290 | 7 | #8,797 |
| 2001 | 33 | #3,889 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 40 | #3,350 | 5 | #11,020 |
| 1999 | 19 | #5,504 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 30 | #3,866 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 23 | #4,563 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 20 | #4,933 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 13 | #6,785 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 6 | #12,336 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 16 | #5,761 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,420 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 6 | #12,043 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 9 | #8,733 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 11 | #7,142 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 7 | #9,610 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 15 | #5,149 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 6 | #9,971 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 7 | #8,661 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,470 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 16 | #4,540 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,025 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 8 | #7,649 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,883 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 17 | #4,135 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 14 | #4,743 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 9 | #6,229 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 13 | #4,679 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 12 | #4,820 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 15 | #4,042 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 10 | #5,225 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 11 | #4,915 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 9 | #5,547 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,182 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,497 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 17 | #3,127 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 15 | #3,308 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 12 | #3,815 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 11 | #4,190 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 5 | #6,992 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 8 | #5,023 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 8 | #4,926 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,446 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 7 | #5,090 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 11 | #3,777 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 8 | #4,523 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 12 | #3,393 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 10 | #3,801 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,263 | 6 | #3,529 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,168 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,479 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 6 | #4,908 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 7 | #4,353 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 13 | #2,962 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 10 | #3,310 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | 9 | #3,231 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 8 | #3,500 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,929 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,910 | under 5 | |
| 1940 | 5 | #4,632 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 8 | #3,257 | under 5 | |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,649 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 9 | #3,031 | under 5 | |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,893 | under 5 | |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,488 | under 5 | |
| 1933 | 8 | #3,245 | under 5 | |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,417 | under 5 | |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,651 | under 5 | |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,479 | under 5 | |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,834 | under 5 | |
| 1928 | 9 | #3,298 | under 5 | |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,294 | under 5 | |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,293 | under 5 | |
| 1925 | 16 | #2,324 | under 5 | |
| 1924 | 12 | #2,879 | under 5 | |
| 1923 | 17 | #2,216 | under 5 | |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,502 | under 5 | |
| 1921 | 12 | #2,845 | under 5 | |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,159 | under 5 | |
| 1919 | 15 | #2,314 | under 5 | |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,840 | under 5 | |
| 1917 | 9 | #3,204 | under 5 | |
| 1916 | 9 | #3,129 | under 5 | |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,574 | under 5 | |
| 1914 | 7 | #3,017 | under 5 | |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,660 | under 5 | |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,839 | under 5 | |
| 1908 | 7 | #1,751 | under 5 | |
| 1907 | 10 | #1,333 | under 5 | |
| 1906 | 5 | #2,069 | under 5 | |
| 1905 | 8 | #1,470 | under 5 | |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,753 | under 5 | |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,684 | under 5 | |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,902 | under 5 | |
| 1900 | 5 | #2,054 | under 5 | |
| 1897 | 9 | #1,116 | under 5 | |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,683 | under 5 | |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,494 | under 5 | |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,522 | under 5 | |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,550 | under 5 | |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,199 | 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 Honor a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 4,604 Americans recorded as Honor, 68% are girls and 32% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Honor: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Honor, and how old are they?
4,150 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 4,604 Americans ever recorded as Honor. The median Honor alive today is 11 years old; half are between 5 and 17.
The 2020 Census counted 2,731 people named Honor (2,009 women and girls, 722 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,002 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 39 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 113 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 183 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 160 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,090 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,560 |
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 Honor born?
The states with the most babies named Honor are California, Texas and Georgia, with 59% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 21 | #2,359 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 15 | #2,744 | 0.5× |
| Georgia | 11 | #877 | 1.1× |
| New York | 6 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 6 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Florida | 5 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | #1,481 | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 5 | #1,201 | 0.1× |
| Oklahoma | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Honor is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Honor is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1910 it was given 1.1 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 Honor 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 4,979 babies since 1880, Honor is the most given (92% of them). In 2025 it was given to 163 of their 172 babies (95%), 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 Honor
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 Honor and names like it
- Compare Honor and HonourBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sHonor peaked in 2021.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Honor since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Honor: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Honor.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Honor alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with HMost given first.