Hope
Hope was given to 868 girls in 2025, #352 among girls’ names; 97,793 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 84,900 Americans named Hope and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (87% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 17 and 50.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hope by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hope mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hope is “a female given name from English from the virtue, like Faith and Charity first used by Puritans.”
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
/ˈhoʊp/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hope?
#352 among girls’ names, 2025
Hope fell from #225 in 2015 to #352 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.81 to 0.54 per 1,000.
2,326 babies in 2000, the peak
Hope peaked in 2000, when 2,326 babies were given it (2,321 girls, #146 among girls’ names). The 873 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 38% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 868 | #352 | 0.54 |
| 2024 | 973 | #317 | 0.60 |
| 2023 | 1,026 | #302 | 0.64 |
| 2022 | 1,214 | #258 | 0.74 |
| 2021 | 1,329 | #226 | 0.81 |
| 2020 | 1,439 | #203 | 0.89 |
| 2019 | 1,374 | #227 | 0.82 |
| 2018 | 1,296 | #252 | 0.76 |
| 2017 | 1,271 | #250 | 0.74 |
| 2016 | 1,353 | #238 | 0.76 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,453 | #225 | 0.81 |
| 2014 | 1,451 | #229 | 0.81 |
| 2013 | 1,397 | #230 | 0.80 |
| 2012 | 1,456 | #218 | 0.83 |
| 2011 | 1,396 | #227 | 0.79 |
| 2010 | 1,313 | #240 | 0.74 |
| 2009 | 1,434 | #230 | 0.78 |
| 2008 | 1,537 | #220 | 0.81 |
| 2007 | 1,684 | #206 | 0.88 |
| 2006 | 1,778 | #198 | 0.94 |
| 2005 | 1,891 | #183 | 1.0 |
| 2004 | 1,913 | #179 | 1.0 |
| 2003 | 1,897 | #172 | 1.0 |
| 2002 | 2,055 | #160 | 1.1 |
| 2001 | 2,180 | #150 | 1.2 |
| 2000 | 2,321 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1999 | 2,265 | #143 | 1.3 |
| 1998 | 1,951 | #160 | 1.1 |
| 1997 | 1,770 | #171 | 1.0 |
| 1996 | 1,610 | #186 | 0.92 |
| 1995 | 1,529 | #193 | 0.87 |
| 1994 | 1,226 | #232 | 0.69 |
| 1993 | 956 | #287 | 0.53 |
| 1992 | 892 | #310 | 0.48 |
| 1991 | 1,052 | #264 | 0.56 |
| 1990 | 1,056 | #266 | 0.56 |
| 1989 | 872 | #299 | 0.47 |
| 1988 | 823 | #300 | 0.46 |
| 1987 | 808 | #300 | 0.46 |
| 1986 | 910 | #273 | 0.53 |
| 1985 | 908 | #275 | 0.53 |
| 1984 | 812 | #294 | 0.48 |
| 1983 | 502 | #430 | 0.30 |
| 1982 | 557 | #412 | 0.33 |
| 1981 | 651 | #360 | 0.39 |
| 1980 | 781 | #309 | 0.47 |
| 1979 | 786 | #305 | 0.49 |
| 1978 | 865 | #269 | 0.56 |
| 1977 | 1,019 | #243 | 0.66 |
| 1976 | 1,151 | #214 | 0.79 |
| 1975 | 1,208 | #202 | 0.83 |
| 1974 | 1,298 | #196 | 0.88 |
| 1973 | 950 | #263 | 0.65 |
| 1972 | 1,296 | #213 | 0.85 |
| 1971 | 1,454 | #205 | 0.87 |
| 1970 | 986 | #295 | 0.56 |
| 1969 | 979 | #287 | 0.58 |
| 1968 | 832 | #306 | 0.51 |
| 1967 | 965 | #272 | 0.58 |
| 1966 | 1,359 | #223 | 0.80 |
| 1965 | 1,153 | #252 | 0.65 |
| 1964 | 1,275 | #246 | 0.67 |
| 1963 | 588 | #395 | 0.31 |
| 1962 | 500 | #435 | 0.25 |
| 1961 | 512 | #435 | 0.25 |
| 1960 | 570 | #400 | 0.28 |
| 1959 | 563 | #396 | 0.28 |
| 1958 | 578 | #383 | 0.29 |
| 1957 | 441 | #448 | 0.22 |
| 1956 | 547 | #377 | 0.27 |
| 1955 | 552 | #375 | 0.28 |
| 1954 | 484 | #393 | 0.25 |
| 1953 | 456 | #397 | 0.24 |
| 1952 | 445 | #389 | 0.24 |
| 1951 | 468 | #376 | 0.26 |
| 1950 | 474 | #366 | 0.28 |
| 1949 | 376 | #410 | 0.22 |
| 1948 | 335 | #434 | 0.20 |
| 1947 | 406 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1946 | 403 | #379 | 0.26 |
| 1945 | 215 | #497 | 0.16 |
| 1944 | 218 | #487 | 0.16 |
| 1943 | 295 | #428 | 0.21 |
| 1942 | 315 | #404 | 0.23 |
| 1941 | 233 | #453 | 0.19 |
| 1940 | 213 | #459 | 0.19 |
| 1939 | 223 | #449 | 0.20 |
| 1938 | 251 | #425 | 0.23 |
| 1937 | 227 | #433 | 0.21 |
| 1936 | 200 | #452 | 0.19 |
| 1935 | 163 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1934 | 187 | #475 | 0.18 |
| 1933 | 207 | #456 | 0.21 |
| 1932 | 195 | #473 | 0.18 |
| 1931 | 194 | #463 | 0.18 |
| 1930 | 239 | #434 | 0.21 |
| 1929 | 253 | #418 | 0.23 |
| 1928 | 279 | #404 | 0.24 |
| 1927 | 338 | #373 | 0.28 |
| 1926 | 311 | #390 | 0.26 |
| 1925 | 339 | #373 | 0.28 |
| 1924 | 407 | #334 | 0.33 |
| 1923 | 368 | #344 | 0.31 |
| 1922 | 371 | #336 | 0.31 |
| 1921 | 361 | #344 | 0.29 |
| 1920 | 349 | #350 | 0.29 |
| 1919 | 333 | #351 | 0.29 |
| 1918 | 369 | #337 | 0.32 |
| 1917 | 295 | #367 | 0.27 |
| 1916 | 262 | #388 | 0.25 |
| 1915 | 210 | #412 | 0.21 |
| 1914 | 124 | #503 | 0.16 |
| 1913 | 104 | #501 | 0.17 |
| 1912 | 94 | #493 | 0.17 |
| 1911 | 67 | #507 | 0.16 |
| 1910 | 62 | #520 | 0.16 |
| 1909 | 61 | #480 | 0.18 |
| 1908 | 38 | #622 | 0.11 |
| 1907 | 49 | #514 | 0.15 |
| 1906 | 51 | #480 | 0.17 |
| 1905 | 36 | #581 | 0.12 |
| 1904 | 49 | #471 | 0.18 |
| 1903 | 47 | #467 | 0.18 |
| 1902 | 32 | #586 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 31 | #551 | 0.13 |
| 1900 | 35 | #595 | 0.12 |
| 1899 | 18 | #774 | 0.08 |
| 1898 | 33 | #563 | 0.13 |
| 1897 | 29 | #559 | 0.12 |
| 1896 | 30 | #560 | 0.13 |
| 1895 | 39 | #466 | 0.17 |
| 1894 | 35 | #479 | 0.16 |
| 1893 | 35 | #450 | 0.16 |
| 1892 | 22 | #604 | 0.10 |
| 1891 | 26 | #509 | 0.14 |
| 1890 | 26 | #511 | 0.14 |
| 1889 | 18 | #610 | 0.10 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,200 | 0.03 |
| 1887 | 16 | #572 | 0.11 |
| 1886 | 15 | #586 | 0.10 |
| 1885 | 20 | #473 | 0.15 |
| 1884 | 14 | #567 | 0.11 |
| 1883 | 17 | #470 | 0.15 |
| 1882 | 6 | #851 | 0.06 |
| 1881 | 7 | #713 | 0.08 |
| 1880 | 9 | #603 | 0.10 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Hope a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Hope has been given almost only to girls: 568 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Hope: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hope, and how old are they?
84,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 87% of the 97,793 Americans ever recorded as Hope. The median Hope alive today is 28 years old; half are between 17 and 50.
The 2020 Census counted 75,724 people named Hope (75,313 women and girls, 411 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 80,530 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,260 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 7,900 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 15,900 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 14,800 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 28,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 16,400 |
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 Hope born?
The states with the most babies named Hope are California, Texas and Florida, with 27% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 83 | #401 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 81 | #418 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 61 | #306 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 39 | #283 | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 38 | #238 | 1.0× |
| New York | 33 | #512 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 29 | #359 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 29 | #374 | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 29 | #392 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 28 | #407 | 1.1× |
Where Hope is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hope is most over-represented in Rhode Island: since 1910 it was given 1.8 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 Hope 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 97,897 babies since 1880, Hope is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 873 of their 873 babies (100%), 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 Hope
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 Hope and names like it
- Compare Hope and HopieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sHope peaked in 2000.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hope since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Hope: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Hope.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Hope alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with HMost given first.