Hunter
Hunter is given to both girls and boys: 323 girls and 2,761 boys were given it in 2025 (#842 among girls’ names and #130 among boys’, #203 among all names counting both); 276,622 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 270,000 Americans named Hunter and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 12 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Hunter by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Hunter mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Hunter is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
/ˈhʌntɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Hunter?
#130 among boys’ names, 2025
Hunter fell from #41 in 2015 to #130 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 4.4 to 1.6 per 1,000.
13,252 babies in 2000, the peak
Hunter peaked in 2000, when 13,252 babies were given it (12,538 boys, #35 among boys’ names). The 3,084 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 23% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,761 | #130 | 1.6 |
| 2024 | 2,852 | #128 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 3,131 | #115 | 1.8 |
| 2022 | 3,605 | #101 | 2.1 |
| 2021 | 4,206 | #86 | 2.4 |
| 2020 | 4,786 | #68 | 2.8 |
| 2019 | 5,398 | #66 | 3.0 |
| 2018 | 6,117 | #56 | 3.4 |
| 2017 | 6,760 | #53 | 3.7 |
| 2016 | 7,681 | #45 | 4.0 |
Every recorded year (145)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 8,367 | #41 | 4.4 |
| 2014 | 8,841 | #40 | 4.6 |
| 2013 | 8,988 | #36 | 4.8 |
| 2012 | 8,053 | #45 | 4.2 |
| 2011 | 7,380 | #55 | 3.9 |
| 2010 | 7,334 | #58 | 3.8 |
| 2009 | 7,751 | #56 | 3.9 |
| 2008 | 8,045 | #54 | 3.9 |
| 2007 | 8,218 | #57 | 4.0 |
| 2006 | 8,574 | #54 | 4.2 |
| 2005 | 8,512 | #53 | 4.3 |
| 2004 | 8,902 | #49 | 4.5 |
| 2003 | 9,900 | #41 | 5.0 |
| 2002 | 11,085 | #38 | 5.7 |
| 2001 | 11,335 | #36 | 5.8 |
| 2000 | 12,538 | #35 | 6.4 |
| 1999 | 11,485 | #36 | 6.0 |
| 1998 | 11,078 | #36 | 5.8 |
| 1997 | 8,405 | #44 | 4.5 |
| 1996 | 7,603 | #47 | 4.0 |
| 1995 | 6,715 | #53 | 3.5 |
| 1994 | 5,585 | #67 | 2.9 |
| 1993 | 3,792 | #97 | 1.9 |
| 1992 | 2,541 | #135 | 1.3 |
| 1991 | 1,929 | #167 | 1.0 |
| 1990 | 1,391 | #219 | 0.68 |
| 1989 | 1,206 | #226 | 0.60 |
| 1988 | 980 | #243 | 0.51 |
| 1987 | 806 | #271 | 0.43 |
| 1986 | 671 | #306 | 0.36 |
| 1985 | 567 | #336 | 0.31 |
| 1984 | 459 | #380 | 0.25 |
| 1983 | 357 | #437 | 0.20 |
| 1982 | 317 | #474 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 266 | #518 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 242 | #548 | 0.14 |
| 1979 | 196 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1978 | 145 | #696 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 160 | #669 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 130 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 109 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 92 | #839 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 87 | #849 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 84 | #880 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 99 | #815 | 0.06 |
| 1970 | 113 | #777 | 0.06 |
| 1969 | 98 | #778 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 94 | #766 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 80 | #811 | 0.05 |
| 1966 | 66 | #892 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 67 | #906 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 75 | #887 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 68 | #908 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 76 | #874 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 69 | #920 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 71 | #900 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 66 | #945 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 63 | #959 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 72 | #891 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 62 | #948 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 55 | #1,018 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 68 | #897 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 41 | #1,156 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 51 | #1,005 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 49 | #1,008 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 49 | #993 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 51 | #977 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 49 | #1,010 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 68 | #838 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 60 | #851 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 49 | #922 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 41 | #1,025 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 42 | #1,042 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 41 | #1,068 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 33 | #1,162 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 36 | #1,100 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 39 | #1,021 | 0.04 |
| 1938 | 32 | #1,156 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 35 | #1,106 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,435 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 44 | #958 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 45 | #947 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 34 | #1,134 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 52 | #898 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 50 | #915 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 40 | #1,099 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 61 | #842 | 0.06 |
| 1928 | 55 | #907 | 0.05 |
| 1927 | 56 | #917 | 0.05 |
| 1926 | 60 | #864 | 0.05 |
| 1925 | 35 | #1,212 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 67 | #828 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 69 | #811 | 0.06 |
| 1922 | 56 | #931 | 0.05 |
| 1921 | 48 | #1,015 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 69 | #808 | 0.06 |
| 1919 | 55 | #904 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 68 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1917 | 60 | #826 | 0.06 |
| 1916 | 47 | #930 | 0.05 |
| 1915 | 50 | #873 | 0.06 |
| 1914 | 42 | #828 | 0.06 |
| 1913 | 36 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1912 | 28 | #845 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 17 | #806 | 0.08 |
| 1910 | 16 | #768 | 0.08 |
| 1909 | 13 | #818 | 0.08 |
| 1908 | 15 | #697 | 0.10 |
| 1907 | 13 | #758 | 0.09 |
| 1906 | 13 | #693 | 0.10 |
| 1905 | 14 | #650 | 0.11 |
| 1904 | 17 | #550 | 0.13 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,204 | 0.04 |
| 1902 | 15 | #567 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 8 | #808 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 12 | #760 | 0.08 |
| 1899 | 10 | #680 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 10 | #718 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 8 | #823 | 0.07 |
| 1896 | 15 | #543 | 0.13 |
| 1895 | 7 | #930 | 0.06 |
| 1894 | 9 | #760 | 0.08 |
| 1893 | 12 | #590 | 0.11 |
| 1892 | 11 | #657 | 0.09 |
| 1891 | 11 | #575 | 0.11 |
| 1890 | 8 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 11 | #604 | 0.10 |
| 1888 | 16 | #493 | 0.13 |
| 1886 | 7 | #804 | 0.06 |
| 1885 | 10 | #621 | 0.09 |
| 1884 | 6 | #907 | 0.05 |
| 1883 | 6 | #840 | 0.06 |
| 1882 | 10 | #623 | 0.09 |
| 1881 | 6 | #825 | 0.06 |
| 1880 | 12 | #545 | 0.11 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Hunter a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 276,622 Americans recorded as Hunter, 5% are girls and 95% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Hunter: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Hunter, and how old are they?
270,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 276,622 Americans ever recorded as Hunter. The median Hunter alive today is 21 years old; half are between 12 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 230,193 people named Hunter (11,364 women and girls, 218,829 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 249,263 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 138 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 783 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,720 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 37,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 153,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 77,300 |
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 Hunter born?
The states with the most babies named Hunter are Texas, California and Florida, with 23% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 264 | #161 | 0.8× |
| California | 261 | #167 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 165 | #143 | 0.9× |
| New York | 136 | #151 | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 131 | #107 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 123 | #110 | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 112 | #134 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 107 | #125 | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 99 | #106 | 1.6× |
| Michigan | 95 | #110 | 1.1× |
Where Hunter is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Hunter is most over-represented in West Virginia: 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 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 Hunter 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 276,675 babies since 1880, Hunter is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 3,084 of their 3,084 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 Hunter
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 Hunter and names like it
- Compare Hunter and HuntterBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sHunter peaked in 2000.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Hunter since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Hunter: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Hunter.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Hunter alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with HMost given first.