How rare is the name Hershel?

3,772 people in the United States have the first name Hershel, about 1 in 80,072. It ranks #4,793 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

HERSHEL

#4,793

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
3,772
About
1 in 80,072
This common or more
84.5%
Who bears it

Of the 3,772 people named Hershel, 83.3% reported their origin as White, 11.2% as Black and 2.6% as two or more races. 99.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Hershel peaked in 1924, when 226 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1924
Births that year
226
In 2025*
48 ▼79%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 10,334 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Hershel by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1920s, when it ranked #888. The largest share of babies named Hershel, 29.7%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#1,75547
1890s#1,88073
1900s#1,307202
1910s#1,0001,133
1920s#8882,032
1930s#9001,756
1940s#1,1431,440
1950s#1,6731,006
1960s#2,236652
1970s#3,347411
1980s#4,771306
1990s#6,622263
2000s#6,689361
2010s#6,708386
2020s#6,100266
Before 19011.3%
Greatest Generation 1901–2728.7%
Silent Generation 1928–4529.7%
Baby boom 1946–6418.2%
Generation X 1965–807.1%
Millennials 1981–964.5%
Generation Z 1997–125.3%
2013 and later5.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Hershel is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Hershel has been most common in Arkansas (8.6×), Kentucky (7.5×), and Oklahoma (5.7×), and least common in California (0.07×).

7,190 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Hershel

#4,791 Milani · 3,773#4,791 Samer · 3,773#4,794 Romulo · 3,771#4,795 Vitaliy · 3,770

Spelled almost the same

7 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Hershel, most common first.

#4,832 Herschel · 3,728#16,959 Hershell · 658#25,575 Herschell · 370#28,137 Hershal · 321#41,955 Hersel · 173#43,502 Herchel · 162#50,309 Hershall · 120

Compare