Head to head · Girls' names
Hadassah vs Heaven
#569 vs #543 in 2025 · Hebrew vs Old English roots
Heaven is ahead (#543 vs #569 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Heaven is stepping back from its peak, Hadassah is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Hadassah has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Heaven leads 4 measures of 6; Hadassah leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Hadassah #3797, Heaven — — Hadassah higher
- 1920s: Hadassah #4592, Heaven — — Hadassah higher
- 1930s: Hadassah #3956, Heaven — — Hadassah higher
- 1940s: Hadassah #4229, Heaven — — Hadassah higher
- 1950s: Hadassah #5020, Heaven — — Hadassah higher
- 1960s: Hadassah #6396, Heaven — — Hadassah higher
- 1970s: Hadassah #5084, Heaven #3701 — Heaven higher
- 1980s: Hadassah #3945, Heaven #2589 — Heaven higher
- 1990s: Hadassah #2675, Heaven #616 — Heaven higher
- 2000s: Hadassah #1549, Heaven #275 — Heaven higher
- 2010s: Hadassah #739, Heaven #342 — Heaven higher
- 2020s: Hadassah #613, Heaven #489 — Heaven higher
The decades split evenly, 6 each; Heaven has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Hadassah | Heaven |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #3797 | — |
| 1920s | #4592 | — |
| 1930s | #3956 | — |
| 1940s | #4229 | — |
| 1950s | #5020 | — |
| 1960s | #6396 | — |
| 1970s | #5084 | #3701 |
| 1980s | #3945 | #2589 |
| 1990s | #2675 | #616 |
| 2000s | #1549 | #275 |
| 2010s | #739 | #342 |
| 2020s | #613 | #489 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Hadassah
Myrtle (the tree)
From Hebrew hadas, the myrtle — one of the four species carried at Sukkot.
hadas (Hebrew, myrtle) → Hadassah → Edissa (Latin Vulgate)
How it traveled
The name appears once in the Hebrew Bible, in Esther 2:7, where the heroine is introduced by her Hebrew name Hadassah before the Persian court name Esther takes over the story. Latin tradition carried the verse forward as Edissa in the Vulgate, while Hebrew and Yiddish speakers kept Hadassah in living use as a given name.
Heaven
heaven — the sky; in Christian use, the dwelling place of God
From Old English heofon, through Middle English heven. The name is simply the modern English word, used as it stands.
heofon (Old English) → heven (Middle English) → Heaven
How it traveled
English-speaking parents have been naming children from the dictionary for centuries: the Puritans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries gave the world Faith, Hope, Prudence and Charity, taking abstract nouns and treating them as names. Heaven is a much later arrival to that tradition, appearing in American records in the second half of the twentieth century and rising alongside other word names of devotion and aspiration such as Destiny and Serenity.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Hadassah
huh-DAH-suh
Hebrew speakers place a fuller stress on the last syllable: hah-dah-SAH. American English usually settles on the middle syllable, and some families say HAD-uh-suh. All three are in genuine use, so it is worth deciding early which one you will correct people toward.
- Dassi — An informal short form used in Orthodox Jewish communities.
- Hadas — A standalone given name in Israel as well as a short form of the longer name.
- Dassah — Informal, clipped from the second half of the name.
- Hattie — An English-sounding nickname borrowed from the sound of the first syllables; also a given name in its own right.
Heaven
HEV-un
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the ordinary word. English speakers need no instruction; speakers of other languages may need the spelling explained, since the 'ea' here sounds like 'e'.
- Hev — An informal clipping used among friends and family; the name is most often used in full.
- Heavenly — An affectionate lengthening rather than a shortening, used casually; also given as a name in its own right in the US.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Hadassah if you want…
- a name fewer children share#569 in 2025 — hadassah will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 100 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itHadassah runs 3 syllables, Heaven 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Dassi, Hadas and Dassah
Choose Heaven if you want…
- a name most people already know#543 in 2025, 556 babies that year
- a name past its most crowded yearsHeaven is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesHeaven is 2 syllables to Hadassah's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Hadassah
Strengths
- A settled, documented meaning — the myrtle — with a single clear biblical source in Esther 2:7, so the answer never changes.
- Recognizable in Hebrew, English, Spanish and French with only small spelling shifts.
- Several real short forms already in use: Dassi, Hadas, Dassah.
To consider
- The spelling will need repeating: two s's, an h at each end, and no obvious phonetic cue for the final -ah. Most people get there on the second try.
- For many American adults the first association is the women's Zionist organization and the Jerusalem hospital that bears the name, rather than a child.
- Stress placement varies between Hebrew and English usage, so she will hear her name said a few different ways before she learns which correction is worth making.
Heaven
Strengths
- Spelled and pronounced correctly on the first attempt by any English speaker — it is a word everyone already knows.
- One standard spelling, with no competing variants to correct for life.
- Belongs to an established English tradition of word names, alongside Grace, Hope and Faith.
To consider
- It carries an unmistakable religious meaning. That is the point for many families, but it is not something the child can set aside in a job interview or a classroom introduction, and some people will read a whole worldview into it.
- The word also belongs to the language of loss — 'gone to heaven', 'in heaven now'. Most people never make the connection out loud, but it exists.
- Its use clusters in a fairly narrow stretch of recent decades, so the name is closely tied to one generation rather than reading as ageless.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Hadassah and Heaven in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Hadassah and Heaven?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Hadassah and Heaven each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Hadassah or Heaven — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Hadassah or Heaven?
- Heaven, in 2025: Heaven ranked #543 with 556 babies; Hadassah ranked #569 with 529 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Hadassah or Heaven?
- Hadassah. Over the last five years Hadassah moved up 100 places; Heaven moved down 122 places.
- Which is the older name, Hadassah or Heaven?
- Hadassah entered the US charts in 1910; Heaven entered the US charts in 1971. On the American record, Hadassah is the older name.
- How many people are named Hadassah and Heaven?
- About 9,200 people named Hadassah are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 30,000 people named Heaven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Hadassahs or Heavens in the classroom?
- Hadassah will almost certainly be the only one in school. Heaven will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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