Hal
Masculine · “home-ruler”
Hal is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 16,784 boys against 12 girls since 1880.
Hal is Henry as Shakespeare wrote it. Prince Hal is the future Henry V, and the nickname is a medieval English softening of Harry — which was itself how everyone said Henry.
How old is the name Hal?
Hal was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Hal alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 8,700 people named Hal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hal most popular?
Hal peaked in 1956, reaching #305 nationally. Today it ranks #3128, 2,823 places below that high. See the whole 1956 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Haimirich to Hal
The story of Hal
Henry was written formally and said as Harry for the whole medieval period — the English kings signed one and were called the other. Medieval English softened Harry to Hal, and Shakespeare's Henry IV plays fixed it in the language. American families registered Hal outright from the 1900s and it peaked around 1930.
Meaning
home-ruler
Through Harry and Henry, from the Germanic haim, 'home' or 'estate', and ric, 'ruler' or 'power'. The compound describes authority over a household or a domain rather than a kingdom, which is what most Germanic ric names actually meant.
How the name formed
- Haimirich
- Henry
- Harry
- Hal
Related forms: Harry · Heinrich · Enrique
Pronouncing Hal
HAL
One syllable. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Hal
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1957526 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #305reached in 1956
- Change vs 2022
- +153.3%38 in 2025, from 15
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Hal in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Harry in English — related form
- Heinrich in German — related form
- Enrique in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Utah.
Hals among us
people named Hal are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 44,949 born in 2025 was named Hal
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Hal
- #3128
- Hal on the 2025 chart
- #883
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Hal went to 38 boys in 2025, but Hall is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 45, which makes it the 883rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,245 places above the chart.
- Hal38
- Hall7
About 1 boy in 37,957 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 44,949 for Hal itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Thaddeus test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hal's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Thaddeus climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Thaddeus's path sketches the road Hal is walking now.
Hal sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Hal is headed
Hal looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 18% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Hal beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hal in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Henry stands behind it with a documented royal record running back to the Frankish court.
- Shakespeare's Prince Hal is one of the great characters in English drama.
- Three letters, one syllable, and never misheard.
- A 1968 film computer has carried the name memorably since.
- Given outright it stays informal; Henry on the certificate keeps both registers.
- It is period-coded to the first half of the twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Hal
Masculine · #3128 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,700 people named Hal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Hal?
- Hal is the most-used spelling in US records — 38 of the 45 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Hall.
- How popular is the name Hal in 2025?
- Hal ranks #3128 among US boy names in 2025, with 38 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hal?
- About 1 in every 44,949 US boys born in 2025 was named Hal — 38 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hal with classmates?
- Hal will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hal
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Juanpablo#3128 · Tavion#3128 · Hamilton#3128 · Javen#3128 · Courtney#3128 · Dawud#3128 · Baxter#3128 · Tiberius#3128
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hal? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hal and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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