Halsey
Feminine · “Hal's island”
Halsey is given to both — 543 girls and 413 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Halsey is an English place name, and the island in it is an inland one — a patch of firm ground in marsh, which is what the Old English word usually means away from the coast.
How old is the name Halsey?
Halsey first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Halsey is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Halsey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Halsey most popular?
Halsey peaked in 2021, reaching #3157 nationally. Today it ranks #4067, 910 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Halsey
Halse and Halsey name places in several English counties, and the surname arose from them independently. It reached America with English settlement and belonged to a New York shipping and naval family; a Second World War admiral carried it. Its use as a given name is very recent and comes chiefly through a musician who took the surname as a stage name from a Brooklyn street.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hal's island, or hazel island
From Old English eg, an island or dry ground in wet country, with a first element read either as a personal name or as haesel, hazel. Neither is settled for the Suffolk and Nottinghamshire places that carry it.
Pronouncing Halsey
HAL-zee
Two syllables, first stressed. Some say HAWL-see.
Nicknames for Halsey
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
- 1981
- Most girls named
- 202151 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3157reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −22.2%35 in 2025, from 45
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.
Halsey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Halsy in English — spelling variant
- Halse in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Nebraska, California, Texas.
Halseys among us
people named Halsey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was named Halsey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Moya test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Halsey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Moya climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Moya's path sketches the road Halsey is walking now.
Halsey 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 Halsey is headed
Halsey looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% 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.
Halsey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Halsey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented English place name with a real landscape behind it.
- Hal is a complete short form in its own right.
- Read correctly on sight by most English speakers.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- The middle consonant is unsettled between a z and an s.
- A well-known musician is the first association for most young people.
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What they receive
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Halsey
Feminine · #4067 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Halseys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Halsey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Halsey in 2025?
- Halsey ranks #4067 among US girl names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Halsey?
- About 1 in every 45,922 US girls born in 2025 was named Halsey — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Halsey with classmates?
- Halsey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Halsey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eli#4067 · Peace#4067 · Medina#4067 · Darlin#4067 · Anja#4067 · Sparrow#4067 · Liani#4067 · Salina#4067
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Halsey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Halsey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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