Haywood
Masculine · “enclosed wood”
The hay in Haywood is not the crop. Old English haeg is a hedge or an enclosure, the same word behind haw and hawthorn, the hedge-thorn, and a haywood is a wood with a fence round it: a hunting enclosure, not a hayfield.
How old is the name Haywood?
Haywood was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Haywood alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 2,600 people named Haywood are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Haywood most popular?
Haywood peaked in 1899, reaching #362 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 6,441 places below that high. See the whole 1899 chart.
Where it comes from
From haeg wudu to Haywood
The story of Haywood
Medieval English landholding depended on enclosures, and the vocabulary is dense: a haeg was fenced, a park was walled, a chase was open, a warren was for rabbits. Haywood, Haywoods and Heywood all record a wood with a boundary round it, and there are several of each in England. The surname followed and crossed to America, where it became a given name in the nineteenth century; its best year in United States records is 1899. It has been used steadily in African American families since, and Heywood is the alternative spelling of the same name.
Meaning
enclosed wood, fenced wood
From Old English haeg, a hedge or enclosure, and wudu, a wood. The same haeg gives haw, the fruit of the hedge-thorn, and hedge itself; it is a different word from heg, the cut grass, which gives Hailey and the modern hay. English collapsed the two spellings, which is why the distinction is now invisible.
How the name formed
- haeg wudu
- Haywood
- Haywood
Related forms: Heywood · Hayward
Pronouncing Haywood
HAY-wood
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Identical to Heywood; the two spellings are the same name.
Nicknames for Haywood
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
- 1921113 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #362reached in 1899
- Change vs 2022
- +20.0%12 in 2025, from 10
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.
Haywood in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Heywood in English — spelling variant
- Hayward in English — related form
Haywoods among us
people named Haywood are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Haywood
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Haywood 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
Haywood beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Haywood in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Old English meaning describing something concrete.
- Woody is a warm and completely established everyday form.
- Genuinely period-authentic to nineteenth-century America.
- Heywood and Haywood both circulate and split the records.
- It reads as a surname, which is what it is.
- The hay in it is a hedge, not the crop, which almost nobody knows.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Haywood to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Haywood? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Haywood
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Haywoods are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Haywood are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Haywood in 2025?
- Haywood ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Haywood?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Haywood — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Haywood with classmates?
- Haywood will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Haywood
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Haywood? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Haywood and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle