Henri
Masculine · “home ruler”
Henri is given to both — 5,328 boys and 659 girls since 1880. See Henri as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Henri is the French spelling of a Germanic name that England has used since the Conquest, and American records treat it as a name of its own rather than as a variant. The English form also names a unit of electricity, which brought with it an argument about its plural that has never been resolved.
How old is the name Henri?
Henri first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Henri alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 4,100 people named Henri are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Henri most popular?
Henri peaked in 1888, reaching #755 nationally. Today it ranks #1708, 953 places below that high. See the whole 1888 chart.
Henri appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Heimirich to Henri
The story of Henri
The unit of electrical inductance is called the henry, after Joseph Henry, an American who discovered self-inductance independently of Faraday and got less credit for it than he was owed. The awkward part is the plural. Units named after people are supposed to take a plain English plural, which would give henrys, but the International Electrotechnical Commission settled on henries, following the ordinary spelling rule for a word ending in a consonant plus y. Both appear in the literature and neither has driven the other out. It is the only SI unit with a contested plural, and it exists because the rule that units are written in lower case and pluralised like nouns collided with the rule that a person's name is not a noun.
Meaning
home ruler
From two Germanic elements, one meaning a home or an estate and one meaning a ruler — so the sense is the master of a household rather than a king, though a great many kings have carried it.
How the name formed
- Heimirich
- Henricus
- Henri
Related forms: Henri · Henry · Heinrich · Enrico · Enrique
Pronouncing Henri
ahn-REE
Two syllables with the stress at the back and no h sounded, which is the French reading. American families often say HEN-ree instead, and both are heard.
Nicknames for Henri
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 2022143 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #755reached in 1888
- Change vs 2022
- −33.6%95 in 2025, from 143
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.
Henri in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Henri in French — same name
- Henry in English — same name
- Heinrich in German — same name
- Enrico in Italian — same name
- Enrique in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Henris among us
people named Henri are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 17,980 born in 2025 was named Henri
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Henri
- #1708
- Henri on the 2025 chart
- #7
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Henri went to 95 boys in 2025, but Henry is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 12,135, which makes it the 7th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,701 places above the chart.
- Henry12,020
- Henri95
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 141 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,980 for Henri 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
Fashion outlook
Henri 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 Henri is headed
Henri should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Henri beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Henri in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a standing name in French rather than an invented spelling.
- The meaning is documented and the descent is unbroken.
- Every major European language has a form of it.
- The French and English readings are completely different, so the name gets two pronunciations.
- Henry and Henrie will both be written for it.
- The record holds this spelling for daughters as well, though almost never.
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What they receive
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Henri
Masculine · #1708 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Henris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,100 people named Henri are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Henri?
- Henri is one of 2 recorded spellings. Henry is the more common one — 12,020 births in 2025 against 95 for Henri.
- How popular is the name Henri in 2025?
- Henri ranks #1708 among US boy names in 2025, with 95 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Henri?
- About 1 in every 17,980 US boys born in 2025 was named Henri — 95 in all.
- Will my child share the name Henri with classmates?
- Henri will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Henri
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Antoine#1708 · Marlo#1708 · Koast#1708 · Azir#1708 · Ayansh#1708 · Kainoa#1708 · Zuriel#1708 · Shalom#1708
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Henri? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Henri and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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