Henry
Masculine · “Home ruler”
Henry is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 768,945 boys against 4,619 girls since 1880. See Henry as a girl name
Henry came into English with the Normans and never left: eight kings of England carried it, and for centuries ordinary Englishmen said it aloud as "Harry." It is short, easy to say, and old enough that no generation can claim it as theirs alone — it has been well represented among the oldest Americans living today and is at the same time being handed to newborns.
How old is the name Henry?
Henry was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Henry alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 393,000 people named Henry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Henry most popular?
Henry peaked in 2025, reaching #5 nationally. Today it ranks #5, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Henry appears on these lists:
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Gorgeous — and about to be everywhere
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- Greatest Generation names (born 1901–1927)
- Silent Generation names (born 1928–1945)
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From Haimirich to Henry
The story of Henry
The name begins as Germanic Haimirich, carried by Frankish and later German nobility, and Latinized in medieval documents as Henricus. Old French shaped it into Henri, and the Normans brought it to England after 1066, where it was written Henry but spoken Harry for centuries — which is why both survive today as separate names. Every English king from the twelfth to the sixteenth century named Henry pushed it deeper into ordinary use, and English speakers took it to North America, Australia and beyond. Its German cousin Heinrich and Spanish Enrique traveled their own roads from the same root.
Meaning
Home ruler — from Germanic heim, "home," and ric, "ruler, power"
The sense is closer to "ruler of an estate or household" than to anything royal; the royal association came later, from the kings who bore it.
Cultural footprint
Henry Ford (b. 1863) — Put America on wheels with the Model T
Henry David Thoreau (b. 1817) — Walden's philosopher of simple living
Henry VIII of England (b. 1491) — The six-wives king who split England from Rome
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (b. 1807) — The poet of "Paul Revere's Ride"
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Haimirich
- Henricus
- Henri
- Henry
- Harry
Related forms: Henri · Heinrich · Enrique · Enrico · Henrique · Henryk
Pronouncing Henry
HEN-ree
Two syllables, stress on the first, the same in American and British English. The French Henri (on-REE) and German Heinrich (HYNE-rikh) are pronounced quite differently, which is worth knowing if the name honors family in either language.
Nicknames for Henry
High
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
- 202512,020 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #5reached in 2025
- Change vs 2022
- +6.6%12,020 in 2025, from 11,272
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.
Henry in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Henri in French — same name
- Heinrich in German — same name
- Enrique in Spanish — same name
- Enrico in Italian — same name
- Henrique in Portuguese — same name
- Henryk in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Henrys among us
people named Henry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142 born in 2025 was named Henry
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 Joseph test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Henry's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joseph climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joseph's path sketches the road Henry is walking now.
Henry has held the top-100 across 11 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Henry is headed
Henry should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Henry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Henry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled one way and known everywhere in English — nobody will ask you to repeat it or write it down.
- An unbroken written record in England from the Norman Conquest onward, and continuous American use since record-keeping began.
- Three well-established short forms with different registers: Harry, Hank and Hal.
- Charts in Canada, England and Wales, and Scotland as well as the US, so it travels without translation across the English-speaking world.
- Direct equivalents in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese for bilingual families.
- It is in heavy use among babies right now and rising, so a Henry may well share a classroom or a soccer team with another one.
- Because Harry and Hank are so well established, other people may shorten the name for you. Worth deciding early which, if any, you want used.
- Henry VIII is the first Henry many people think of, and his reputation is what it is — though seven other English kings and a long line of American writers and inventors share the name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Henry to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Henry
Masculine · #5 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Henrys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 393,000 people named Henry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Henry in 2025?
- Henry ranks #5 among US boy names in 2025, with 12,020 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Henry?
- About 1 in every 142 US boys born in 2025 was named Henry — 12,020 in all.
- Will my child share the name Henry with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 6 classrooms will have a child named Henry.
Ranked beside Henry
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Theodore#4 · James#6 · Oliver#3 · Elijah#7 · Mateo#8 · Noah#2 · Liam#1 · William#9
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Henry? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Henry 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.
Or jump into a head-to-head
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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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