Herman
Feminine · “army man”
Herman is given to boys far more often — 135,977 boys against 795 girls since 1880. See Herman as a boy name
Herman is an old Germanic name that joins the words for army and man, and it has two very different monuments: a colossal copper statue in a German forest, and a novel about a whale that almost nobody read while its author was alive.
How old is the name Herman?
Herman first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Herman alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 300 people named Herman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Herman most popular?
Herman peaked in 1891, reaching #1093 nationally. See the whole 1891 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hariman to Herman
The story of Herman
High in the Teutoburg Forest there is a copper figure on a stone plinth, forty-odd meters of him, sword raised. He commemorates the Germanic leader who destroyed three Roman legions in those woods, and he was put up over about forty years in the nineteenth century, as a monument less to the Romans than to German unification. The sword points west, toward France. The other Herman worth knowing wrote a long novel about a whaling voyage that sold badly, went out of print, and left him supporting his family for nineteen years as a customs inspector on the New York docks, checking cargo manifests. The book was rediscovered roughly thirty years after he died. He never knew.
Meaning
army man
The name joins the Germanic heri, an army or host, to man. The reading is settled and the same first element appears in Herbert and in the German word for an army.
How the name formed
- Hariman
- Hermann
- Herman
Related forms: Hermann · Herman · Ermanno
Pronouncing Herman
HUR-mun
Two syllables with the stress in front. In German the name has a doubled n and a rolled r, and the first vowel is closer to the e of air.
Nicknames for Herman
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
- 1891
- Most girls named
- 192529 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1093reached in 1891
- Change vs 1978
- +20.0%6 in 1980, from 5
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.
Herman in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hermann in German — same name
- Herman in Dutch — same name
- Ermanno in Italian — same name
Hermans among us
people named Herman are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Herman sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and documented, with a straightforward reading in two plain words.
- It has an unbroken record in American use going back to the start of the statistics.
- It is spelled exactly as it sounds and never needs repeating.
- In America it reads as belonging to a much older generation, which is either the appeal or the obstacle.
- A long-running television comedy attached the name to a large slow character for one generation of viewers.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to boys but is recorded for girls as well, so a form will occasionally guess wrong.
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What they receive
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Herman
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Hermans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Herman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Herman in 2025?
- Herman is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Herman with classmates?
- Herman will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Helen#461 · Heather#1261 · Hannah#56 · Hazel#21 · Holly#416 · Hailey#104 · Haley#861 · Heidi#340
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Herman? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Herman and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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