Herman
Masculine · “army man”
Herman is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 135,977 boys against 795 girls since 1880. See Herman as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Herman alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 40,000 people named Herman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Herman most popular?
Herman peaked in 1886, reaching #44 nationally. Today it ranks #2363, 2,319 places below that high. See the whole 1886 chart.
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19213,219 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #44reached in 1886
- Change vs 2022
- +13.7%58 in 2025, from 51
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Hermans among us
people named Herman are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 29,450 born in 2025 was named Herman
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
Herman has held the top-100 across 6 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 Herman is headed
Herman 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.
Herman beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Herman in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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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Herman
Masculine · #2363 in the U.S.
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 40,000 people named Herman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Herman in 2025?
- Herman ranks #2363 among US boy names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Herman?
- About 1 in every 29,450 US boys born in 2025 was named Herman — 58 in all.
- Will my child share the name Herman with classmates?
- Herman will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Herman
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kyngston#2363 · Pete#2363 · Clint#2363 · Javi#2363 · Lipa#2363 · Reuven#2363 · Zacchaeus#2363 · Khyson#2363
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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