Hermann
Masculine · “army man”
Hermann is the German spelling of an old Germanic name, and the record files it separately from the English one. Its best-known modern bearer had two entirely separate careers with a forty-year gap in the middle, both of them his own.
How old is the name Hermann?
Hermann was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Hermann alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 300 people named Hermann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hermann most popular?
Hermann peaked in 1880, reaching #640 nationally. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hariman to Hermann
The story of Hermann
Hermann Hesse wrote his novels in the first half of the twentieth century, won the Nobel Prize after the second war, and was regarded in German-speaking Europe as a figure of the past almost immediately afterward. Then, in the nineteen-sixties, American students discovered him in translation, and the books about young men leaving home to look for something became enormously popular in a country he had never visited, selling in numbers that startled his publishers and irritated German critics. He was dead by then. It is one of the clearest cases of a writer being read by an audience he did not write for and had no way of anticipating.
Meaning
army man
The name joins the Germanic word for an army to the word for a man, and the reading is settled. The doubled n is the standard German spelling rather than an American flourish.
How the name formed
- Hariman
- Hermann
Related forms: Hermann · Herman
Pronouncing Hermann
HUR-mun
Two syllables with the stress in front. In German the r is rolled and the first vowel is closer to the e of air.
Nicknames for Hermann
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
- 191622 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #640reached in 1880
- Change vs 2014
- +20.0%6 in 2024, 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.
Hermann in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hermann in German — same name
- Herman in English — spelling variant
Hermanns among us
people named Hermann 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
Hermann 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 can be given in two plain words.
- It is the standard German spelling rather than an invention, so it has a real tradition.
- It is read correctly at first sight by English speakers.
- Herman is the commoner spelling in America and this one will be corrected to it regularly.
- In America it reads as belonging to a much older generation, which is either the appeal or the obstacle.
- The doubled n cannot be heard, so the spelling has to be given aloud every time.
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Hermann
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Hermanns 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 Hermann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hermann in 2025?
- Hermann is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Hermann with classmates?
- Hermann will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Henry#5 · Harold#991 · Harry#775 · Howard#1002 · Hunter#130 · Herbert#2641 · Herman#2363 · Harvey#251
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hermann? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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