Hero
Masculine · “protector”
Hero is given to both — 806 boys and 219 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Hero in Greek was a woman's name before it was a word — and the Greek heros meant a demigod, not a brave person.
How old is the name Hero?
Hero first appears in US birth records in 2004 — 21 years ago. The typical Hero is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 800 people named Hero are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hero most popular?
Hero peaked in 2021, reaching #2079 nationally. Today it ranks #2183, 104 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From heros to Hero
The story of Hero
Hero and Leander is a Greek love story in which he swims the Hellespont nightly until a storm drowns him; Marlowe and Byron both took it up. Shakespeare gives the name to a woman in Much Ado. Modern English use is chiefly masculine and appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
protector, demigod
From the Greek heros, which named a demigod or a mortal of divine descent, not simply a courageous person; the modern sense narrowed much later. Hero was also a priestess of Aphrodite in the Leander story. The Greek is documented.
How the name formed
- heros
- Hero
Related forms: Ἡρώ · Ero
Pronouncing Hero
HEER-oh
Two syllables, stress on the first. It is a homophone of the ordinary English noun.
Nicknames for Hero
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
- 2004
- Most boys named
- 202170 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2079reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- +4.8%65 in 2025, from 62
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.
Hero in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ἡρώ in Greek — transliteration
- Ero in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Georgia.
Heros among us
people named Hero are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 26,278 born in 2025 was named Hero
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 Normon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hero's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Normon climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Normon's path sketches the road Hero is walking now.
Hero 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 Hero is headed
Hero should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Hero beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hero in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That heros meant a demigod rather than a brave person is a first-rate fact.
- The Hero and Leander story is a genuinely fine piece of myth.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It is an ordinary English noun and carries a large claim.
- In Greek and Shakespeare it is a woman's name.
- It is very new as a modern given name.
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What they receive
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Hero
Masculine · #2183 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Heros are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Hero are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hero in 2025?
- Hero ranks #2183 among US boy names in 2025, with 65 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hero?
- About 1 in every 26,278 US boys born in 2025 was named Hero — 65 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hero with classmates?
- Hero will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hero
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eastyn#2183 · Carsen#2183 · Cylas#2183 · Fynn#2183 · Lyndon#2183 · Chet#2183 · Buckley#2183 · Matheus#2183
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hero? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hero and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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