Hershell
Masculine · “little deer”
Hershel is the Yiddish for a little deer, and it stands in for a Hebrew name rather than translating it. Naftali is blessed in Genesis as a hind let loose, so Yiddish-speaking families gave a boy the Hebrew name for religious purposes and the deer name for daily use — two names for one child, in two languages.
How old is the name Hershell?
Hershell first appears in US birth records in 1899 — 126 years ago. The typical Hershell alive today was born around 1938, making them about 87 years old. About 700 people named Hershell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hershell most popular?
Hershell peaked in 1903, reaching #846 nationally. See the whole 1903 chart.
Where it comes from
From Hirsh to Hershell
The story of Hershell
The family that made the surname famous included the first woman paid a salary for scientific work. She came to England as her brother's housekeeper, was trained by him to sing and then to sweep the sky, discovered eight comets on her own account, cataloged and corrected the existing star catalogs, and was granted an annual salary by the king for her work as her brother's assistant — the first such payment to a woman anywhere. She outlived him by decades, went on working, and received the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal at ninety-eight.
Meaning
little deer
Yiddish, from the word for a deer with an affectionate ending. The pairing with a Hebrew name is a formal system rather than a coincidence, and a great many Yiddish names work the same way.
How the name formed
- Hirsh
- Hershel
- Hershell
Related forms: Hershel · Herschel
Pronouncing Hershell
HUR-shul
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The doubled l changes nothing audible; the standard Yiddish spelling has one.
Nicknames for Hershell
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
- 1899
- Most boys named
- 193844 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #846reached in 1903
- Change vs 1987
- −16.7%5 in 1994, from 6
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.
Hershell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hershel in Yiddish — same name
- Herschel in German — spelling variant
Hershells among us
people named Hershell 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
Hershell 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 concrete, warm and easy to explain.
- It belongs to a living naming system rather than being assembled.
- The spelling gives no trouble once the stress is placed.
- Hershel and Herschel are both standard and this spelling gets corrected.
- The generation that used it in America is now very old.
- It is closely tied to one community, which is a marker outside it.
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Hershell
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Hershells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Hershell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hershell in 2025?
- Hershell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Hershell with classmates?
- Hershell 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 Hershell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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