Hieu
Masculine · “Vietnamese hieu”
Hieu is given to both — 836 boys and 28 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Hieu means filial piety. It is one of the cardinal virtues of Confucian ethics, the duty a child owes a parent, and Vietnamese families give it as a name in the way English-speaking families once gave Patience or Prudence. The child is named after an obligation they have not yet had a chance to fulfill.
How old is the name Hieu?
Hieu first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Hieu alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 800 people named Hieu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hieu most popular?
Hieu peaked in 1984, reaching #1581 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,662 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Hieu
Filial piety is not a private sentiment in the Confucian tradition but a structural principle: the family is the model for the state, and the duty owed to a parent is continuous with the duty owed to a ruler. The Classic of Filial Piety, a short text of the Warring States period, makes the argument directly. Vietnam absorbed the Confucian system through a thousand years of Chinese administration and kept it after independence, running civil service examinations on the Chinese model into the early twentieth century. That is why so much of the Vietnamese naming vocabulary is Sino-Vietnamese, made of Chinese characters read in Vietnamese: Hieu, Trung for loyalty, Nghia for righteousness, Duc for virtue. The names are moral terms, and the tradition of choosing them is old and deliberate.
Meaning
Vietnamese hieu, filial piety
From the Sino-Vietnamese reading of the Chinese character xiao, filial piety, the respect and duty owed by children to parents and ancestors. It is one of the central virtues of Confucian thought and is written with a character combining the elements for old and child. The name is given chiefly to boys. American records strip the Vietnamese diacritics, so the written form here is incomplete. It peaks in 1984.
Pronouncing Hieu
hyew
One syllable in Vietnamese, with a triphthong that English does not have and a tone that American records cannot show. English speakers say hyoo or HEE-oo, and the first is closer. Hugh is the usual English substitute.
Nicknames for Hieu
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
- 1976
- Most boys named
- 198438 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1581reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%9 in 2025, 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.
Hieu in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hieu in Vietnamese — transliteration
- Xiao in Chinese — related form
Hieus among us
people named Hieu are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Hieu
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 Lynden test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hieu's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lynden climbed just as high around 1945, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lynden's path sketches the road Hieu is walking now.
Hieu 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
Hieu beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hieu 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 central to the tradition that uses it.
- It is short and easy to write.
- Hugh gives a ready English equivalent.
- The vowel cluster has no English equivalent.
- The tone that completes the word cannot be recorded here.
- It is rare outside Vietnamese American families.
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Hieu
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hieus 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 Hieu are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hieu in 2025?
- Hieu ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hieu?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Hieu — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hieu with classmates?
- Hieu will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hieu
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hieu? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hieu and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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