Hughes
Masculine · “son of Hugh”
Hughes is a surname meaning son of Hugh, and the Germanic word behind Hugh names the mind — heart, spirit and thought together.
How old is the name Hughes?
Hughes first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Hughes alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 400 people named Hughes are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hughes most popular?
Hughes peaked in 1916, reaching #790 nationally. Today it ranks #4249, 3,459 places below that high. See the whole 1916 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hug to Hughes
The story of Hughes
The Germanic word hug covers mind, spirit and disposition together, which is a more integrated idea than English now has words for. Odin's two ravens are Thought and Memory, and the first is this word. Hugh became one of the commonest medieval English names and produced Hughes, Hewson, Hudson and Huggins. It is also very common in Wales, where it renders Huw.
Meaning
son of Hugh, that is, of mind or spirit
From Germanic hug, mind, heart or spirit; Hugh came to England with the Normans. In Norse myth one of Odin's ravens is Huginn, thought, from the same root — the other is Muninn, memory.
How the name formed
- hug
- Hugh
- Hughes
Related forms: Huw · Hugues · Hugh
Pronouncing Hughes
HYOOZ
One syllable. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Hughes
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
- 1896
- Most boys named
- 191661 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #790reached in 1916
- Change vs 2023
- +60.0%24 in 2025, from 15
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.
Hughes in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Huw in Welsh — related form
- Hugues in French — related form
- Hugh in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia.
Hughess among us
people named Hughes are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 71,170 born in 2025 was named Hughes
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 Roby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hughes's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Roby climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Roby's path sketches the road Hughes is walking now.
Hughes 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
Hughes beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hughes in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely rich Germanic idea behind it.
- Hugh is a complete parent name and a ready fuller form.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- It sounds like a plural, which will be remarked on.
- A one-syllable name gives little room for a nickname.
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Hughes
Masculine · #4249 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hughess are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Hughes are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hughes in 2025?
- Hughes ranks #4249 among US boy names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hughes?
- About 1 in every 71,170 US boys born in 2025 was named Hughes — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hughes with classmates?
- Hughes will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hughes
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Guadalupe#4249 · Denny#4249 · Erling#4249 · Rodrick#4249 · Elric#4249 · Ron#4249 · Corvin#4249 · Wright#4249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hughes? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hughes and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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