Haakon
Scandinavian masculine name from the Old Norse meaning "high-born".
Name Census estimates that about 449 living Americans carry the first name Haakon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Haakon today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Haakon births was 2016 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Haakon. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
449
~ 1 in 763,373 Americans
Peak year
2016
30 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,259
Tracked since 1912
Census
Haakon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 462 people with the first name Haakon, which placed it at #21,817 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,817
National first-name rank
People counted
462
462 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Haakon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haakon is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.4%) and Hispanic (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Haakon described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Haakon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.0% · 411
- Two or more races5.4% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 13
- Black or African American1.1% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
Popularity
Haakon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Haakon from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 175 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Haakon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Haakon by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Haakon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Haakons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Haakon
The name Haakon has its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Norse people of Scandinavia during the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old Norse elements "hā" meaning "high" and "konr" meaning "descendant" or "son." Together, the name Haakon can be interpreted to mean "high-born" or "of noble birth."
This name has a strong connection to the history and culture of Norway, where it has been a popular choice for centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Haakon is found in the Icelandic Sagas, which are literary sources that provide insights into the lives and adventures of the Norse people during the Viking Age.
Haakon IV, also known as Haakon the Old (1204-1263), was a prominent Norwegian king who ruled from 1217 to 1263. He is renowned for his efforts to unify and strengthen the Norwegian kingdom, as well as for his involvement in the civil war known as the Bagler Conflict.
Another notable figure in Norwegian history is Haakon V (1270-1319), who was known as Haakon Magnusson and ruled as King of Norway from 1299 to 1319. He is credited with establishing Norway's first written code of laws, known as the National Law Code of 1314.
In more recent times, Haakon VII (1872-1957) was the first king of Norway after the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. He reigned from 1905 until his death in 1957 and played a crucial role in establishing Norway as an independent nation.
Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway (born in 1973), is the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne and the son of the current monarch, King Harald V. He is expected to one day become Haakon VIII, continuing the legacy of this historic name in Norwegian royal lineage.
It's worth noting that variations of the name Haakon, such as Håkon or Hâkon, can also be found in other Scandinavian languages like Swedish and Danish, reflecting the shared cultural and linguistic roots of the region.
People
Haakon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Haakon as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Haakon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Haakon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 449 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Haakon going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 763,373 US residents.
Is Haakon a common name?
We classify Haakon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 471 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Haakon most popular?
The single biggest year for Haakon was 2016, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Haakon is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Haakon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 462 people with the name Haakon, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,817 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Haakon in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Haakon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haakon appears almost entirely male. Of the 457 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Haakon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haakon is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.4%) and Hispanic (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Haakon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Haakon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.0% (411 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Haakon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Haakon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Haakon in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Haakon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Haakon in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Haakon can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Haakon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.