Halo
A Spanish name meaning "the breath of heaven".
Name Census estimates that about 4,745 living Americans carry the first name Halo. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Halo today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Halo births was 2024 (824 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Halo. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Halo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Halo is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 72,235 Americans
Peak year
2024
824 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#512
Tracked since 2000
Census
Halo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,751 people with the first name Halo, which placed it at #8,310 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
#8,310
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,751 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
36.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Halo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Halo is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.6%) and Hispanic (18.7%). 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 Halo 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 Halo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American36.8% · 644
- White26.6% · 465
- Hispanic or Latino18.7% · 327
- Two or more races13.4% · 234
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 42
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Halo
Halo leans heavily female at 84.3% of total registrations, but 749 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Halo as a male name
- Ranked #994 in 2024
- 226 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (226 births)
Halo as a female name
- Ranked #512 in 2024
- 598 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (598 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Halo leans strongly female. 1,511 people counted with this name were female (86.2%), compared with 241 male bearers (13.8%).
Popularity
Halo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Halo from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 2,647 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Halo 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 Halo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Halos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Halo, while West Virginia, Oregon, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 97 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Halo
The name Halo is derived from the Greek word 'halos', which means 'circle' or 'halo'. It originated in ancient Greek culture, where it referred to the circular rings or halos depicted around the heads of saints and other holy figures in religious artwork. The name's origins can be traced back to the early centuries of the Christian era.
In ancient Greek mythology, the term 'halos' was also used to describe the circular path of the sun across the sky. This celestial connection may have contributed to the name's association with divine or heavenly connotations. The name Halo was likely adopted as a given name in the early days of Christianity, when Greek culture and language held significant influence.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Halo is found in the 4th century, where it was borne by Saint Halo, a Breton monk and bishop who lived in the region of Brittany, France. His life and work contributed to the spread of Christianity in the area, and he is venerated as the patron saint of several towns and villages in Brittany.
In the 6th century, another notable figure named Halo lived – Halo of Auxerre, a Benedictine monk and scholar from Auxerre, France. He is recognized for his contributions to the study of rhetoric and grammar during the Carolingian Renaissance.
Moving forward in history, Halo de Nantes was a 9th-century Breton ruler and Count of Nantes. He played a significant role in the defense of Brittany against the Vikings and is remembered for his military exploits in protecting the region.
During the Renaissance period, Halo Navis was a 16th-century Italian painter and architect from Sardinia. He is known for his work on the Basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres, where he designed the church's facade.
In more recent times, Halo Jones was the name of a fictional character created by writer Alan Moore and artist Ian Gibson for the comic book series "The Ballad of Halo Jones", published in the 1980s. The series followed the adventures of Halo Jones, a young woman living in a futuristic society, and gained critical acclaim for its storytelling and social commentary.
While the name Halo may not be as common as some other names, it has a rich history rooted in ancient Greek culture and has been borne by individuals from various walks of life throughout the centuries, from saints and scholars to rulers and creative artists.
People
Halo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Halo 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
Halo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Halo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,745 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Halo 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 72,235 US residents.
Is Halo a common name?
We classify Halo as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,778 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Halo most popular?
The single biggest year for Halo was 2024, when 824 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Halo is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Halo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,751 people with the name Halo, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,310 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 Halo 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 Halo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Halo leans strongly female. 1,511 people counted with this name were female (86.2%), compared with 241 male bearers (13.8%). 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 Halo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Halo is Black at 36.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.6%) and Hispanic (18.7%). 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 Halo most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Halo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.8% (644 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 Halo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Halo a female name?
Yes, 84.3% of people registered as Halo in the SSA data are female. 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 Halo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Halo 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 Halo 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 common is the name Halo?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.