Hansen
A masculine Scandinavian name derived from the given name Hans or Johann, meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 828 living Americans carry the first name Hansen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hansen today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hansen births was 2016 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hansen. 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 Hansen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
828
~ 1 in 413,955 Americans
Peak year
2016
36 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,341
Tracked since 1917
Census
Hansen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 913 people with the first name Hansen, which placed it at #13,282 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
#13,282
National first-name rank
People counted
913
913 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
39.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hansen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hansen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 39.2%. The next largest groups are White (36.8%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Hansen 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 Hansen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander39.2% · 358
- White36.8% · 336
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 85
- Black or African American7.7% · 70
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.6% · 33
- Two or more races3.4% · 31
Popularity
Hansen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hansen from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 219 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hansen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hansen 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 Hansen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hansens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hansen
Hansen is a given name that originated from the Old Norse language. It is a compound name that combines the elements "hans" meaning "Hans" or "Johannes" and "son" meaning "son of". This suggests that the name was initially used as a patronymic, indicating the person was the son of someone named Hans or Johannes.
The name can be traced back to the Viking Age, which lasted from the late 8th century to the late 11th century. During this period, the Vikings, who were Scandinavian seafarers, traders, and raiders, traveled widely across Europe and beyond. It is likely that the name Hansen was brought to various regions by these Vikings and their descendants.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hansen can be found in the Icelandic sagas, which are prose narratives written in the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas provide insights into the lives and adventures of prominent figures from the Viking Age and the early medieval period in Iceland.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hansen. One of the most famous was Peter Andreas Hansen (1795-1874), a Danish astronomer and mathematician known for his contributions to celestial mechanics and the study of comets. Another prominent figure was Hans Christian Hansen (1803-1883), a Danish sculptor who created numerous works of art, including the famous Hercules and Hebe statue in Copenhagen.
In the realm of exploration, Godfred Hansen (1876-1937) was a Norwegian explorer who participated in several Antarctic expeditions, including Roald Amundsen's successful journey to the South Pole in 1911. Armin Hansen (1886-1957), on the other hand, was a German architect and urban planner who played a significant role in the reconstruction of Berlin after World War II.
More recently, James Hansen (born 1941) is an American scientist and climate activist who has made significant contributions to the study of global warming and its impact on the environment. His work has been instrumental in raising awareness about the urgent need for action to address climate change.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Hansen throughout history, showcasing its diverse cultural and geographical reach.
People
Hansen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hansen 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
Hansen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hansen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 828 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hansen 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 413,955 US residents.
Is Hansen a common name?
We classify Hansen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 852 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hansen most popular?
The single biggest year for Hansen was 2016, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hansen is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hansen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 913 people with the name Hansen, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,282 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 Hansen 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 Hansen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hansen leans strongly male. 861 people counted with this name were male (94.4%), compared with 51 female bearers (5.6%). 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 Hansen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hansen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 39.2%. The next largest groups are White (36.8%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Hansen most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Hansen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.2% (358 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 Hansen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hansen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hansen 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 Hansen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hansen 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 Hansen 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 people have Hansen as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Hansen, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.