Hawk
A Germanic name meaning "hunter" or "predator of the sky."
Name Census estimates that about 960 living Americans carry the first name Hawk. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hawk today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hawk births was 2017 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hawk. 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 Hawk with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
960
~ 1 in 357,036 Americans
Peak year
2017
87 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,343
Tracked since 1982
Census
Hawk in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 874 people with the first name Hawk, which placed it at #13,712 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
#13,712
National first-name rank
People counted
874
874 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hawk
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hawk is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.8%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Hawk 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 Hawk at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.6% · 565
- Two or more races10.8% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 77
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.5% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native6.4% · 56
- Black or African American2.9% · 25
Popularity
Hawk: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hawk from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 489 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hawk remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hawk 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 Hawk during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hawks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Hawk, while Washington, Oklahoma, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hawk
The name Hawk has its origins in Old English, where it was derived from the word "hafoc," which referred to the bird of prey. This name likely emerged during the early medieval period in England and other parts of the British Isles, where it was initially used as a descriptive surname for those who exhibited characteristics associated with the hawk, such as keen eyesight, agility, or predatory instincts.
In ancient times, hawks were revered in various cultures for their hunting prowess and symbolic connections to the gods. In Egyptian mythology, the hawk was associated with the sun god Ra, and the falcon-headed deity Horus. Similarly, in Native American traditions, the hawk was often seen as a symbol of strength, vision, and spiritual guidance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hawk dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and tenants in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Anglo-Saxon population prior to the Norman conquest.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hawk. One of the earliest was Hawk of Beckham, a 13th-century English landowner and knight who fought in the Second Barons' War against King Henry III. In the 16th century, Hawk Hickman (1537-1616) was an English politician and Member of Parliament during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Moving forward in time, Hawk Taylor (1865-1952) was a renowned American artist known for his landscape paintings of the American West. In the 20th century, Hawk Hosking (1913-1990) was a celebrated Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and was later inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Another notable figure was Hawk Koch (born 1945), an American film producer and former president of the Producers Guild of America, who has been involved in the production of several critically acclaimed films such as Source Code and Heaven Can Wait.
These examples illustrate the enduring appeal and historical significance of the name Hawk, which has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, spanning centuries and cultures. While its roots can be traced back to Old English and the symbolic representation of the bird of prey, the name has transcended its original meaning and become a distinctive and powerful moniker in its own right.
People
Hawk + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hawk 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
Hawk: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hawk?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 960 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hawk 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 357,036 US residents.
Is Hawk a common name?
We classify Hawk as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 970 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hawk most popular?
The single biggest year for Hawk was 2017, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hawk is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hawk in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 874 people with the name Hawk, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,712 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 Hawk 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 Hawk?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hawk leans strongly male. 856 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 21 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Hawk?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hawk is White at 64.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.8%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Hawk most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hawk in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.6% (565 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 Hawk in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hawk a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hawk 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 Hawk still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hawk 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 Hawk 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 Hawk as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Hawk on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.