Heathe
A feminine name derived from the word "heath", meaning a flowering evergreen plant.
Name Census estimates that about 69 living Americans carry the first name Heathe. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Heathe today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Heathe births was 1973 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Heathe. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Heathe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
69
~ 1 in 4,967,454 Americans
Peak year
1973
18 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1976 SSA rank
#5,184
Tracked since 1971
Census
Heathe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 166 people with the first name Heathe, which placed it at #42,903 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
#42,903
National first-name rank
People counted
166
166 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Heathe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heathe is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and Black (1.8%). 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 Heathe 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 Heathe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.2% · 153
- Two or more races3.0% · 5
- Black or African American1.8% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Heathe
Heathe is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 75 total registrations, 24 (32.0%) were male and 51 (68.0%) were female.
Heathe as a male name
- Ranked #5,184 in 1976
- 6 male births in 1976
- Peak: 1975 (7 births)
Heathe as a female name
- Ranked #10,080 in 1989
- 7 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1973 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Heathe on both sides of the split. Of the 177 people counted with this name, 50 were male (28.2%) and 127 were female (71.8%).
Popularity
Heathe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Heathe from the 1970s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 52 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Heathe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Heathe 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 Heathe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Heathe
The name Heathe originates from the Old English language, which was spoken in parts of Britain from the 5th to the 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old English word "hæþ," which means "heath" or "heathland." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to someone who lived near or in a heathland area.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Heathe can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and population in England, completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. In this record, a person named Heathe is listed as a landowner in the county of Gloucestershire.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Heathe appears sporadically in various historical documents, such as legal records and parish registers. One notable individual bearing this name was Heathe de Chadwick, a knight who fought in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, during the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
In the 16th century, a Heathe Browne is recorded as a merchant in the city of London, engaged in trade with the Low Countries. Around the same time, a Heathe Fitzwilliam is mentioned as a member of the gentry in the county of Yorkshire.
Moving into the 17th century, Heathe Cartwright was a prominent Puritan minister and author, known for his religious writings and sermons. He lived from 1599 to 1678 and was a vocal critic of the Church of England's practices during the English Civil War.
Heathe Llewelyn, born in 1712, was a Welsh poet and scholar who made significant contributions to the preservation of Welsh language and literature. His works include translations of classical texts and anthologies of Welsh poetry.
While the name Heathe may have been more common in the past, it has become relatively rare in modern times. However, its historical roots and connection to the natural landscape of heathlands make it a unique and intriguing name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Heathe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Heathe 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
Heathe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Heathe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 69 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Heathe 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 4,967,454 US residents.
Is Heathe a common name?
We classify Heathe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 75 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Heathe most popular?
The single biggest year for Heathe was 1973, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Heathe is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Heathe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 166 people with the name Heathe, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,903 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 Heathe 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 Heathe?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Heathe on both sides of the split. Of the 177 people counted with this name, 50 were male (28.2%) and 127 were female (71.8%). 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 Heathe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heathe is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and Black (1.8%). 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 Heathe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Heathe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.2% (153 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 Heathe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Heathe a female name?
Yes, 68.0% of people registered as Heathe 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 Heathe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Heathe 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 Heathe 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 Heathe?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Heathe at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.