Hershal
A diminutive masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "deer" or "hart".
Name Census estimates that about 203 living Americans carry the first name Hershal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hershal today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hershal births was 1918 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hershal. 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
- • The typical person named Hershal is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hershals were born before 1967.
People living today
203
~ 1 in 1,688,445 Americans
Peak year
1918
26 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
2004 SSA rank
#10,447
Tracked since 1913
Census
Hershal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 308 people with the first name Hershal, which placed it at #28,952 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
#28,952
National first-name rank
People counted
308
308 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hershal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hershal is White at 69.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%). 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 Hershal 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 Hershal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.5% · 214
- Black or African American15.3% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.7% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.2% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 6
- Two or more races0.3% · 1
Popularity
Hershal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hershal from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 170 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hershal 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 Hershal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hershals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Missouri, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Hershal, while Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hershal
The name Hershal has its origins in the Yiddish language, spoken by Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. It is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Hirsh or Hersh, which means "deer" or "stag." The name likely emerged in the Middle Ages, when Yiddish developed as a fusion of German dialects and Hebrew and Aramaic vocabulary among Jewish communities in the Rhineland region of Germany.
In the 16th century, the name Hershal can be found in various records of Jewish communities across Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. It was a common name among Ashkenazi Jews, who often named their children after animals or nature elements, following traditions rooted in the Torah and Talmud.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hershal dates back to the late 16th century, when Rabbi Hershal ben Yehudah Leib, a prominent scholar and kabbalist, lived in the town of Lublin, Poland. Another notable figure was Hershal Rothschild (1770-1855), a banker and member of the renowned Rothschild family, who played a significant role in the family's financial empire.
In the 19th century, Hershal Grodzienski (1839-1909) was a renowned Talmudic scholar and rosh yeshiva (head of a Jewish theological seminary) in Vilna, Lithuania. Hershal Leyeles (1886-1926) was a Yiddish writer and journalist who contributed extensively to the development of modern Yiddish literature.
Moving into the 20th century, Hershal Zvi Margulies (1908-1968) was a well-known Israeli artist and sculptor, known for his monumental public works and his unique blend of traditional Jewish themes with modern artistic styles.
Throughout history, the name Hershal has been closely associated with Jewish culture and traditions, particularly among Ashkenazi communities in Eastern Europe. While not as common today, it remains a cherished name with deep historical roots and significance within the Jewish diaspora.
People
Hershal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hershal 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
Hershal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hershal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 203 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hershal 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 1,688,445 US residents.
Is Hershal a common name?
We classify Hershal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 647 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hershal most popular?
The single biggest year for Hershal was 1918, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hershal is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hershal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 308 people with the name Hershal, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,952 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 Hershal 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 Hershal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hershal leans strongly male. 316 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Hershal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hershal is White at 69.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%). 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 Hershal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hershal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.5% (214 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 Hershal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hershal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hershal 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 Hershal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hershal 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 Hershal 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 Hershal?
Want to know how many Americans are named Hershal? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.