Heyden
A masculine name of German origin meaning "heathland" or "uncultivated land".
Name Census estimates that about 244 living Americans carry the first name Heyden. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Heyden today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Heyden births was 2010 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Heyden. 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.
People living today
244
~ 1 in 1,404,731 Americans
Peak year
2010
17 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,734
Tracked since 1993
Census
Heyden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 258 people with the first name Heyden, which placed it at #32,555 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
#32,555
National first-name rank
People counted
258
258 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Heyden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heyden is White at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.5%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Heyden 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 Heyden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.3% · 171
- Hispanic or Latino22.5% · 58
- Black or African American6.2% · 16
- Two or more races3.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 4
Popularity
Heyden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Heyden from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 107 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Heyden remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Heyden 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 Heyden 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 Heyden
The name Heyden is of Old English origin, derived from the word "hēah" meaning "high" or "noble," combined with the suffix "-denu," which refers to a valley or woodland. This suggests that the name may have originally been used to describe someone who lived in a high valley or a noble's woodland.
In the early medieval period, the name Heyden was primarily found in the region of Wessex, in what is now southern England. It is believed to have been used as a topographical surname initially, denoting the place of origin or residence of an individual.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Heyden can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of lands and landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name had already gained some prominence in England by the late 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Heyden. One such individual was Heyden Reyners (c. 1390-1460), a Flemish painter known for his altarpieces and religious works. Another was Heyden Collinson (1567-1634), an English explorer and navigator who accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh on his expeditions to the Americas.
In the 17th century, Heyden Browne (1628-1695) was a prominent English lawyer and politician who served as the Attorney General for England and Wales from 1686 to 1687. In the following century, Heyden Pritchard (1712-1782) was a Welsh architect and surveyor who worked on several notable buildings in London.
During the 19th century, Heyden Hawkins (1834-1902) was a British artist known for his landscape paintings, particularly those depicting scenes from the English countryside. He was a member of the Royal Academy and had several of his works exhibited at the Royal Academy's annual exhibitions.
While the name Heyden may have had its origins as a topographical surname, it has since evolved into a given name in its own right. Its connection to concepts of nobility and natural beauty has endured, making it a unique and evocative choice for parents seeking a name with historical depth and cultural significance.
People
Heyden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Heyden 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
Heyden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Heyden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 244 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Heyden 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 1,404,731 US residents.
Is Heyden a common name?
We classify Heyden as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 246 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Heyden most popular?
The single biggest year for Heyden was 2010, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Heyden is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Heyden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 258 people with the name Heyden, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,555 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 Heyden 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 Heyden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Heyden leans strongly male. 216 people counted with this name were male (80.6%), compared with 52 female bearers (19.4%). 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 Heyden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Heyden is White at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.5%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Heyden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Heyden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.3% (171 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 Heyden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Heyden a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Heyden 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 Heyden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Heyden 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 Heyden 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 Heyden as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Heyden, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.