Hobart
Of Germanic origin, a personal name meaning "high or bright settlement".
Name Census estimates that about 896 living Americans carry the first name Hobart. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hobart today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hobart births was 1921 (136 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hobart. 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 Hobart is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hobarts were born before 1966.
People living today
896
~ 1 in 382,538 Americans
Peak year
1921
136 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,927
Tracked since 1885
Census
Hobart in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 983 people with the first name Hobart, which placed it at #12,598 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
#12,598
National first-name rank
People counted
983
983 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hobart
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hobart is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.6%). 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 Hobart 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 Hobart at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.6% · 832
- Black or African American8.3% · 82
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 26
- Two or more races2.1% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 8
Popularity
Hobart: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hobart from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,086 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
Hobart 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 Hobart during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hobarts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia recorded the most babies named Hobart, while Washington, Georgia, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 58 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hobart
The name Hobart originated in England and is derived from the Old English words "hoh" meaning "heel" or "ridge" and "beorht" meaning "bright" or "brilliant." It is believed to have been initially used as a surname referring to someone who lived near a prominent hill or ridge.
In the 12th century, the name Hobart appeared in various ancient records and documents, such as the Domesday Book, which was a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name was often spelled as "Hobbard" or "Hubard" during this period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Hobart was Sir Walter Hobart, who lived in the 13th century and served as a knight and landowner in Norfolk, England. Another notable figure was Sir Henry Hobart, who was born in 1554 and served as Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas during the reign of King James I.
In the 17th century, Sir John Hobart, born in 1594, was an English lawyer and politician who served as Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and played a significant role in the constitutional struggles between the English Parliament and King Charles I. His son, John Hobart, born in 1628, was a Puritan minister who later became one of the founders of the colony of Connecticut in the United States.
Another prominent figure with the name Hobart was Garret Augustus Hobart, born in 1844, who served as the 24th Vice President of the United States under President William McKinley from 1897 to 1899. He was known for his advocacy of sound currency policies and his efforts to promote economic stability during his tenure.
In the literary world, Hobart Caughey, born in 1886, was an American author and historian who wrote extensively about the history and culture of the American West. His works, such as "The Pacific Coast" and "The California Frontier," provided valuable insights into the region's past.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Hobart, reflecting its enduring presence and significance across various fields and eras.
People
Hobart + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hobart 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
Hobart: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hobart?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 896 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hobart 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 382,538 US residents.
Is Hobart a common name?
We classify Hobart as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,806 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hobart most popular?
The single biggest year for Hobart was 1921, when 136 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hobart is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hobart in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 983 people with the name Hobart, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,598 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 Hobart 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 Hobart?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hobart appears almost entirely male. Of the 977 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Hobart?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hobart is White at 84.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.6%). 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 Hobart most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hobart in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.6% (832 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 Hobart in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hobart a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hobart 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 Hobart still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hobart 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 Hobart 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 are named Hobart?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.