Hope
A feminine name meaning an expectation, desire or confidence in fulfillment.
Name Census estimates that about 81,796 living Americans carry the first name Hope. It sits at #317 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Hope today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hope births was 2000 (2,326 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hope. 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 Hope with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Hope is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 563 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
82K
~ 1 in 4,190 Americans
Peak year
2000
2,326 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#317
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hope in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 75,728 people with the first name Hope, which placed it at #688 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
#688
National first-name rank
People counted
76K
75,728 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
25.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hope
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hope is White at 70.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Hope 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 Hope at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.6% · 53,483
- Black or African American11.8% · 8,939
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 7,079
- Two or more races4.7% · 3,531
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 2,011
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 685
Gender
Gender distribution for Hope
Out of the 96,878 babies given the name Hope since 1880, 99.4% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Hope as a male name
- Ranked #10,245 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (18 births)
Hope as a female name
- Ranked #317 in 2024
- 964 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (2,321 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hope appears almost entirely female. Of the 75,724 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Hope: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hope from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 18,734 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Hope remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hope 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 Hope during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hopes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Hope, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,794 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hope
The name Hope is an English word name derived from the noun "hope", meaning a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen. Its origins can be traced back to the Old English word "hopian", which meant to look forward to or to have confidence in the future. The name gained popularity during the Protestant Reformation, as it was seen as a symbol of the hope for salvation.
In ancient times, the concept of hope was personified as the Greek goddess Elpis, who was depicted as a beautiful young woman carrying a budding branch. She was considered one of the last spirits to remain in Pandora's box, representing the hope that remained even after all the evils had been unleashed upon the world.
The earliest recorded use of the name Hope as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Hope Huddleston, an English woman born in 1572. She was a member of the Huddleston family, a prominent Catholic family in Yorkshire, England.
Throughout history, the name Hope has been borne by several notable individuals, including:
1. Hope Mirrlees (1887-1978), an English poet and novelist best known for her influential fantasy novel "Lud-in-the-Mist".
2. Hope Emerson (1897-1960), an American character actress known for her roles in various films and television shows.
3. Hope Cooke (1940-), an American writer and former queen consort of Sikkim, who was married to the last reigning monarch of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal.
4. Hope Sandoval (born 1966), an American singer-songwriter and founder of the alternative rock band Mazzy Star.
5. Hope Solo (born 1981), an American former soccer goalkeeper who played for the United States women's national soccer team and was a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
The name Hope continues to be a popular choice for parents, as it represents the universal human desire for a better future and the optimism that comes with new beginnings.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Hope
People
Hope + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hope 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
Hope: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hope?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 81,796 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hope 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 4,190 US residents.
Is Hope a common name?
We classify Hope as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96,878 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hope most popular?
The single biggest year for Hope was 2000, when 2,326 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hope is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hope in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 75,728 people with the name Hope, or 25.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #688 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 Hope 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 Hope?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hope appears almost entirely female. Of the 75,724 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Hope?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hope is White at 70.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Hope most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hope in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.6% (53,483 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 Hope in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hope a female name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Hope 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 Hope still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hope 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 Hope 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 called Hope?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.