Horatio
Of Latin origin, meaning "timekeeper" or "horologer."
Name Census estimates that about 907 living Americans carry the first name Horatio. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Horatio today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Horatio births was 2007 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Horatio. 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 Horatio with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
907
~ 1 in 377,899 Americans
Peak year
2007
40 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,296
Tracked since 1880
Census
Horatio in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,013 people with the first name Horatio, which placed it at #12,322 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
#12,322
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,013 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Horatio
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Horatio is Black at 54.9%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Hispanic (15.6%). 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 Horatio 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 Horatio at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.9% · 556
- White20.6% · 209
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 158
- Two or more races4.8% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 11
Popularity
Horatio: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Horatio 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 173 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Horatio 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 Horatio during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Horatios live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, New York, California recorded the most babies named Horatio, while Georgia, Pennsylvania, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Horatio
The name Horatio has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the word "Horatius," which was the surname of a prominent Roman family. It is believed to have been derived from the Latin word "hora," meaning "hour" or "time." This suggests that the name may have originally been associated with ideas of timeliness or punctuality.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Horatio can be found in ancient Roman literature, particularly in the works of the Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, better known as Horace. He lived from 65 BC to 8 BC and his literary works, including odes and satires, made a significant contribution to the development of Roman literature.
The name Horatio gained widespread recognition in the English-speaking world through the famous character of Horatio in William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet," written around 1601. Horatio is a close friend of Prince Hamlet and serves as a voice of reason and moral support throughout the play.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Horatio was Horatio Nelson, the celebrated British naval officer who lived from 1758 to 1805. He is renowned for his leadership and victories in numerous naval battles, including the Battle of Trafalgar, where he was mortally wounded.
Another notable figure was Horatio Gates, an American general who lived from 1728 to 1806. He played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War, most notably winning the Battle of Saratoga, which is considered a turning point in the conflict.
In the realm of literature, Horatio Alger Jr. (1832-1899) was an American writer best known for his novels portraying young protagonists who overcome adversity through hard work and determination, earning him a place in popular culture with the phrase "Horatio Alger story."
Horatio Greenough (1805-1852) was a renowned American sculptor and the first American to gain recognition for his neoclassical sculptures, including his famous work "The Rescue."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Horatio, a name with a rich cultural heritage and associations with timeliness, literature, and military valor.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Horatio
People
Horatio + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Horatio 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
Horatio: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Horatio?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 907 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Horatio 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 377,899 US residents.
Is Horatio a common name?
We classify Horatio as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,437 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Horatio most popular?
The single biggest year for Horatio was 2007, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Horatio is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Horatio in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,013 people with the name Horatio, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,322 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 Horatio 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 Horatio?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Horatio appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,011 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Horatio?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Horatio is Black at 54.9%. The next largest groups are White (20.6%) and Hispanic (15.6%). 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 Horatio most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Horatio in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.9% (556 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 Horatio in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Horatio a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Horatio 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 Horatio still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Horatio 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 Horatio 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 common is the name Horatio?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.