Hugo
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "bright in mind and spirit".
Name Census estimates that about 31,056 living Americans carry the first name Hugo. It sits at #403 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hugo today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hugo births was 2006 (811 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hugo. 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 Hugo with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
31K
~ 1 in 11,037 Americans
Peak year
2006
811 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#403
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hugo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 59,064 people with the first name Hugo, which placed it at #808 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
#808
National first-name rank
People counted
59K
59,064 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
19.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hugo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hugo is Hispanic at 87.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.2%). 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 Hugo 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 Hugo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino87.8% · 51,844
- White9.3% · 5,491
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 719
- Two or more races0.9% · 505
- Black or African American0.8% · 443
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 62
Gender
Gender distribution for Hugo
Out of the 36,674 babies given the name Hugo since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Hugo as a male name
- Ranked #403 in 2024
- 797 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (811 births)
Hugo as a female name
- Ranked #14,090 in 2020
- 6 female births in 2020
- Peak: 1993 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hugo appears almost entirely male. Of the 59,062 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Hugo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hugo 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 7,324 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Hugo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hugo 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 Hugo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hugos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Hugo, while Vermont, Montana, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 710 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hugo
The name Hugo has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the Old German word "hug" meaning "heart, mind, or soul." It is believed to have emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 8th or 9th century.
The name's earliest recorded use can be traced back to the Frankish and Carolingian dynasties in what is now present-day France and Germany. One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Hugo Capet, who was crowned as the first King of France in 987, establishing the Capetian dynasty that would rule until the French Revolution.
In medieval literature, the name appears in various chronicles and tales, such as the Nibelungenlied, an epic poem from around the 13th century, where Hugo is mentioned as a brave warrior and nobleman.
Moving forward in history, Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) was a Dutch jurist, philosopher, and theologian, renowned for his work in laying the foundations of modern international law. His seminal work, "On the Law of War and Peace," published in 1625, is considered a landmark in legal studies.
Another prominent figure was Victor Hugo (1802-1885), the celebrated French poet, novelist, and dramatist. He is best known for his literary masterpieces, including "Les Misérables" and "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame." His works had a profound impact on French literature and culture, and he is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the Romantic era.
In the realm of science, Hugo de Vries (1848-1935), a Dutch botanist and geneticist, made significant contributions to the understanding of heredity and the laws of genetics. He is credited with rediscovering Gregor Mendel's principles of heredity and is considered one of the pioneers of modern genetics.
Lastly, Hugo Chávez (1954-2013) was a Venezuelan politician and military officer who served as the President of Venezuela from 1999 until his death. He was a prominent figure in Latin American politics, known for his socialist policies and his vocal opposition to American influence in the region.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Hugo
People
Hugo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hugo 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
Hugo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hugo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31,056 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hugo 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 11,037 US residents.
Is Hugo a common name?
We classify Hugo as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36,674 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hugo most popular?
The single biggest year for Hugo was 2006, when 811 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hugo is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hugo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 59,064 people with the name Hugo, or 19.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #808 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 Hugo 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 Hugo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hugo appears almost entirely male. Of the 59,062 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 Hugo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hugo is Hispanic at 87.8%. The next largest groups are White (9.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.2%). 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 Hugo most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Hugo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (51,844 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 Hugo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hugo a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Hugo 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 Hugo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hugo 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 Hugo 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 Hugo?
See how many people share the name Hugo on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.