Herschel
About 10,674 American babies have been named Herschel since 1880, most of them around 1921. In 2025 it ranked 3,379th. About 3,500 Herschels are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 61.
Popularity, 1880–2025
boys named Herschel
By the numbers
- Total US births
- 10,674
- Estimated living today
- 3,500
- Median age today
- 61
- Peak year
- 1921
- Best rank
- 361st
- Rank in 2025
- 3,379th
- First recorded
- 1880
How old the living Herschels are
born that year still alive today
Of the 10,674 babies given the name since 1880, about 3,500 are alive — 32 in every hundred. Roughly 410 of them are children and 1,500 are 65 or over. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 1964 and half after.
An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.
Where the name comes from
after its discoverer, William Herschel.
Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Notable Herschels
- Herschel Grynszpan (1921–1944)Polish Jewish resistance fighter
- Herschel Savage (1952–2023)American pornographic film actor & director
- Herschel Bernardi (1923–1986)American actor
- Herschel Walker (born 1962)American diplomat and former football player
- Herschel Evans (1909–1939)American musician
- Herschel V. Johnson (1812–1880)American and Confederate politician
- Herschel Mayall (1863–1941)American actor
- Herschel Daugherty (1910–1993)American television and film director, actor
People named Herschel with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).
Where Herschel is most common
Relative to how many babies each state records, Herschel is most concentrated in Indiana (5.0×), Kentucky (4.4×), Georgia (3.9×), Arkansas (3.8×).
Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.
Names of 1921
The most popular boys’ names the year Herschel peaked:
Related names
Herschel against another name
Two names on one chart, with the year one overtook the other.
Try it on yourself
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.