Herman
Herman is the 868th most common surname in the United States, shared by 39,217 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 7,622.
By the numbers
- People
- 39,217
- Rank
- 868th
- How common
- 1 in 7,622
- Per 100,000
- 13.1
Where the name comes from
Origin a patronymic
From Old English here (“army”) + man (“man”) It was revived in the 19th century, partly due to American immigrants from continental Europe where the name has been more popular. Compare the German equivalent Hermann.
Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Who bears the name
How people with the surname Herman described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:
Notable people called Herman
- David Herman (born 1967)American actor
- Władysław I Herman (1043–1102)Duke of Poland
- Woody Herman (1913–1987)American jazz musician and bandleader
- Jerry Herman (1931–2019)American composer and lyricist
- Paul Herman (1946–2022)American actor
- Alexis Herman (1947–2025)American politician and businesswoman
- Elvira Herman (born 1997)Belarusian female hurdler
- Mark Herman (born 1954)British film director and screenwriter
People named Herman with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).
Surnames like Herman
Also a first name
Herman has been given to 136,772 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1921. See it as a given name.
Try it on yourself
Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.