Herminia vs Herschel
American parents have registered 10,674 Herschels since 1880, against 3,757 Herminias. Herschel is still ahead, with 34 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Herminia Herschel
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Herschel for 142 years and Herminia for 4 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.
Side by side
| Herminia | Herschel | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 3,757 | 10,674 |
| Most in one year | 93 | 277 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 34 |
| Estimated living today | 1,800 | 3,500 |
| Median age today | 62 | 61 |
| Peak year | 1929 | 1921 |
| Best rank | 726th girls | 361st boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 3,379th |
| First recorded | 1894 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 3,757 / 0 | 0 / 10,674 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Where each one is strongest
- Herminia Texas (10.3×), New Mexico (2.8×), Arizona (1.9×)
- Herschel Indiana (5.0×), Kentucky (4.4×), Georgia (3.9×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Herminia and Herschel.