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Hamlet

#9,200 in 2025Boys' name

Fool

Hamlet has been given to 253 babies in the U.S. since 1911. In 2025 it ranked #9,200 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2019, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Hamlet, 2025

1 in 414,000

Hamlet over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hamlet: meaning, origin, and history

Fool

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Hamlet means

Hamlet means “fool”, associated with Amlóði.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Amlethus, as written by 13th-century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, and borrowed into English by way of François de Belleforest's French Hamlet, originally rendered as Hamblet in English. Ultimately from Old Danish Amlethæ, corresponding to Old Norse Amlóði (“fool”), claimed to be suggestive of the way that Hamlet acts in the play, from ama (“to annoy”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Hamlet (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Hamlet is used in English.

Hamlet comes through Latin Amlethus, French Hamlet and Old Danish Amlethæ.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Hamlet is pronounced /ˈhæm.lət/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 253 boys were recorded with the name Hamlet between 1911 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 11 in 2019; its best national rank was #1,623 in 1911.

Over 10 years its rank rose, from #11,171 in 2015 to #9,200 in 2025.

How common is Hamlet?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 213,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,200
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Hamlet sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hamlet. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hamlets were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hamlet was born before 2002 — so the typical Hamlet is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
27.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
54.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
198
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 27.7% of all recorded uses (70).

Is Hamlet rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+3,764
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,971
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.33×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
72.7%
Peak was 2019 (11)
Years since peak
6
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,623
1911

Spellings of Hamlet

Hamlet is not the most common spelling — Harley is, with 74.7% against Hamlet's 0.46%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Hamlet is used

Across 1910–2025, Hamlet was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,743,270 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Hamlet has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hamlet around the world

Where Hamlet ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • France
    2012–2012
    #6,609
    in 2012

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Hamlet by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,200
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#1,623
1911
Peak year
2019
11 that year
First recorded
1911
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
253
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Hamlet

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

HameedHamishHamdanHammadHamadHamedHamzahHamzehHamidHamsaHamadiKaletVioletHamdiHammondHamlinHamdaanHamidouHamzeHamseWilletHamerHammieHampton

Sibling names for Hamlet

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Hamlet

Top names of 2019, Hamlet's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1911Boys' names starting with HArmenian Boy Names