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Hannibal

#11,147 in 2025Boys' name

My grace is Ba'al

Hannibal has been given to 784 babies in the U.S. since 1885. In 2025 it ranked #11,147 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2015, with 19 recorded.

Babies named Hannibal, 2025

1 in 553,000

Hannibal over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hannibal: meaning, origin, and history

My grace is Ba'al

Punic

What Hannibal means

Hannibal means “my grace is Ba'al”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Hannibal is used in Phoenician (Latinized) and History.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈhæn.ɪ.bəl/ for Hannibal.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Hannibal, a rendering of Punic 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋 (ḥnbʿl /⁠ḥannībaʿl⁠/, “May the Lord (Baal) grace me”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Hannibal is used in English, Icelandic and Latin. Its origins include Punic.

Hannibal comes through Latin Hannibal and Punic 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Hannibal is pronounced /ˈhænɪbəl/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 784 boys were recorded with the name Hannibal between 1885 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2015; its best national rank was #1,003 in 1885.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,082 in 2020 to #11,147 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,942 in 2015 to #11,147 in 2025.

How common is Hannibal?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,147
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Hannibal 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hannibal. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hannibals were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hannibal was born before 1985 — so the typical Hannibal is around 40 today.

Median birth year
1985
About 40 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
17.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
31.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
617
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 17.5% of all recorded uses (137).

Is Hannibal 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
−2,577
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−5,065
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−6,205
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.32×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
31.6%
Peak was 2015 (19)
Years since peak
10
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
37.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,003
1885

Spellings of Hannibal

Hannibal is not the most common spelling — Anibal is, with 83.4% against Hannibal's 16.6%.

  • Anibal83.4%3,928
  • Hannibal16.6%784

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 Hannibal is used

Across 1910–2025, Hannibal was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,050,436 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2New York1 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. Hannibal has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hannibal around the world

Where Hannibal 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.

  • England & Wales
    2001–2018
    #4,749
    in 2018
  • France
    2013–2025
    #3,231
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    1956–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Hannibal by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,147
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 5,065
Best rank ever
#1,003
1885
Peak year
2015
19 that year
First recorded
1885
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
784
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Hannibal

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

HansfordHansenHanleyHandsomeHaneefHanielHanifHananiahHanzelHansonHannielChristobalHannahHanfordHanadHanselHaniHansellJubalHanzalaHanHandyHananHanzo

Sibling names for Hannibal

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 Hannibal

Top names of 2015, Hannibal's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1885Boys' names starting with H