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Hercules

#4,920 in 2025Boys' name

Year, season + glory

Hercules has been given to 1,320 babies in the U.S. since 1908. In 2025 it ranked #4,920 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 30 recorded.

Babies named Hercules, 2025

1 in 166,000

Hercules over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hercules: meaning, origin, and history

Year, season + glory

Ancient Greek

What Hercules means

Hercules means “year, season + glory”, associated with yóh₁r̥ and κλέος.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Herculēs, from Etruscan 𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌂𐌋𐌄 (hercle), from Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς (Hēraklês), apparently cognate of Ἥρα (Hḗra, “Hera”) and, according to Haudry, from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”) + κλέος (kléos, “glory”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Hercules is used in English. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Hercules comes through Latin Herculēs, Etruscan 𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌂𐌋𐌄, Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς and Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Hercules is pronounced /ˈhɝːkjəliːz/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,320 boys were recorded with the name Hercules between 1908 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 30 in 2023; its best national rank was #1,290 in 1908.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #6,763 in 2020 to #4,920 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,368 in 2015 to #4,920 in 2025.

How common is Hercules?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 166,000
20 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 85,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,920
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
114,896 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Hercules 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 114,896 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hercules. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Herculess were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hercules was born before 1953 — so the typical Hercules is around 72 today.

Median birth year
1953
About 72 years old
Biggest decade
1930s
13.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
19.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
713
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1930s — 13.1% of all recorded uses (173).

Is Hercules 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
+1,677
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,843
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+448
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.18×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
66.7%
Peak was 2023 (30)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,290
1908

Where Hercules is used

Across 1910–2025, Hercules was most concentrated in South Carolina — about 1 in 10,000 boys, against 1 in 179,604 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1South Carolina1 in 10,000
  2. 2Hawaii1 in 100,000
  3. 3California1 in —
  4. 4Minnesota1 in —
  5. 5New York1 in —
  6. 6Texas1 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. Hercules has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hercules around the world

Where Hercules 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
    2015–2023
    #4,992
    in 2023
  • Canada
    2022–2022
    #2,959
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1957–2009
    #708
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Hercules by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,920
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,843
Best rank ever
#1,290
1908
Peak year
2023
30 that year
First recorded
1908
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,320
Count in 2025
20

Names similar to Hercules

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

HerminioHershellHershyHernandoHerschelHermesHerschellAchillesHersonHermannHershHershalAquilesHeribertoHershelHeraclioHernanHeronNicholesHerveyHerbieHeraldHerchelStiles

Sibling names for Hercules

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 Hercules

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