Heron

#5,691 in 2025Boys' name

Hero

Heron has been given to 702 babies in the U.S. since 1916. In 2025 it ranked #5,691 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 24 recorded.

Babies named Heron, 2025

1 in 207,000

Heron over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Heron: meaning, origin, and history

Hero

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Heron means

Heron means “hero”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 686 boys were recorded with the name Heron between 1916 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 24 in 2024; its best national rank was #2,878 in 1950.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,105 in 2020 to #5,691 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,826 in 2015 to #5,691 in 2025.

In the United States, 16 girls were recorded with the name Heron between 2011 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2019; its best national rank was #14,451 in 2019.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Heron?

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

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 207,000; 16 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 107,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #5,691; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 143,620 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Heron 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 143,620 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Heron. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Herons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Heron was born before 2000 — so the typical Heron is around 25 today.

Median birth year: 2000; About 25 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 19.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 49.9%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 622; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 19.1% of all recorded uses (131).

Is Heron 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: −1,336; Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago: −586; Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago: +135; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 1.07×; More babies than then
Share of its own peak: 66.7%; Peak was 2024 (24)
Years since peak: 1; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 32.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,878; 1950

Spellings of Heron

Heron is not the most common spelling — Aaron is, with 33.9% against Heron's 0.04%.

Aaron33.9%614,462
Leroy11.1%200,981
Leon10.1%182,638
Vernon8.1%146,413
Herman7.5%135,977
Byron4.5%82,238
Devon4.0%72,673
Myron2.5%45,369

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 Heron is used

Across 1910–2025, Heron was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 316,455 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Texas1 in 100,000
2California1 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. Heron has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Heron around the world

Where Heron 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
2022–2025
#3,256
in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Heron by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #5,691
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Down 586
Best rank ever: #2,878; 1950
Peak year: 2024; 24 that year
First recorded: 1916
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 686
Count in 2025: 16

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #14,451; 2019
Peak year: 2019; 6 that year
First recorded: 2011
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 16
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Heron

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

Herron Hersh Hermes Hero Herson Hershy Auron Herby Aeron Herve Erron Miron Caron Heru Ahron Ayron Kieron Jayron Yaron Zyron Herold Leron Dayron Jairon

Sibling names for Heron

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

For a sister

Annabell Leonor Karleigh Adelle Kendyl Anabel Shaniya Taniya

For a brother

Evans Caesar Brennen Tobin Jerimiah Jorden Gavyn Gray

Explore around Heron

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