Hetty

Girls' name

Diminutive of Henrietta or Hester or Esther

Hetty has been given to 720 babies in the U.S. since 1882. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1918, with 20 recorded.

Babies named Hetty, 2012

1 in 732,000

Hetty over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hetty: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Henrietta or Hester or Esther

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Hetty means

Hetty is a diminutive of Henrietta or Hester or Esther.

Origin, language, and formation

Hetty is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Henrietta, Hester and Esther.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Hetty is pronounced /ˈhɛti/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 720 girls were recorded with the name Hetty between 1882 and 2012. Its highest annual count was 20 in 1918; its best national rank was #653 in 1882.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Hetty?

Hetty had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2012, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2012: 1 in 732,000; 5 of 3,657,590 births
Among girls only: 1 in 352,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2012: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 507,051 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Hetty sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2012 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 507,051 children born in 2012 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hetty. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hettys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hetty was born before 1922 — so the typical Hetty is around 103 today.

Median birth year: 1922; About 103 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 19.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 2.2%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 85; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 19.6% of all recorded uses (141).

Is Hetty 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1918 (20)
Years since peak: 107; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 26.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #653; 1882

Spellings of Hetty

Hetty is not the most common spelling — Betty is, with 78.1% against Hetty's 0.06%.

Betty78.1%1,001,238
Patty4.9%62,452
Betsy3.8%48,947
Etta3.4%43,268
Bette2.7%34,897
Bettye1.8%22,920
Kitty0.91%11,657
Hettie0.57%7,294

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.

Hetty around the world

Where Hetty 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
1996–2025
#2,788
in 2025
South Australia
1947–1983
#686
in 1983

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

Hetty by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #653; 1882
Peak year: 1918; 20 that year
First recorded: 1882
Last recorded: 2012
All-time count: 720
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Hetty

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

Matty Katty Etty Dotty Yitty Jetty Hether Scotty Gitty Hetal Letty Hetvi Netty Ketty Hettie Arrietty Hatty Pretty Kitty Patty Petty Hettye Chasitty Lotty

Sibling names for Hetty

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

Winnifred Johnie Ray Lida Maybelle Floy Garnet Mathilda

For a brother

Granville Valentine Ellsworth Orval Buster Sol Omer Ferdinand

Explore around Hetty

Top names of 1918, Hetty's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1882 Girls' names starting with H