Hye

Girls' name

Bright, intelligent

Hye has been given to 72 babies in the U.S. since 1948. 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 1993, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Hye, 1999

1 in 738,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hye: meaning, origin, and history

Bright, intelligent

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Hye means

Hye means “bright, intelligent”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Hye is used in Korean.

Another recorded pronunciation is /çje/ for Hye.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 72 girls were recorded with the name Hye between 1948 and 1999. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1993; its best national rank was #5,506 in 1961.

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 Hye?

Hye had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1999, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1999: 1 in 738,000; 5 of 3,692,373 births
Among girls only: 1 in 355,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1999: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 511,873 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Hye 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 1999 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 511,873 children born in 1999 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hye. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hyes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hye was born before 1983 — so the typical Hye is around 42 today.

Median birth year: 1983; About 42 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 30.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 61.1%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 67; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 30.6% of all recorded uses (22).

Is Hye 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 1993 (10)
Years since peak: 32; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 29.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #5,506; 1961

Where Hye is used

Across 1910–2025, Hye was most concentrated in Kansas — about 1 in 50,000 girls, against 1 in 61,861 across all states with data.

22 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Kansas1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Hye has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hye 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: #5,506; 1961
Peak year: 1993; 10 that year
First recorded: 1948
Last recorded: 1999
All-time count: 72
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Hye

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

Shye Cathye Rhye Kathye Ruthye Dorothye

Sibling names for Hye

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

Kaylene Jacquelynn Katlin Jessenia Brea Krysta Nikole Kalyn

For a brother

Rosendo Brandan Shaquille Tylor Eloy Raheem Denton Coty

Explore around Hye

Top names of 1993, Hye's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1961 Girls' names starting with H