boy's name
Herman
HUR-men
- Origin Germanic
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 137,947
Herman means army man, and the German national hero Hermann is a Latin scribe's version of a Cheruscan name we cannot now recover — Arminius, the chief who destroyed three Roman legions in AD 9.
- Herman is a name of Germanic origin.
- Peaked in 1921, when 3,239 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 57,162 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Herman over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,689 |
| 1890s | 4,252 |
| 1900s | 5,081 |
| 1910s | 22,716 |
| 1920s | 29,205 |
| 1930s | 20,459 |
| 1940s | 16,957 |
| 1950s | 13,919 |
| 1960s | 8,432 |
| 1970s | 4,801 |
| 1980s | 3,130 |
| 1990s | 1,957 |
| 2000s | 1,103 |
| 2010s | 750 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 321 |
What Herman means
Herman means army man, or warrior. The Germanic joins the word for an army to the word for a man, so the compound is as direct as naming gets.
Where Herman comes from
Herman is the Germanic Hariman — hari, an army, joined to man. The hari element gives Harold, Harvey and the German Heer; it is one of the most common first elements in Germanic naming. The complication is Arminius, the Cheruscan chief who annihilated Varus and three legions in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9: Roman writers recorded only a Latinised form, and later German nationalism identified him as Hermann, but whether that was actually his name is unrecoverable. The monument near Detmold is called the Hermannsdenkmal on the strength of a guess.
Herman in use
Herman peaked in the United States in 1921, when 3,239 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It charts in exactly one of the six markets we track, at 2374th in the United States on 58 births, across 137,947 lifetime births. Our records carry it from 1880.
How popular is Herman?
In 2025, Herman was given to 58 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Herman is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Herman
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Herman also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Herman over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Herman in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Herman
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Herman — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Herman
What does the name Herman mean?
Army man — the Germanic hari, an army, joined to man.
Was Arminius really called Hermann?
Unrecoverable. Roman writers recorded only a Latinised form, and the identification is a later German guess.
Is Herman related to Harold?
In its first element — hari, an army, begins both.
How popular is Herman?
2374th in the United States, and our data marks it stable.
Is Herman a girl's or a boy's name?
Herman is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Herman?
Herman has 2 syllables.
Is Herman a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Herman currently ranks #1,866 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.