Meaning not yet researched.
Hal: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 38 in 2025. Its best rank was #305 in 1956.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #305 in 1956; #3,151 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Hal in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#3,151 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1956, at #305.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Hal: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 38 boys in 2025. Peak: #305 in 1956 · most boys in one year: 598 (1956).
In 2025, 38 US boys were named Hal, making it the 3,151st most common boys’ name of the year, up 330 places from #3,481 in 2024. That is 5 more than the 33 boys named Hal in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #305, reached in 1956. That year also had the most boys given the name: 598. For comparison, it was #4,777 in 2015 and #348 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Hal in every one of the 146 years from 1880 to 2025; in 1880 there were 7 babies with the name. In all, 16,796 US babies have been given the name, 0.1% of them girls and 99.9% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1950s, with 4,423 babies named Hal.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 272 US boys were named Hal; the busiest of those years was 2023, with 41. In 2025 that was about 1 in 44,949 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Halle (16,657 babies since 1880), Hayle (1,526 babies since 1880) and Haile (1,073 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Hale, Hall and Hael are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in English. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Hale (1,296), Hall (877), Hael (33), Hail (5).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Hal in the open dataset we use.
Hal is listed as a nickname for Harold, Henry, Howard.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 38 | #3,151 |
| 2024 | — | — | 33 | #3,481 |
| 2023 | — | — | 41 | #3,023 |
| 2022 | — | — | 15 | #5,968 |
| 2021 | — | — | 30 | #3,680 |
| 2020 | — | — | 33 | #3,365 |
| 2019 | — | — | 21 | #4,687 |
| 2018 | — | — | 30 | #3,643 |
| 2017 | — | — | 16 | #5,620 |
| 2016 | — | — | 15 | #5,885 |
| 2015 | — | — | 20 | #4,777 |
| 2014 | — | — | 22 | #4,438 |
| 2013 | — | — | 16 | #5,479 |
| 2012 | — | — | 19 | #4,920 |
| 2011 | — | — | 15 | #5,769 |
| 2010 | — | — | 10 | #7,783 |
| 2009 | — | — | 12 | #6,960 |
| 2008 | — | — | 9 | #8,537 |
| 2007 | — | — | 15 | #5,747 |
| 2006 | — | — | 14 | #5,887 |
| 2005 | — | — | 8 | #8,564 |
| 2004 | — | — | 9 | #7,756 |
| 2003 | — | — | 26 | #3,473 |
| 2002 | — | — | 22 | #3,840 |
| 2001 | — | — | 18 | #4,353 |
| 2000 | — | — | 23 | #3,571 |
| 1999 | — | — | 14 | #4,860 |
| 1998 | — | — | 21 | #3,535 |
| 1997 | — | — | 26 | #2,927 |
| 1996 | — | — | 23 | #3,150 |
| 1995 | — | — | 20 | #3,358 |
| 1994 | — | — | 22 | #3,156 |
| 1993 | — | — | 36 | #2,178 |
| 1992 | — | — | 32 | #2,327 |
| 1991 | — | — | 38 | #1,994 |
| 1990 | — | — | 31 | #2,275 |
| 1989 | — | — | 43 | #1,774 |
| 1988 | — | — | 55 | #1,411 |
| 1987 | — | — | 33 | #1,912 |
| 1986 | — | — | 65 | #1,176 |
| 1985 | — | — | 59 | #1,247 |
| 1984 | — | — | 41 | #1,512 |
| 1983 | — | — | 52 | #1,281 |
| 1982 | — | — | 53 | #1,282 |
| 1981 | — | — | 56 | #1,229 |
| 1980 | — | — | 74 | #1,051 |
| 1979 | — | — | 73 | #1,036 |
| 1978 | — | — | 64 | #1,091 |
| 1977 | — | — | 59 | #1,130 |
| 1976 | — | — | 68 | #1,007 |
| 1975 | — | — | 79 | #924 |
| 1974 | — | — | 85 | #873 |
| 1973 | — | — | 97 | #802 |
| 1972 | — | — | 115 | #737 |
| 1971 | — | — | 124 | #740 |
| 1970 | — | — | 125 | #734 |
| 1969 | — | — | 105 | #763 |
| 1968 | — | — | 125 | #671 |
| 1967 | — | — | 151 | #612 |
| 1966 | — | — | 169 | #583 |
| 1965 | — | — | 199 | #544 |
| 1964 | — | — | 199 | #558 |
| 1963 | — | — | 278 | #478 |
| 1962 | — | — | 228 | #528 |
| 1961 | — | — | 342 | #429 |
| 1960 | — | — | 403 | #394 |
| 1959 | — | — | 418 | #387 |
| 1958 | — | — | 455 | #360 |
| 1957 | — | — | 526 | #333 |
| 1956 | — | — | 598 | #305 |
| 1955 | — | — | 455 | #342 |
| 1954 | — | — | 416 | #351 |
| 1953 | — | — | 405 | #344 |
| 1952 | — | — | 392 | #347 |
| 1951 | — | — | 387 | #347 |
| 1950 | — | — | 371 | #348 |
| 1949 | — | — | 405 | #334 |
| 1948 | — | — | 358 | #354 |
| 1947 | — | — | 361 | #358 |
| 1946 | — | — | 264 | #396 |
| 1945 | — | — | 211 | #414 |
| 1944 | — | — | 213 | #413 |
| 1943 | — | — | 208 | #433 |
| 1942 | — | — | 204 | #432 |
| 1941 | — | — | 194 | #419 |
| 1940 | — | — | 196 | #414 |
| 1939 | — | — | 202 | #401 |
| 1938 | — | — | 162 | #456 |
| 1937 | — | — | 191 | #411 |
| 1936 | — | — | 148 | #464 |
| 1935 | — | — | 201 | #383 |
| 1934 | — | — | 205 | #383 |
| 1933 | — | — | 188 | #396 |
| 1932 | — | — | 194 | #404 |
| 1931 | — | — | 166 | #440 |
| 1930 | — | — | 153 | #481 |
| 1929 | — | — | 194 | #423 |
| 1928 | — | — | 193 | #429 |
| 1927 | — | — | 190 | #444 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,526 | 184 | #449 |
| 1925 | — | — | 191 | #431 |
| 1924 | 6 | #4,705 | 182 | #453 |
| 1923 | — | — | 159 | #482 |
| 1922 | — | — | 171 | #470 |
| 1921 | — | — | 177 | #463 |
| 1920 | — | — | 193 | #435 |
| 1919 | — | — | 161 | #470 |
| 1918 | — | — | 172 | #453 |
| 1917 | — | — | 125 | #516 |
| 1916 | — | — | 133 | #495 |
| 1915 | — | — | 152 | #442 |
| 1914 | — | — | 115 | #448 |
| 1913 | — | — | 81 | #484 |
| 1912 | — | — | 60 | #507 |
| 1911 | — | — | 43 | #448 |
| 1910 | — | — | 31 | #504 |
| 1909 | — | — | 24 | #536 |
| 1908 | — | — | 19 | #600 |
| 1907 | — | — | 30 | #420 |
| 1906 | — | — | 23 | #467 |
| 1905 | — | — | 20 | #512 |
| 1904 | — | — | 21 | #472 |
| 1903 | — | — | 23 | #419 |
| 1902 | — | — | 25 | #406 |
| 1901 | — | — | 19 | #440 |
| 1900 | — | — | 25 | #459 |
| 1899 | — | — | 20 | #419 |
| 1898 | — | — | 28 | #368 |
| 1897 | — | — | 20 | #427 |
| 1896 | — | — | 19 | #472 |
| 1895 | — | — | 20 | #446 |
| 1894 | — | — | 23 | #391 |
| 1893 | — | — | 26 | #353 |
| 1892 | — | — | 17 | #487 |
| 1891 | — | — | 17 | #434 |
| 1890 | — | — | 21 | #397 |
| 1889 | — | — | 12 | #564 |
| 1888 | — | — | 20 | #422 |
| 1887 | — | — | 23 | #344 |
| 1886 | — | — | 18 | #420 |
| 1885 | — | — | 15 | #490 |
| 1884 | — | — | 25 | #354 |
| 1883 | — | — | 20 | #387 |
| 1882 | — | — | 26 | #347 |
| 1881 | — | — | 12 | #516 |
| 1880 | — | — | 7 | #773 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).