Fewer than five US girls were named Hedwig in 2025, so it does not appear in that year’s SSA list for girls. Its best rank for girls was #363, reached in 1891. The most girls given the name in a single year was 159, in 1918. For comparison, it was unranked (under five girls) in 2015 and #4,089 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Hedwig in 83 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1880 with 7 babies. In all, 3,077 US babies have been given the name, all of them girls. Its busiest decade was the 1910s, with 1,090 babies named Hedwig.
In none of the 10 years from 2016 to 2025 were five or more US girls named Hedwig.
Rarer spellings such as Hedda, Helvi and Jadwiga are summarised on this page.
Meaning
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 Dutch, German, Norman and Old English. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.