Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Hector?
Births per year, rank history and how many Hectors are alive today.
Hector (male), once a common boys' name, is now an uncommon choice for new babies in England and Wales, ranked 278th in 2025 with 162 given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 1904, when around 720 babies were given the name, the 89th most popular that year. It has declined since 1904; the 2025 figure is roughly 22% of its peak. Numbers have been stable in recent years. At least 38,000 babies have been named Hector in England and Wales since 1904. Figures before 1996 are estimates. Hector is one spelling of a name also recorded as Hektor; the combined figures below cover every spelling.
Across all spellings of the name, the Hector you are most likely to meet is around 73 years old - or else around 9: the name has two living generations. Half of all Hectors born in England and Wales are between 39 and 77, and there are at least 16,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's roughly a 5.1% chance that at least one of them will be called Hector.
How many babies are named Hector each year?
Includes all spellings: Hector, Hektor. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Hector spelling rank?
Where does the Hektor spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Hector most popular?
Hector peaked in 1904, when around 720 babies in England and Wales were given the name across all spellings.
How many people are called Hector?
At least 16,000 people named Hector in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Hector?
Most living Hectors are between 39 and 77; the most common age is about 73. There is a second cluster around 9.
Is Hector becoming more or less popular?
Well past its peak: today's figures are a fraction of the 1904 peak, though numbers have levelled off in recent years.