Hal
Hal is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 33 births. Its best rank was 305th, in 1956.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 330.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1956598 births
- Best rank
- #305in 1956
- Since 1880
- 16,746people given the name
The story in the numbers
16,746 boys have been named Hal in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1956, with 598 births.
It is rising: its share of births is at least one and a half times what it was ten years ago.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1951, and the 1950s alone account for 26%. It has spent 96 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Hal | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 178 | |
| 1890s | 211 | |
| 1900s | 229 | |
| 1910s | 1,073 | |
| 1920s | 1,834 | |
| 1930s | 1,810 | |
| 1940s | 2,615 | |
| 1950s | 4,422 | |
| 1960s | 2,199 | |
| 1970s | 889 | |
| 1980s | 531 | |
| 1990s | 263 | |
| 2000s | 156 | |
| 2010s | 184 | |
| 2020s | 152 |
In 1956, its biggest year
Hal was the 305th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1956 were Michael, James, Robert, David and John. See all of 1956.
Names that rose and fell with Hal
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Danpeak 1960
- Jamespeak 1947
- Lawrencepeak 1952
- Eddiepeak 1947
- Lonniepeak 1947
- Berniepeak 1960
- Stewartpeak 1956
- Thomaspeak 1952
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.