Halle
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Meaning
from Old Norse Halli (from hallr, 'rock'), or, as with actress Halle Berry, from a store name from the German surname Halle
The story
Halle reaches English by two separate roads, and Behind the Name keeps them apart. One is old: the Old Norse name Halli, a diminutive of names containing hallr, "rock, slab, slope". The other is precisely American: the actress Halle Berry was named for a department store in Cleveland, where she was born, a store founded by brothers with the German surname Halle, a cognate of Hall. The published record grew from single digits in the 1940s to about 200 girls a decade by the 1980s, then moved: about 2,800 girls in the 1990s, about 7,100 in the 2000s, about 3,700 in the 2010s, and about 2,570 so far this decade. A Norse rock on one road, a Cleveland storefront on the other, and one two-syllable name at the meeting point.
How popular is Halle around the world?
In the United States, 2,566 babies were named Halle between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 23 girls named Halle were registered in 2024, the 176th most common name among girls that year.
Halle is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, South Australia, England and Wales, Ireland, Canada and Brazil.
United States
1 in 8,500
In the United States, 2,566 babies were named Halle between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Halle peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 2,000
In Scotland, 23 girls named Halle were registered in 2024, the 176th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
1 in 2,0002017
In South Australia, 9 girls were registered as Halle in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 4,200
In England and Wales, 138 girls named Halle were born in 2025, the 316th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
1 in 4,900
In Ireland, 11 girls named Halle were born in 2025, the 352nd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 5,500
In Canada, 67 girls named Halle were born in 2024, the 441st most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 26 people in Brazil were named Halle, ranked 104,241st, with a median age of 30.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Mexico City City
last on record 2020
Halle is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
New Zealand
last on record 2003
Halle is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Not on the record in Spain, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Halle
Most people given the name Halle in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Halle deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Halle truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Halle fits with your family’s names and surname.
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