Hannibal
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Meaning
grace of Baal (the Carthaginian general); immortalized by Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The story
Hannibal is Phoenician, grace of Baal, and it belongs first to the Carthaginian general who marched war elephants across the Alps and came closer than anyone to breaking Rome. For centuries that audacity made it an honorable if bold choice: Abraham Lincoln's first vice president was Hannibal Hamlin, and Mark Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, the river town he turned into Tom Sawyer's world. Then 1991 gave the name a very different face: Hannibal Lecter, the brilliant, courtly cannibal of The Silence of the Lambs, played by Anthony Hopkins in an Oscar-winning performance that lodged the name permanently in the popular imagination. Through it all, American parents have mostly admired from a safe distance: decade after decade, Hannibal keeps to the quiet far edge of the records, a name of tremendous history that has never been more than a rare pick, which, for the boldest, is precisely the appeal.
How popular is Hannibal around the world?
In the United States, 58 babies were named Hannibal between 2020 and 2025. In Mexico City, there was 1 registration of Hannibal in 2022.
Hannibal is on the official records of the United States, Mexico City and Spain.
United States
1 in 380,000
In the United States, 58 babies were named Hannibal between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Hannibal has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Mexico City City
1 in 120,000
In Mexico City, there was 1 registration of Hannibal in 2022.
The count never rose above 8 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
Spain
1 in 580,000
In Spain, 77 residents are named Hannibal, ranked 10,124th among men, with a mean age of 13.9 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Austria
last on record 2024
Hannibal is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
England and Wales
last on record 2018
Hannibal is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
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
South Australia
last on record 2016
Hannibal is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
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
Not on the record in Argentina, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland 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 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 Hannibal
Most people given the name Hannibal in the United States were born between 1970 and 2019. The Hannibal you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Hannibal deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Hannibal 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 Hannibal fits with your family’s names and surname.
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