Hector
Meaning
holding fast
The story
Hector is the Latin form of the Greek Hektor, from a root meaning holding fast, built on the verb echo, to hold or to possess. It fits its first bearer perfectly. In Homer's Iliad, Hector is the greatest warrior of Troy and the prince who holds the whole city on his shoulders, the defender who goes out to meet Achilles knowing how it will end. He is the rare Homeric hero remembered as much for tenderness as for courage, his farewell to his wife and infant son one of the most human scenes in ancient poetry. The name became a byword for a stout defender. Especially beloved across the Spanish-speaking world as Héctor, in the United States it was at its most common around the 2000s. Strong, loyal and epic, Hector asks a child to hold fast.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Hector peaked in the 2000s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
11,067 people · the #1,586 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 18,519 · median age 13
Among people named Hector living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 2,272 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Hector
Most people given the name Hector in the United States were born between 1970 and 2009. The Hector 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.
The Hector deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Hector 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 Hector fits with your family’s names and surname.
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