Hugh
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Meaning
from Germanic 'hug' meaning heart, mind, spirit
The story
Hugh began in a Germanic word family for mind, thought, or spirit, then traveled through French and Norman forms into English. Hugh Capet gives that journey a crown and a puzzle. He became king of the Franks and founded the dynasty later called Capetian, whose descendants would shape France for centuries. Capet was a byname, not part of the ancient root of Hugh, and historians still debate exactly how it attached to him. The distinction matters because famous bearers often tempt storytellers to force every detail into one tidy meaning. Hugh does not mean king, dynasty, or cap. Its older sense is inward, concerned with mind and spirit. The royal story supplies scale without changing the etymology: one short name at the beginning of a very long family line. It can sound spare in English while carrying the memory of Hugues in French and Hugo elsewhere.
How popular is Hugh around the world?
In the United States, 1,995 babies were named Hugh between 2020 and 2025. In Ireland, 27 boys named Hugh were born in 2025, the 179th most common name among boys that year.
Hugh is on the official records of the United States, Ireland, South Australia, Scotland, New Zealand, Canada, England and Wales, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 11,000
In the United States, 1,995 babies were named Hugh between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Hugh peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Ireland
1 in 2,000
In Ireland, 27 boys named Hugh were born in 2025, the 179th most common name among boys 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
South Australia
1 in 2,3002017
In South Australia, 8 boys were registered as Hugh 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
Scotland
1 in 4,200
In Scotland, 11 boys named Hugh were registered in 2024, the 330th most common name among boys 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
New Zealand
1 in 4,400
In New Zealand, 13 boys named Hugh were registered in 2025.
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
Canada
1 in 5,500
In Canada, 67 boys named Hugh were born in 2024, the 460th most common name among boys 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)
England and Wales
1 in 8,000
In England and Wales, 73 boys named Hugh were born in 2025, the 529th most common name among boys 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
Spain
1 in 1.1M
In Spain, 42 residents are named Hugh, ranked 16,734th among men, with a mean age of 56.1 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
Hugh 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 1 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)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 20 people in Brazil were named Hugh, ranked 124,180th, with a median age of 34.
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 2015
Hugh 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
Montevideo City
last on record 2006
Hugh is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Not on the record in 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 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.
Keep exploring
The Hugh deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Hugh 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 Hugh fits with your family’s names and surname.
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