Hector

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Héctor in SV El Salvador, GT Guatemala, DO Dominican Republic, Гектор in RU Russia and הקטור in IL Israel.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 18 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Hector is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name161K records spelled Hector4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, United Kingdom, Spain

  Also written Héctor, Hèctor, Hectór

• Lao given name10K records spelled Hector16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, United States, Peru, Chile

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Héctor, Hèctor, เฮคเตอร์, Hëctör, Hectór

• Vietnamese given name6.3K records spelled Hector3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Vietnam, Peru

  Languages: Vietnamese, Khmer

  Also written Héctor

• Croatian given name2.0K records spelled Hector28 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Croatia, Peru

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian

  Also written Hektor, Héctor, Хектор, Ektor, Hëçtor

77 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Hector is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, From Greek Hektor, related to “holding fast, defending”.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In English, from the Greek via French, the name of the Trojan hero; first attested Hector 1190 P (Sf)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, Greek; name of the Trojan hero in classical mythology.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• Scottish; Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name Eachann (earlier Eachdonn, already confused with Norse Haakon), composed of the elements each ‘horse’ + donn ‘brown’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• from the personal name (see 2 above). In medieval Germany, this was a fairly popular personal name among the nobility, derived from classical literature. It is a comparatively rare surname in France.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 145 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Charles Hector, comte d'Estaingb. 1729FRFrench admiral during the War of American Independence (1729-1794)
• Hector Berliozb. 1803FRFrench composer and conductor (1803–1869)
• Hector Malotb. 1830FRFrench writer (1830–1907)
• Italo Svevob. 1861ITnot in their usual nameItalian writer (1861-1928)
• Hector Guimardb. 1867FRFrench architect (1867–1942)
• Hector Turnbullb. 1885USAmerican screenwriter (1885–1934)
• Hector Hodlerb. 1887CHSwiss Esperantist (1887-1920)
• Nigel Stockb. 1919GBnot in their usual nameBritish actor (1919-1986)
• Héctor Elizondob. 1936USAmerican actor
• Rupert Everettb. 1959GBnot in their usual nameBritish actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,239 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Hector?

We estimate roughly 307 thousand people bear Hector (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Hector have the most bearers?

Hector is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled hector.

How common is Hector compared with other names?

In Argentina, Hector is the 31st most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Hector a male or female name?

Hector is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Hector mean?

Recorded meaning: anglicized form of Gaelic Eachdonn, literally 'brown horse'.