Herman

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled German in AR Argentina, MX Mexico, VE Venezuela and 7 more, Герман in RU Russia, UA Ukraine, FI Finland and 2 more, Hermann in DE Germany, AT Austria and Hermans in BE Belgium, NO Norway.

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 7 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◐

Herman is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Indonesian given name1.1M records spelled Herman10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Malaysia, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Herman', 'Herman, Hêrmañ, Hërmân, Hęŕmåň

• Polish given name63K records spelled Herman38 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, United States, Croatia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Heřman, German, Hermann, Germán, Херман

• Finnish given name47K records spelled Herman8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Estonia, United States, Latvia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written German, Germán, Germanus

• Norwegian Bokmål given name39K records spelled Herman8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, United States, Denmark, Sweden

  Languages: Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, Norwegian

  Also written Hërmān, Heřman

• French surname38K records spelled Herman21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Germain, Gérmain, Gërmãìñ, Germaïn, Gęrmåįn

• a separate given name33K records spelled Herman7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Netherlands, United Kingdom

  Also written Hermán, Hérman, Hermaņ, Her̆man, Heřman

• Hungarian given name4.6K records spelled Herman4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Slovenia, Hungary, United States, Netherlands

  Also written Hermán, Hérmán, Hermàn

79 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●

Herman 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.

• English form of Hermann, from a Germanic personal name derived from heri, hari ‘army’ + man ‘man’. The name was in use among the Normans and was Tit borne by many immigrants from the

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A male given name from the Germanic languages.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Romanian, n. mold. < germ. Hermann (redat gre5it uneori prin Gherman), explicatie, I. Bogdan (Stef). 1. clucer (Stef) ; Herman = Harman = Htrman (Dm ; C Bog), privind aceea5i persoana, 2. Hreunan (C Step Hramdn (Sur II), transcrieri gre5ite. 3. Htrman (Stef), plrc., 1457-1480, altul decIt Gherman ce i-a succedat Intre 1481-1484 (ib.) ; Harm& §i Harmine0i tt (Cat. mold. II).

  as a name·Dictionar Onomastic Rominesc

• In Swedish, Herman är ett tyskt namn, sammansatt av → Her- och -man ’man, människa’. Namnet är inlånat under tidig medeltid, då de flesta av namnbärarna tillhörde stadsbefolkning med tysk bakgrund (se Inledning under Inlånade namn). I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 12 juli.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In English, Germanic name; ‘army man’

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

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) — 146 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●

• Władysław I Hermanb. 1043PLDuke of Poland (1043-1102)
• Herman Boerhaaveb. 1668NLDutch botanist, chemist, humanist, and physician (1668–1738)
• Herman Melvilleb. 1819USAmerican writer and poet (1819–1891)
• Herman Hollerithb. 1860USAmerican statistician and inventor（1860-1929）
• Babe Ruthb. 1895USnot in their usual nameAmerican baseball player (1895–1948)
• Ray Walstonb. 1914USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (1914–2001)
• Herman Woukb. 1915USAmerican writer (1915-2019)
• Fred Craneb. 1918USnot in their usual nameAmerican film and television actor and radio announcer (1918-2008)
• German Titovb. 1935RUnot in their usual nameSoviet cosmonaut (1935-2000)
• Herman Van Rompuyb. 1947BEPrime Minister of Belgium and President of the European Council (born 1947)

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 · 1,184 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Herman?

We estimate roughly 136 thousand people bear Herman (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Herman have the most bearers?

Herman is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled german.

How common is Herman compared with other names?

In Argentina, Herman is the 146th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Herman a male or female name?

Herman 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 Herman mean?

Recorded meaning: English, French, Dutch, Slovenian, Croatian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements heri, hari ‘army’ -i- man ‘man’.