Hope

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Hoff in KR South Korea.

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 2 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◐

Hope is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish name59K records spelled Hope12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Panama, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Hopé, Hopë, Höpe, Höpĕ, Hopę

• Russian given name3.9K records spelled Hope27 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ukraine, Russia, United States, Türkiye

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Хоп, Хоуп, Khoup, Hop, Houp

83 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●

Hope 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 English, Locational: in the south from Old English hop ‘valley’; in the north from Old Norse hop ‘bay, inlet’. John Hope is noted in Peeblesshire, 1296.

  as a name·Scottish Surnames

• In English, from Hope (Derby, Salop, NRYorks, etc.), or from residence in/near a raised land in a fen or small enclosed valley (OE hop); first attested Robert de Hope 1255 RH (Sa)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• From the vocabulary word (Old English hopa) denoting the quality, in particular the Christian quality of expectation in the resurrection and in eternal life. The name was created by the Puritans and has been one of their most successful coinages.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• This location name in the south relates to Old English hop, ‘valley’; in the north to Old Norse hop, ‘bay’, ‘inlet’, as in St Margaret’s Hope. John Hope is noted in Peeblesshire, 1296.

  as a name·Scottish Surnames

• habitational name from any of several farmsteads, notably in Hordaland, so named from Old Norse hop ‘narrow bay’.

  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) — 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●

• Anthony Hopeb. 1863GBEnglish novelist (1863–1933)
• Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgowb. 1887GBBritish politician, agriculturalist and colonial administrator (1887-1952)
• Hope Emersonb. 1897USAmerican actress (1897–1960)
• Bob Hopeb. 1903GBAmerican entertainer (1903–2003)
• Hope Langeb. 1933USAmerican actress (1933-2003)
• William Hopeb. 1955CACanadian stage, film, television and voice actor
• Hope Davisb. 1964USAmerican actress
• Hope Solob. 1981USAmerican soccer player
• Hope Hicksb. 1988USAmerican public relations executive and political advisor (born 1988)
• Miley Cyrusb. 1992USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer, actress, and television personality (born 1992)

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 · 743 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Hope?

We estimate roughly 33 thousand people bear Hope (counting its spellings and scripts) across 16 countries in our records.

In which country does Hope have the most bearers?

Hope is most frequently recorded in Anguilla, where it is most often spelled hope.

What does the name Hope mean?

Recorded meaning: person who lives in an enclosed valley, or person from a place named Hope; from Middle English hop 'enclosed valley'