Popularity of the name Hazel, 1880–2025

Hazel was at its most popular in 1897, when 2,339 girls were given the name: about 1 in 100 girls born in the U.S. that year, ranking #18. In 2025, 6,318 girls were named Hazel, ranking #21. In all, Social Security counts 302,580 girls named Hazel since 1880. Social Security’s records also list 2,889 boys named Hazel. Its peak falls in the earliest years of the records, and counts from before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a Social Security card.

Peak year

1897

Rank in 1897

#18

Babies in 1897

2,339

Rank in 2025

#21

Total since 1880

302,580

Where it stands now

Over the last ten years it has climbed from #63 in 2015 to #21 in 2025, with 4,302 girls named Hazel in 2015 and 6,318 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Hazel ranked highest in the 1890s, at #23, with 20,154 girls given the name that decade. It ranked #84 in the 1880s and #26 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 21 in 1880 (#352), 2,425 in 1900 (#29), 7,308 in 1920 (#34), 2,068 in 1940 (#123), 577 in 1960 (#397), 132 in 1980 (#1,068), 246 in 2000 (#893) and 5,519 in 2020 (#31).

Highs and lows

The most girls given the name in a single year was 7,615, in 1918. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more girls for 1918 than for 1897, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank, #18, came in its peak year.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1880 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 girls named Hazel, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.