Heinrich

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Boy · Old High German

Heinrich

Say it: HINE-rikh

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Germanic heim 'home' (or hagan 'enclosure') and ric 'ruler, powerful'.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

Borne by seven German kings and emperors, it was one of the commonest German boys' names for centuries.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

05101518801900192019401960198020002020Peak 2020per million babies of that sex
  • 437 babies given this name since 1956
  • At its height in 2020, about 1 in 71,100 boys
  • 24 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  2. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  3. The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
  4. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  5. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

GermanAustrianSwiss

The family of the name

Other spellings: Hinrich

EnglishHenry
FrenchHenri
ItalianEnrico
SpanishEnrique
DutchHendrik
PolishHenryk
SwedishHenrik

Famous bearers

  • Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Heinrich Heine, poet
  • Heinrich Schliemann, archaeologist

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Royal and noble genealogies
  • Parish baptism registers
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.