Heidi
- Pronunciation
- [Hei-di]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Diminutive Of Adelheid, "Little Miss," And Adelaide, "Noble."
- Origin
- Swiss
About the Name Heidi
Heidi descends from the Swiss-German short form of Adelheid (the Germanic form of Adelaide, see separate entry on Adelaide for the Old Germanic Adalheidis etymology meaning "of noble kind" or "noble birth"). Heidi has been used as a casual diminutive in Swiss-German naming traditions for centuries.
The name's overwhelming literary and cultural anchor is the title character of Swiss author Johanna Spyri's 1881 novel Heidi — one of the most-read children's books in the world, adapted into countless films, animated series, and stage productions. The novel tells the story of an orphaned Swiss girl who lives with her grandfather in the Alps. The Spyri novel single-handedly anchored the Heidi name in late-19th-century and 20th-century European and American childhood imagination.
Notable other bearers include German-American supermodel Heidi Klum (born 1973, the iconic German Victoria's Secret Angel and longtime America's Next Top Model/Project Runway host); American basketball player Heidi Burgener; and contemporary German chef Heidi Andermatt. Heidi held a US top-100 girls' rank from 1968 through 1980 and remains in steady use today, currently sitting in the US top 300 girls' rank. The name's appeal is its layered Swiss-German-literary pedigree combined with two firm syllables — the in-built Spyri novel cultural anchor, the strong Heidi Klum modern fashion register, and tonal warmth distinctive to Germanic-derived names. The name reads as both classical-Swiss and contemporary American. Common nicknames are scarce since Heidi is itself a nickname-shape — the rare Heid and Hi each occasionally appear; the longer formal Adelheid, Adelaide, or Heidegard are sometimes used as Heidi's official-document version. International forms include Heidi (essentially identical across German/Dutch/Scandinavian), Heidy (alternate spelling), and the broader Adelheid/Adelaide family.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Heidi
US Popularity History (1966–2025)
Annual US births named Heidi by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1972 with 4,723 girls named Heidi (girl rank #64 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #340 for girls (894 US births). That's 276 places below its 1972 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Heidi Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Heidi the strongest states are Alaska, Kentucky, Montana.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | #136 | 26 |
| 2 | Kentucky | #190 | 216 |
| 3 | Montana | #203 | 16 |
| 4 | Arkansas | #207 | 135 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | #221 | 176 |
| 6 | West Virginia | #221 | 59 |
| 7 | Alabama | #223 | 201 |
| 8 | Tennessee | #241 | 280 |
| 9 | Missouri | #250 | 234 |
| 10 | Mississippi | #256 | 118 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | #609 | 258 |
| 2 | New Jersey | #596 | 124 |
| 3 | Massachusetts | #587 | 84 |
| 4 | Wisconsin | #525 | 92 |
| 5 | Florida | #517 | 319 |
| 6 | Michigan | #511 | 155 |
| 7 | Nevada | #501 | 35 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania | #497 | 202 |
| 9 | Maryland | #493 | 107 |
| 10 | Minnesota | #488 | 90 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Heidi in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Heidi
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Heidi.
- Heidi Klum — Model (1973)
Looking for names like Heidi?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Heidi to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Heidi against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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