Herbert
- Pronunciation
- [Her-bert]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Illustrious Warrior.
- Origin
- French
About the Name Herbert
Herbert entered English through the Old French Héribert, which itself came from the Old High German Haribert or Herebeorht — a compound of heri (army) and beraht (bright, illustrious), giving a meaning of "illustrious warrior" or "bright army." The name was brought to England by the Normans after 1066 and enjoyed medieval use before settling into the broader English naming stock. By the 19th century it had become a standard English gentlemanly name, carrying associations of earnest respectability.
Two towering intellectual figures bear the name. Herbert Spencer, born 27 April 1820 and dying 8 December 1903, was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and political theorist whose synthetic philosophy applied evolutionary ideas to every field he could reach. Herbert Simon, born 15 June 1916 and dying 9 February 2001, was an American polymath whose research reshaped economics, cognitive psychology, computer science, and public administration, and who shared in the founding of artificial intelligence as a discipline.
Herbert appears in the US Social Security top-1000 from 1880, the earliest year tracked, and peaked in 1928 at rank #25, accumulating over 165,000 top-1000 births across its run. After its late-1920s high it fell gradually, disappearing from the top-1000 after 2002, when it sat at #978. The name's Victorian-to-interwar arc gives it a distinguished scholarly patina today — more likely to be encountered on a professor than a newborn, though its classic sound and strong intellectual lineage make it a candidate for the ongoing grandfather-name revival. Recorded variants include Bert, Bertie, Herb, and Herbie.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Herbert
US Popularity History (1880–2002)
Annual US births named Herbert by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1928 with 8,065 boys named Herbert (boy rank #25 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2002, ranked #978 for boys (161 US births). That's 953 places below its 1928 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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Variant Forms
Famous People Named Herbert
2 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Herbert.
- Herbert Simon is one of the most influential men of the 20th century.
- Herbert Spencer was the most famous philosopher of Victorian age known for his political views.
Looking for names like Herbert?
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Compare Herbert to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Herbert against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).