Henry

Where Henry comes from

From Middle English Henry, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) Henri, from Frankish *Haimrik, from Proto-Germanic *Haimarīks. Cognate with German Heinrich, Dutch Hendrik, Estonian Hendrik, and Old Norse Heimríkr (Danish Henrik).
— Wiktionary's entry for Henry
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1817
    Henry David Thoreau born
    American essayist, poet, and philosopher
  2. 1863
    Henry Ford born
    American business magnate
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #9 among boys — 2,444 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 2025
    Peak, #5
    12,020 babies named Henry — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2025
    The comeback
    Back to #5 after sinking to #145 in 1994.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages, popular in England since the Middle Ages.
Namesakes
  • Henry Ford · American business magnate, 1863–1947
  • Henry David Thoreau · American essayist, poet, and philosopher, 1817–1862
  • Henry Kissinger · American diplomat and geopolitical advisor, served as U.S. Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977, 1923–2023
  • Henry VIII of England · King of England from 1509 to 1547, 1491–1547
  • Henry Dunant · Swiss businessman and co-founder of the Red Cross, 1828–1910

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.