Hero
7% girls · 93% boys
About Hero
A bold, brave choice, that some may worry is a little heavy to bestow on a child, Hero wouldn't seem too out of place alongside Chosen, Merritt, or Noble. Though the mythological Hero was female, as a word name, it could easily be a unisex option.
Hero for boys#2195 US
In fact, it leans masculine in the US, where a recent year saw it given to 65 boys compared to 5 girls.
Hero for girls#15768 US
Despite the possibility of gender confusion, the Hero in Greek myth was a woman. Myleene Klass got that when she chose Hero for her daughter, and Sam Taylor-Wood and Aaron Johnson used it as their daughter's middle--and we wouldn't be surprised to see more girls with this heroic name.
In Greek legend young Leander swam across dangerous waters every night to court his beloved Hero. In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Hero is the love interest of Claudio and cousin of Beatrice.
Pronounced HEER-oh.
As of November 2026, Hero ranked #2195 for boys and #15768 for girls in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #2085 for boys in 2021 and #5865 for girls in 2016, Nameberry popularity #897 for girls.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | #2,283 | 58 | 30.3 |
| 2016 | #2,489 | 51 | 26.9 |
| 2017 | #2,431 | 53 | 28.6 |
| 2018 | #2,622 | 48 | 26.4 |
| 2019 | #2,637 | 49 | 27.3 |
| 2020 | #2,328 | 58 | 33.6 |
| 2021 | #2,085 | 70 | 40 |
| 2022 | #2,142 | 69 | 39.5 |
| 2023 | #2,157 | 67 | 39.2 |
| 2024 | #2,342 | 60 | 34.8 |
| 2025 | #2,195 | 65 | 38.1 |
World rankings
Hero for girls
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Hero on lists
Famous Heros
- Actor Ralph Fiennes' nephewBoy
Hero Beauregard Fiennes,Tiffin (1997,), who played a young Tom Riddle in 2009's 'Harry Potter and the Half,Blood Prince'
- Hero Howard (b. 2016)Boy
son of Terrence Howard
- Honeysuckle Hero Susan WeeksGirl
English actress
- Hero Wheeler (b. 2007)Girl
daughter of actress Hermione Norris and Simon Wheeler
- Hero Harper Quinn (b. 2011)Girl
daughter of singer Myleene Angela Klass of Hear'Say and Graham Quinn
- Romy Hero Johnson (b. 2012)Girl
daughter of actor Aaron Taylor,Johnson and Sam Taylor,Wood
Hero in pop culture
- "Big Hero 6Boy
" Disney film with lead character boy named Hiro
- "Hero"Both
song by Cash Cash feat. Christina Perri
- HeroGirl
character from Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'
- Hero DukeGirl
character in webseries Nothing Much to Do
- Hero BrownGirl
character from 'Y: The Last Man'
- Hero PavloussiGirl
intensely arrogant and egotistical wife of a Greek shipping tycoon in Patrick White's 'The Vivisector' (1970)
- Hero Farnsworth AmesGirl
character from Gillian, by Frank Yerby
- HeroGirl
a priestess of Aphrodite who threw herself into the sea when her lover Leander drowned