Hunter Name Meaning

A strong name with rugged appeal, Hunter has been hanging out in the Top 100 since the 1990s. He’s the ultimate outdoor name, conjuring up images of forests, grit, and exploration.

Hunter is unafraid of adventure, embracing the journey and wilds along the way. He’s a free spirit that hates being tied down, someone who is a bit restless if forced to color between the lines too long. He loves learning new things about himself and others. This makes him a natural born leader.

While his meaning isn’t the most peaceful, the name doesn’t come off as aggressive. He’s much more approachable than when he first popped on the scene, quickly finding his place as a classroom regular alongside Landon and Dylan. He fits in well with the occupation name trend that has also ushered in Cooper, Carter, and Mason.

A youthful name, Hunter is the perfect pick for a gung-ho toddler or a little boy with endless energy and enthusiasm. He also ages with ease, fitting an active adult as well. He has a serious side that adapts well to professional life.

Parents who hate nicknames are in luck, as Hunter isn’t often shortened. Hunt can be used, but it isn’t that common.

Infographic of Hunter name meaning, which is A name derived from the word for a hunter of animals, Hunter is an English name.
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Hunter Name Popularity

How popular is the name Hunter? Here’s everything we know.

Year Rank # Births % Births
1910 — 0 0%
1911 — 0 0%
1912 — 13 0.0026%
1913 — 17 0.003%
1914 — 24 0.0034%
1915 — 28 0.0031%
1916 — 16 0.0017%
1917 — 32 0.0032%
1918 — 36 0.0034%
1919 — 27 0.0026%
1920 — 29 0.0026%
1921 — 26 0.0023%
1922 — 21 0.0019%
1923 — 29 0.0026%
1924 — 30 0.0026%
1925 — 17 0.0015%
1926 — 34 0.0031%
1927 — 19 0.0017%
1928 — 27 0.0025%
1929 — 33 0.0032%
1930 — 5 0.0005%
1931 — 26 0.0026%
1932 — 32 0.0032%
1933 — 14 0.0015%
1934 — 12 0.0012%
1935 — 15 0.0015%
1936 — 5 0.0005%
1937 — 9 0.0009%
1938 — 9 0.0009%
1939 — 9 0.0009%
1940 — 13 0.0012%
1941 — 0 0%
1942 — 13 0.001%
1943 — 11 0.0008%
1944 — 14 0.0011%
1945 — 10 0.0008%
1946 — 23 0.0016%
1947 — 29 0.0017%
1948 — 15 0.0009%
1949 — 15 0.0009%
1950 — 14 0.0009%
1951 — 12 0.0007%
1952 — 22 0.0013%
1953 — 10 0.0006%
1954 — 26 0.0014%
1955 — 17 0.0009%
1956 — 19 0.001%
1957 — 31 0.0016%
1958 — 9 0.0005%
1959 — 29 0.0015%
1960 — 38 0.002%
1961 — 36 0.0019%
1962 — 41 0.0022%
1963 — 34 0.0019%
1964 — 33 0.0019%
1965 — 36 0.0022%
1966 — 7 0.0004%
1967 — 35 0.0023%
1968 — 44 0.0029%
1969 — 50 0.0032%
1970 — 57 0.0036%
1971 — 59 0.0039%
1972 — 53 0.0039%
1973 — 52 0.004%
1974 — 54 0.0042%
1975 — 53 0.0041%
1976 — 87 0.0068%
1977 — 96 0.0071%
1978 — 89 0.0066%
1979 — 133 0.0094%
1980 — 200 0.0137%
1981 — 224 0.0152%
1982 — 275 0.0184%
1983 — 309 0.0209%
1984 — 409 0.0275%
1985 — 515 0.0339%
1986 — 628 0.0416%
1987 — 783 0.0513%
1988 — 936 0.0601%
1989 — 1,184 0.0734%
1990 — 1,377 0.0831%
1991 — 1,904 0.1168%
1992 — 2,538 0.159%
1993 — 3,788 0.243%
1994 — 5,580 0.3636%
1995 — 6,713 0.4454%
1996 — 7,602 0.5077%
1997 — 8,405 0.5683%
1998 — 11,078 0.7402%
1999 — 11,481 0.7667%
2000 — 12,535 0.8206%
2001 — 11,334 0.7522%
2002 — 11,079 0.7393%
2003 — 9,900 0.6507%
2004 — 8,899 0.5839%
2005 — 8,506 0.5563%
2006 — 8,567 0.5471%
2007 — 8,203 0.5199%
2008 — 8,032 0.5197%
2009 — 7,736 0.5176%
2010 — 7,317 0.5077%
2011 — 7,365 0.5169%
2012 — 8,030 0.5635%
2013 — 8,954 0.6289%
2014 — 8,808 0.6045%
2015 — 8,325 0.5722%
2016 — 7,645 0.5302%
2017 — 6,701 0.4801%
2018 — 6,050 0.4404%
2019 — 5,353 0.3954%
2020 — 4,640 0.3645%
2021 — 4,171 0.3412%
2022 — 3,551 0.2692%
2023 — 3,122 0.2412%

Alaska (AK)

Alabama (AL)

Arkansas (AR)

Arizona (AZ)

California (CA)

Colorado (CO)

Connecticut (CT)

District of Columbia (DC)

Delaware (DE)

Florida (FL)

Georgia (GA)

Hawaii (HI)

Iowa (IA)

Idaho (ID)

Illinois (IL)

Indiana (IN)

Kansas (KS)

Kentucky (KY)

Louisiana (LA)

Massachusetts (MA)

Maryland (MD)

Maine (ME)

Michigan (MI)

Minnesota (MN)

Missouri (MO)

Mississippi (MS)

Montana (MT)

North Carolina (NC)

North Dakota (ND)

Nebraska (NE)

New Hampshire (NH)

New Jersey (NJ)

New Mexico (NM)

Nevada (NV)

New York (NY)

Ohio (OH)

Oklahoma (OK)

Oregon (OR)

Pennsylvania (PA)

Rhode Island (RI)

South Carolina (SC)

South Dakota (SD)

Tennessee (TN)

Texas (TX)

Utah (UT)

Virginia (VA)

Vermont (VT)

Washington (WA)

Wisconsin (WI)

West Virginia (WV)

Wyoming (WY)

Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Hunter

If you like Hunter, you’ll love these other names like Hunter.

What names are diminutives of Hunter?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Hunter sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Hunter, but shorter.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Hunt

Hunt

English

What names sound like Hunter?

If you like how Hunter sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Hunter.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Henderson

Son of Henry

English

Hendrie

Son of Henry

English

Hendries

Son of Henry

English

Hendrik

Home ruler

German

Hendron

Son of Henry

English

Huntington

Hunter's settlement

English

Huntlea

Meadow of the hunter

English

Huntlee

Meadow of the hunter

English

Huntleigh

Meadow of the hunter

English

Huntley

Meadow of the hunter

English

Huntly

Meadow of the hunter

English

What names are similar to Hunter?

Find a name that’s like Hunter, but just a little bit different.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Archer

Bowman

English

Axel

My father is peace

Scandinavian

Carter

Cart user

English

Colton

Charcoal settlement

English

Gunner

Warrior

Scandinavian

Mason

Stoneworker

English

Miles

Soldier

Latin

Ryder

Mounted warrior

English

Waylon

Land by the road

English

Weston

West town

English

Lists With Hunter

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name Hunter.

Siblings of Hunter

Mamas with kids named Hunter also have kids with these names.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Ariana

Most holy

Latin

Maddison

Son of Maud

English

Aiden

Little fire

Irish

Ricky

Powerful leader; peaceful ruler

German

Noah

To rest

Hebrew

Forrest

Woodsman; woods

French

Ryker

Rich

English

Freya

Lady

Scandinavian

26 Comments

  1. It went with his sister’s name Freya and I didnt have any students name Hunter

    Reply

  2. We wanted a simple, strong name for our baby boy. Also one that would match his daddy’s name (Stone). So “Hunter Stone” sounded like a perfect fit for us <3

    Reply

  3. We were going through names we thought were cute and our 2 year old son randomly said hunter and we were like hmm that isn’t actually a bad idea, and it actually stuck

    Reply

  4. We just liked the name.

    That I can be a boy or girl name

    Reply

  5. My husband is a big outdoorsman and he chose the name. We live in a very rural area, so it is a very common activity here. There is nothing we don’t like about this name, we love the fact he won’t have a million different nicknames.

    Reply

  6. I 100% thought he was going to be a girl. I had a full girl name picked out and everything! When I found out I was having a boy it took me about 3-4 days to get use to the idea and come up with a list of boy names. Hunter is the only one that stuck out and stuck ?. And considering I love the outdoors and my family is big into hunting and fishing it made sense. His middle name, Thomas, is after me dad!

    Reply

  7. I let his father name him

    Reply

  8. My husband chose the name 🙂

    He just always liked the name Hunter!

    Reply

  9. I always knew growing up if I had a son I would name him Hunter Daniel (then what ever the last name of his daddy was)! My grandma and my mom have always been my rocks and I love them both so very much. I wanted to honor each one of them in my children’s names. My g-ma’s maiden name was Hunter and my moms maiden name was Daniel. My son was born in 1993 and I did in fact name him Hunter Daniel! It is the absolute most perfect name for him. When I got pregnant with my daughter in 1997 I wanted to name her after my mom and dad. My moms name was Kathryn Lynn and my dads name was Tony Joe. When my daughter was born I named her Kamryn Jo and gave her my
    maiden last name and hyphenated it with my kids dads last name. I should also point out that my middle name is Jo and their other grandfathers middle name is Joe!
    My daughter just had a baby girl almost 7 weeks ago. It was important to her to keep the trend going with family names. She named her baby girl Karsyn Jo Lynn! I have always believed that names are so very important and there should be some meaning when naming a baby – it sticks with them their entire life.

    Reply

  10. Both my partner and myself love the outdoors and hunting. We both feel in love with the name. I’ve also only met one other Hunter so I felt like it wasn’t a really popular name.

    Reply

  11. It’s a perfect name for us we are both hunters and love spending time outside.

    Reply

  12. I love the name and also his full name is Hunter Zachary Gene Stude. The reason I chose Hunter is because it was a great name. Zackary because of one of my friends. Gene because of my best friend that passed away and I wanted part of him in my child’s name and Stude is because of his daddy’s last name

    Reply

  13. Hunter was the only name my husband and I both liked. We felt that it’s a more outdoorsy name and that fits our lifestyle. We prayed long and hard about a name and Hunter was the only one that stuck!

    Reply

  14. I love my sons name nothing bad about it actually. We chose it to fit the nature theme we have going his older sisters name is river so it just fit really well

    Reply

  15. maverick? glad you went with hunter my brother is called hunter

    Reply

  16. Hunting is one of his fathers favorite hobbies.

    Reply

  17. I always loved the name and I said if I ever had another boy I would name him Hunter and yse my dad’s and brothers middle name to go with it

    Reply

  18. My daughter picked out the name hunter

    Reply

  19. I heard the name Hunter in a movie once and I really liked it.

    Reply

  20. My husbands moms maiden name was hunt

    Reply

  21. We wanted to honor my husband’s father who passed away 12 years ago. His dad was named after his father, so we named our son after my husband.

    Reply

  22. I wanted the name maverick ,but Shawn didn’t like it so my aunt and uncle started coming up with names and that’s how we came
    Up with hunter. His middle
    Name is Allen after my
    Dad who passed away in my 20’s. I’m turning 36 in August

    Reply

  23. Dad chose the name hunter our other kids are fisher and River and hunter went right along with Them I wanted you to have a unique name but dads heart has been set in Hunter you hear if everywhere I wanted to name you Ruger or even arrow but

    Reply

  24. We choose Hunter because we wanted our son to pursue life like a hunter does. Ever honing skills, perseverance, and knowledge. It is about the persuit of life not trophies.

    Reply

  25. Our son was born on the full moon in October which we learned is called the Hunter’s Moon.

    Reply

  26. My husband has loved the name as long as he can remember. Being outdoorsy folks, it fits right in with our lifestyle, too. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the name; I’m not typically a big fan of occupation names. Knowing how much my husband loved the name, I decided to give it serious consideration and eventually I agreed to name our son Hunter. Now that he’s here, the name completely fits him and I am totally in love with him and his name 🙂

    Reply

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