Hamish

What Hamish means

Form of James, meaning “May He Heel”

, from English James || The English New Testament form of Jacob, from Middle English James, from Old French James, from Vulgar Latin Iācōmus, spoken and altered pronunciation of Latin Iācōbus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Ἰακώβ (Iakṓb), from Biblical

Source: Wiktionary, “Hamish” (revision 87963059) and “James” (revision 94540466), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Hamish?

US: Falling: down from #4545 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #399 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2021, when 25 boys got the name (#4118 that year). First in the US records in 1981.

How common

• About 1 in 122,005 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 3,399 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 265 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

US vs UK

Hamish is #6143 in the US and #484 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Hamish were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Hamish

Boys

• Lochlan#644Editor’s note Up from #841 in 2015 to #644 in 2025 in the US
• Owen#31Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #31 vs #170 in 2025
• Declan#139Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #139 vs #372 in 2025
• Kian#400Editor’s note Up from #489 in 2015 to #400 in 2025 in the US
• Ronan#247Irish, meaning “little seal”^*
• Finn#206“the Sami”^*

For a sister

• Ava#11Editor’s note Down from #4 in 2015 to #11 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 210 US girls in the 2025 records
• Kenna#759“descendant of Cionaodh”^*
• Anya#375Editor’s note Up from #550 in 2015 to #375 in 2025 in the US
• Brynn#407Editor’s note Down from #259 in 2015 to #407 in 2025 in the US
• Rory#230“red-haired king”^*
• Alaina#224Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Hamish’s. Rank is US 2025.