Hugh
Meaning of Hugh
Think of Hugh as a pocket-sized knight stepping out of a medieval tapestry, his single syllable ringing like a trumpet—hyoo!—before the castle gates. Born from the Old German word “hug,” meaning “heart, mind, spirit,” Hugh has wandered through history with a scroll tucked under one arm and a sword under the other: Saint Hugh of Lincoln fed the poor, King Hugh Capet launched the French dynasty, and today actors Hugh Jackman and Hugh Grant give the name a red-carpet twinkle. Despite ranking only in the 600s in recent U.S. charts, Hugh moves with the quiet confidence of a matador in Seville—never loud, always noticed. He balances vintage charm and modern snap, as comfortable in a boardroom as in a storybook. For parents, Hugh offers a dash of Old World gravitas wrapped in a baby-friendly package: short to say, rich to imagine, and bright enough to light up la vida of any little caballero.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as hyoo (/hjuː/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Hugh
| English actor Hugh Grant evolved from romantic leading man to acclaimed character actor, earning numerous awards and starring in films grossing over $4 billion worldwide. |
| Hugh Jackman is an Australian actor best known for playing Wolverine and winning major awards including an Emmy, Grammy, and Tony. |
| Hugh Hefner was an American publisher who founded Playboy magazine, built a global brand, and lived a lavish lifestyle that attracted widespread media attention. |
| James Hugh Calum Laurie is a versatile English entertainer celebrated for his acting, comedy, music, and writing. |
| Hugh Everett III was an American physicist who proposed the relative state interpretation of quantum mechanics, which formed the basis of the many-worlds interpretation. |
| Hugh Bonneville is an English actor best known for his role as Robert Crawley in Downton Abbey, which earned him multiple award nominations and wins. |
| Canadian literary scholar William Hugh Kenner specialized in Modernist literature, analyzing authors like Joyce, Pound, and Beckett, and in his influential work "The Pound Era," he argued for Pound as the central figure of Modernism. |
| Hugh Edmondson Prather III was an American self-help writer renowned for his bestselling book "Notes to Myself," which sold over 5 million copies and was translated into ten languages. |
| Hugh Beaver - Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver was an English-South African civil engineer, industrialist, and bureaucrat who founded the Guinness World Records. |
| Hugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh actor who won an Academy Award for Ben-Hur and earned a nomination for Tom Jones. |
| Hugh Armstrong Clegg was a British academic who founded the National Board for Prices and Incomes and later chaired the Standing Commission on Pay Comparability. |
| Hugh Chisholm was a British journalist who edited the 10th, 11th, and 12th editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica. |
| Hugh of Ibelin was a significant noble in the Kingdom of Jerusalem who ruled as Lord of Ramla from 1152 to 1169. |
