Hiram

Where Hiram comes from

From Biblical Hebrew חִירָם (Ḥirám, “high-born”), possibly from Phoenician, or a shortened form of אֲחִירָם ('aḥirám, “brother of the exalted”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Hiram
  • Hebrew
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1840
    Hiram Stevens Maxim born
    American-born inventor
  2. 1875
    Hiram Bingham III born
    American academic, explorer, treasure hunter and politician
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #154 among boys — 88 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1881
    Peak, #124
    95 babies named Hiram — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1896
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #265.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Hebrew, taken into use by Puritans in the seventeenth century.
Namesakes
  • Hiram Bingham III · American academic, explorer, treasure hunter and politician, 1875–1956
  • Hiram Stevens Maxim · American-born inventor, 1840–1916
  • Hiram I · Phoenician king, 1000 BC–935 BC
  • Hiram Johnson · California governor (1911-17) and senator, 1866–1945
  • Hiram Rhodes Revels · American politician, 1827–1901

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.