Meaning and history
From a Latinized form of Old Norse Amlóði, of uncertain meaning, possibly from Old Norse ama “to bother” and óðr “frenzied, furious.” The name was used by Shakespeare for the title character of Hamlet (1600), a tragedy based on earlier sources, especially Saxo Grammaticus’s 12th-century Gesta Danorum, where the character is called Amlethus, and François de Belleforest’s 1570 French translation, where he is named Hamlet. In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet is the prince of Denmark who seeks to avenge his father’s death at the hands of his uncle Claudius.
20062006: 7 births, rank #9,585
2007: 6 births, rank #10,921
2008: 10 births, rank #7,698
2009: no US SSA record for this spelling
2010: 9 births, rank #8,139
20112011: 10 births, rank #7,502
2012: 5 births, rank #12,274
2013: no US SSA record for this spelling
2014: 8 births, rank #8,781
2015: 6 births, rank #10,644
20162016: no US SSA record for this spelling
2017: 7 births, rank #9,696
2018: 5 births, rank #12,156
2019: 11 births, rank #7,173
2020: no US SSA record for this spelling
20212021: no US SSA record for this spelling
2022: no US SSA record for this spelling
2023: no US SSA record for this spelling
2024: 5 births, rank #12,349
20252025: 8 births, rank #8,910
In 2025, 8 babies were recorded with the name Hamlet, ranking #8,910 among boys.