Henry Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Boy Names Like Henry

Henry Name Origin: English
Pronunciation: hen-ree
See what 60 people think about Henry

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Henry Name Meaning

A regal name used for centuries, Henry has widespread appeal across time and continents. Meaning “home ruler” from the German Heimirich, Henry has always been surrounded by images of strength and honor.

Henry has been popular among kings with over a dozen Henrys ruling between Germany and England alone. He’s also the formal name of the Duke of Sussex, the spunky younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana who stands apart with his fiery red locks and mischievous grin. Despite these regal roots, he’s also nimbly used among commoners. He’s been the name of poets, authors, and actors alike through the years, all beloved for their creative talents and ways with words.

Henry is universally agreed to be strong, but he’s also soft in sound, his friendly -y ending matched by Anthony, Bentley, and Zachary. This softer side has been the key to other names success like Liamand Asher. He’s also bursting with cool British vibes like Oliver and Toby. Regardless of his ancient pedigree, a little Henry will be effortlessly on-trend and have a name that will age gracefully.

There are a few dashing nicknames for Henry like Harry, a darling choice for Potter fans, and Hank, a precious nickname who’s woefully underused. There’s also Hal, another rarely heard gem. Variants of the name include Henrik, Hendrik, and Hendry. Music lovers could stretch it further with Hendrix as well. Similar names to Henry’s style are John, Arthur, and Thomas.

Henry Name Popularity

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

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	10	2,884	0.8191%
1911	11	3,156	0.8475%
1912	12	5,636	1.1176%
1913	12	6,386	1.1263%
1914	12	8,106	1.1631%
1915	14	10,129	1.1149%
1916	14	10,655	1.103%
1917	15	10,694	1.0689%
1918	16	11,349	1.0575%
1919	16	10,611	1.0133%
1920	17	11,302	1.0165%
1921	17	11,412	0.9966%
1922	17	11,201	1.0054%
1923	18	11,065	0.9879%
1924	18	11,193	0.9639%
1925	18	10,614	0.9391%
1926	19	9,999	0.9091%
1927	19	9,865	0.8912%
1928	21	9,314	0.8705%
1929	21	8,569	0.8273%
1930	22	8,593	0.8226%
1931	22	7,800	0.7903%
1932	23	7,465	0.7556%
1933	24	6,724	0.7217%
1934	27	6,731	0.6963%
1935	26	6,850	0.7049%
1936	28	6,444	0.669%
1937	30	6,667	0.6766%
1938	30	6,556	0.6404%
1939	31	6,557	0.6446%
1940	31	6,820	0.6416%
1941	29	7,160	0.6362%
1942	31	7,559	0.5986%
1943	31	7,623	0.5839%
1944	35	6,967	0.5621%
1945	37	6,597	0.5409%
1946	41	7,311	0.4955%
1947	46	7,807	0.4677%
1948	45	7,417	0.4646%
1949	46	7,174	0.446%
1950	47	6,964	0.4325%
1951	47	7,120	0.4199%
1952	50	6,974	0.3995%
1953	54	6,657	0.3761%
1954	59	6,398	0.35%
1955	61	6,198	0.337%
1956	72	5,949	0.315%
1957	75	5,739	0.2982%
1958	84	5,143	0.2721%
1959	83	5,048	0.2657%
1960	84	4,967	0.2621%
1961	91	4,608	0.2441%
1962	92	4,345	0.2367%
1963	93	4,180	0.2329%
1964	92	4,112	0.2336%
1965	93	3,802	0.2325%
1966	92	3,567	0.2285%
1967	93	3,328	0.2193%
1968	95	3,117	0.2076%
1969	100	3,045	0.1977%
1970	103	3,128	0.1966%
1971	112	2,933	0.1952%
1972	118	2,396	0.1759%
1973	111	2,342	0.1807%
1974	115	2,308	0.1776%
1975	124	2,078	0.1617%
1976	122	2,114	0.164%
1977	127	2,124	0.1576%
1978	128	2,017	0.15%
1979	138	1,915	0.1358%
1980	135	2,052	0.1403%
1981	126	2,175	0.148%
1982	134	2,064	0.1381%
1983	136	1,942	0.1316%
1984	135	2,013	0.1353%
1985	137	2,048	0.1349%
1986	140	1,972	0.1306%
1987	136	2,068	0.1355%
1988	140	2,065	0.1325%
1989	141	2,161	0.1339%
1990	138	2,233	0.1347%
1991	142	2,247	0.1379%
1992	141	2,318	0.1452%
1993	135	2,472	0.1586%
1994	144	2,409	0.157%
1995	136	2,533	0.1681%
1996	139	2,549	0.1702%
1997	139	2,651	0.1792%
1998	136	2,777	0.1855%
1999	130	2,899	0.1936%
2000	126	3,110	0.2036%
2001	121	3,187	0.2115%
2002	115	3,320	0.2215%
2003	116	3,464	0.2277%
2004	109	3,902	0.256%
2005	102	4,174	0.273%
2006	95	4,666	0.298%
2007	91	5,109	0.3238%
2008	78	5,777	0.3738%
2009	71	5,894	0.3943%
2010	67	6,397	0.4439%
2011	57	7,229	0.5074%
2012	43	8,066	0.566%
2013	37	8,870	0.623%
2014	32	9,428	0.6471%
2015	29	10,164	0.6985%
2016	22	10,363	0.7187%
2017	18	10,406	0.7456%
2018	16	10,649	0.7751%
2019	12	10,704	0.7907%
2020	9	10,355	0.8135%
2021	9	11,307	0.925%
2022	7	10,892	0.8256%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Henry

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

What names are diminutives of Henry?

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

Name	Meaning	Origin
Hal	A diminutive form of Harold and Henry.	English
Hank	Home ruler	German
Harry	Home ruler	German
Henny	A diminutive form of Henry.

What names are variants of Henry?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Henry.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Arrigo		Italian
Enrico	Home ruler	Spanish
Enrikos	Home ruler	German
Enrique	Home ruler	Spanish
Enzio	Home ruler	Italian
Heike	Home ruler	German
Heiko	Home ruler	German
Heindrick	Home ruler	German
Heindrik	Home ruler	German
Heiner	Home ruler	German

Heinrich	Home ruler	German
Heinrick	Home ruler	German
Heinrik	Home ruler	German
Heinz		Hebrew
Henderson	Son of Henry	English
Hendrick	Home ruler	German
Hendrie	Son of Henry	English
Hendrik	Home ruler	German
Hendrix	Son of Hendrick	English
Hendry
Henerik	Home ruler	German
Henning	Home ruler	German
Henri	Home ruler	German
Henrik	Home ruler	German
Henrique	Home ruler	German

Henryk	Home ruler	German
Heriot	Home ruler	German
Herrior	Home ruler	German
Hinrich	Home ruler	German

What names sound like Henry?

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

Name	Meaning	Origin	Popularity	Other Gender
Henley	High meadow	English

What names are similar to Henry?

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

Name	Meaning	Origin
Albert	Noble, bright, famous	German
Daniel	God is My Judge	Hebrew
George	Farmer	Greek
James	Supplanter	English
John	God is gracious	Hebrew
Joseph	Jehovah will increase	Hebrew
Lucas	From Lucania	Latin
Robert	Bright fame	German
Wesley	Western meadow	English
William	A willing protector	German

Lists With Henry

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

Siblings of Henry

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

Name	Meaning	Origin	Popularity	Other Gender

Raymond	Protector	English
Emma	Whole or universal	German
Cathy	Pure	Greek
Coy	Son of Aodh	Irish
Robert	Bright fame	German
Eleanor	Of unknown meaning	English
Elias	My God is Yahweh	Hebrew
John	God is gracious	Hebrew
Adelaide	Noble one	German
Elizabeth	God is my oath	Hebrew
Rosemary	Dew of the sea	Latin
Walter	Commander of the army	German
Maxwell	Mack's stream	English
Charles	Free man	German
Charlie	Free man	English

Share Your Thoughts

60 Comments

Olivia Sep 10 at 7:18 am

I’ve always loved classic names. Henry was one of my favorite names since I was in High School. My husband liked it too.

The choice was between Henry and Walter – We chose Henry!

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Samantha Sep 9 at 9:45 pm

Thank God

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Heather Aug 3 at 10:40 am

We wanted a more traditional name.

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Anna Jul 2 at 12:23 pm

I’ve always liked the name Henry. I read a book with a character named Henry that I loved. I also had a grandmother named Harriet, and in looking into the name, realized it came from the name Henrietta which is the female version of Henry, and that sealed the deal for me!

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- henry Oct 19 at 9:45 pm
  
  I’m Henry
  
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LeAnne Jan 7 at 9:45 am

His first name is one of my grandfathers first name and his middle name is my other grandfathers middle name

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Brynn Nov 20 at 7:53 pm

We have a little Henry and Lawson! Love the timeless yet fresh feel!

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Sydney Jun 7 at 7:14 am

I like Henry because it is a classic, old world name. I originally wanted the name Harvey, but my husband and I negotiated to Henry.

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Natalie Jan 4 at 9:00 pm

I loved that it was a classic “older style” name. I like that his name never gets old and not many had it.

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Lexi Dec 6 at 3:49 am

We chose to go the family route for our firstborn’s name! My husband and I combined names from our fathers, pulling his father’s middle name (Henry) and my father’s first name (Christian), and swapping the order for Henry Christian. We liked the meaning of both names too (leader and follower of Christ!) so that was an added bonus!

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Rebecca Nov 28 at 11:27 am

It was one of the few that both my husband and I could agree on 🙂 Also I thought it was cute and he has his choice of nicknames one day when he is older.

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Hannah Nov 28 at 8:12 am

We named him after my husband’s Opa and his middle name is after my Poppa. We wanted to honour some really great men, plus we loved the older names.

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Natalie Nov 1 at 8:15 pm

I have a dog named Randall and wanted an older classic name to go with his. Henrys a name that never seems to go out of “style” and went nicely with the middle name we chose, James 🙂

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Sherry Oct 15 at 10:53 am

Henry is not religious. It’s both new and old

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Lisa Sep 29 at 8:08 am

It was a name both my husband and I mutually liked, way back before we were married or were ready for children. We liked how it sounded with his last name, and we liked how it fit into his initials. We also found it amusing that according to a baby name book, it means “ruler of the house” and it was just so fitting, given how my pregnancy had gone.

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Anna Morel Aug 31 at 8:10 am

We didn’t have the name Henry on our list going into labor, but he just looked like a Henry and we started saying it out loud and it just fit! His middle name is Michael because that is my dad’s name and Henry was born on his Grandpa’s birthday!

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Christin Dec 22 at 11:30 am

Special meaning for us. A classic name. Don’t like the alternate spellings.

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Nicole Dec 13 at 5:19 pm

I loved the sound of it and the meaning. I didn’t name him until he was born to make sure he looked like a Henry.

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Elisabeth Nov 21 at 1:35 am

Always loved the name so much. His middle name,
Alan, was selected to memorialize my father in law who died 5 years ago. Crazy enough the baby resembles his grandfather!

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Mama Jessy Nov 13 at 12:27 pm

We chose the name Henry because we wanted a strong name for him. The verse we chose for his life is Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”
Our prayer for Henry is that he would grow up strong by Gods power, not his own strength.

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Jenny Nov 8 at 10:34 am

I just liked the name.

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Raven Mack Oct 30 at 10:15 pm

At first I thought I would want something super unique and unheard of. I probably read every baby name list out there! ? We just couldn’t agree on a name. Then after our 20 week ultrasound my husband suggested Henry. It just fit! Not what I expected but now I love it! Classic and strong and goes great with family middle name, Alan. ?

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Katherine Oct 19 at 12:33 am

It was literally the only name my husband and I could agree on! We love the meaning, the sound, the fact that its classic with a little bit of an ‘”old man” vibe, and that there are many admirable men who have used it as a first or last name.

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Molly Oct 9 at 3:03 pm

This was my great grandmother’s maiden name. My great grandmother raised my mom and was born on August 28th. Henry almost came on her birthday! Also it’s just a good strong masculine name.

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Victoria Sep 30 at 8:32 pm

Can’t go wrong with a good classic name. And hank the tank is a great nick name!! Henry was my husband’s grandfathers name.

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Lily Sep 12 at 7:17 pm

It’s an oldie but a goodie, we call our Henry Harry, His middle name is Peter, after my brother. I thought it was nice with James, (Or Jamie,) his brother. Harry is 4 now and thriving, he just started kindergarten and he’s loving it! 🙂 Nobody in his class is a Henry or a Harry, so I’m really happy with my choice.

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Emily Sep 4 at 10:05 am

We’ve loved the name Henry for awhile now, but it’s also the name of my husband’s grandfather who we lost in April. We also lost my grandfather in February, though our nephew was named after him. We’re excited to meet the little man!!

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KATHIE Sep 2 at 8:46 pm

This is kinda funny because I don’t have a son…. I have a cat named Henry. The name suits him perfectly. He is an orange tabby so he has reddish orange hair. He is definitely the ruler of the house, but he is the sweetest, most gentle cat I’ve ever had. Just wanted to share and say I really like the name “Henry”!

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Erika Aug 27 at 6:41 pm

Grandma’s suggestion

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Jessica Aug 26 at 12:30 pm

Our daughter is the one that came up with Henry, we all love it. His middle name is Ivan, so when he’s all smiles and happy he’s Henry, when he’s cranky and throwing a fit he’s Ivan the terrible!

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Sarah Jun 9 at 8:58 am

It is his great grandfather’s name.

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Erica Mar 22 at 2:47 pm

Family name!

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Marissa Mar 19 at 7:25 pm

We love the name Henry. It’s a classic name. It means ruler but we also discovered after we chose the name that my father in laws uncle was named the polish version of Henry. The name also an explorer who discovered the Hudson Bay, Henry Hudson.

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Ngozi Mar 12 at 9:26 am

I love my son

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Mama Mar 9 at 11:59 pm

1. We wanted a more classic name.
2. It’s a great generational name. I don’t care for hank though.
3. Henry has an amazing personality full of energy. He gets along with everyone he meets!

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Sara Jan 9 at 10:56 pm

My husband and I both love the name, and we think we both love it because we love Shakespeare’s Henry V!

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Kaylie Aug 2 at 11:17 am

We didn’t know if I was growing a girl or boy so we came up with a short list of our favorite names and Henry was on mine but not my partner’s. He vetoed it from my first brainstorm. When Henry was boraa?n and we met him for the first time all the names we had considered were out the window. They just didn’t feel right. So we took the next few days to get to know him and look at his features. I mentioned Henry again and it fit. Perfectly. We like the classic strength, elegance and sweetness of the name, the option of the nickname Hank and hope Henry suits his personality and he likes his name all through his life.

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Heather Apr 28 at 2:40 am

My husband and I generated a shortlist of names prior to our Son being born. We wanted to meet the little guy before we selected the name.

For our naming criteria, we wanted a name that could not be shortened (I.e Lukas shortened to Luke), we wanted his name to be his name with few exceptions.

When I first saw our little boy, from our short list of names, I knew his name was Henry.

We also wanted his name to have meaning and history. ‘Henry’ from the German ‘Henrik’ means Ruler or Lord of the House and was the name of English kings.

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Marie Mar 28 at 1:12 pm

A strong less common male name that means estate ruler. Also it fit well with our two syllable last name.

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Hallie Mar 26 at 5:58 am

I am not so crazy about Henry, Harvey(meaning battle worthy), Harry and Harlan are much more spunky and approachable for me

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Sophia Jan 28 at 10:10 pm

The name is not frequent but it’s certainly recognizable. My husband had ancestors on both his mom’s and dad’s side with this name, so we chose it. For middle name we chose my father’s name, Victor.

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johanna Jan 27 at 3:04 pm

We just loved the name!

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Brianna Nov 19 at 1:01 pm

He is actually named after his father and grandfather’s. My baby boy is Henry IV. What I like about his name is that it sounds like royalty, the king’s of England were all Henry’s, but also there were great poets and actors etc with this name. So I love his name more than I like it ?. I see a bright future for my little bundle of joy ??

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Dana Sep 2 at 9:44 am

We chose Henry because it’s an older, classic name. I don’t like the nickname Hank that a few people have called him so I hope that doesn’t stick!

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Rachel Aug 29 at 1:46 pm

Chose Henry after my grandpa. I don’t like that people keep asking me if we’re going to call him “Hank“. I hope that nickname doesn’t catch on.

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Carmella Rodriguez Aug 16 at 10:03 am

He is named after his father. His full name is Henry Raphael Murray V!

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Marietta Aug 13 at 10:15 am

My mom passed away about 3 years before I got pregnant. Her father was named Henry and when I was born she wanted to name me Henrietta. We did not find out the sex of the baby before birth but I knew if we had a boy his name would be Henry as a way to honor and remember my mom and my grandfather.

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Henry Jun 13 at 3:02 pm

I was looking for a powerful name, rooted in the Western tradition that was not biblical in nature

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Kim Jun 12 at 2:57 pm

We looked for family names in our family tree that we liked and would be meaningful. We also wanted a classic name that wasn’t to “trendy.”

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Edith Jun 5 at 5:06 pm

I chose Henry,because I named him after my late brother. My only brother for that matter. I also love the meaning of Henry which is RULER.

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Kim Apr 22 at 4:37 pm

I named my son after my grandfather (mother’s side). I always just loved his name. I do not like the “nick-name” Hank. Haha

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Elise Apr 22 at 12:27 pm

He’s the fourth Henry in the family! We call him Hank. At first that name felt too formal for a baby. But he owns it well. Someday he can choose his own nickname.

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- Brianna Hunter Nov 19 at 1:10 pm
  
  I love it. My lil guy is also the 4th Henry in the family. Henry James Lewis IV ?. Seeing your post made me feel more confident in my lil guy being called Hank lol
  
  Reply
Sara Apr 13 at 9:10 pm

We are Sara and Peter – both pretty traditional names so something new age wouldn’t work .
We decided since baby would have dads last name to pick a first name from my side and come up with our own middle (Isaac).
My Grandfather and great grandfather are William Henry and we liked Henry- just a solid name . Sometimes we call him Hank 🙂

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Julia Apr 13 at 3:03 pm

classic

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Bonnie Apr 13 at 12:40 pm

We chose Henry because it’s classic and it’s also my husbands grandfathers name.

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Robin Apr 12 at 7:08 am

His official name is John Henry. My husband’s family has a tradition of naming the first born sin John Henry. In fact, they can trace this tradition back to the 1600s in Germany as Johann Heinrich! As much as we can figure, our son is John Henry, the 10th. Since there are quite a lot of John Henrys in the family, we call him Henry.

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kelsey Apr 11 at 5:12 pm

I loved how classic it was. It’s a good name to grow with my baby. I also like how regal it sounds.

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Samantha Apr 11 at 1:55 pm

My husband and I chose Henry because we love old fashioned names and it was the only one we agreed on! I love that the name has many nicknames and that it will grow with our son.

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Susan Apr 11 at 1:10 pm

It is my great uncle’s name.

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Henry