Hiatt is a unique and uncommon male given name of American origin. It is believed to have been created by American author Robert Rauschenberg for his son in the 1960s. The meaning and history behind the name Hiatt are not widely known, as it was not derived from any existing names or words.
One theory suggests that Hiatt may be a variant of the English surname "Height," which is believed to have originated from a habitational name for someone who lived in a house or on land near a high place. However, this connection has not been definitively proven.
Another theory proposes that Hiatt may have been inspired by the name "Hattie," which was a popular nickname for female given names such as Henrietta and Harriet in the early to mid-20th century. If this is true, Hiatt could be considered a unisex name or possibly even a variant of Hattie intended specifically for males.
Despite its unclear origins, Hiatt has been used sparingly throughout history. According to some sources, there have only been a handful of individuals named Hiatt recorded in the United States since the 1930s. As such, it remains an uncommon and distinctive name choice today.
In popular culture, the name Hiatt is perhaps best known for being the given name of American musician David Hiatt (better known by his stage name "Dave Matthews"), who gained fame as the lead singer and guitarist of the Dave Matthews Band in the 1990s.
Based on the statistics provided, the name Hiatt has seen a varied number of births over the past two decades in the United States. The highest year for births with the name Hiatt was in 2008, with a total of 7 births recorded that year. Since then, the number of births with this name has fluctuated annually:
* In 2011 and again in 2013, there were 6 births each year.
* The years 2001, 2018, and 2020 all saw 5 births each.
Overall, from 2001 to 2020, there have been a total of 34 babies named Hiatt born in the United States. Despite some variations in popularity over time, this name has maintained a consistent presence in the U.S. birth records for at least two decades.