Given name & surname
Horst
“horse”·“from the thicket”
Horst is used as a given name and a surname. Interpretations include “horse” and “from the thicket” (German). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Interpretations include “horse” and “from the thicket” (German). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is German.
How it developed
A proposed origin is German horst, meaning “wood, wooded hill”.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1934. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Horst through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 83
- 83 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1967
- 13 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 1968. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 13 in 1967. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,503 as a first name in 2020; 9,709 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Horst’s family of names
In East Central German usage, Horst has a diminutive in Horscht. Horst has a related form in Horstan. Horst has a related form in Horste.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 14
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Horschtdiminutive · gmw-ecg
- Horstmynvariant
- Horstminvariant
- Horstmunvariant
- Horstmonvariant
- Horstmenvariant
- Horstmanvariant
- Horstunvariant
Show 6 moreShow fewer
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Horst
- Horst KöhlerGerman politician (CDU); president of Germany, 2004–20101943–2025
- Horst Ludwig StörmerGerman physicistborn 1949
- Horst SeehoferGerman politician (CSU) and former Federal Minister of the Interior (born 1949)
- Horst WesselSA officer (1907-1930)
- Horst KöppelGerman association football player and managerborn 1948
- Horst HrubeschGerman association football player and managerborn 1951
- Horst EckelGerman association football player (1932–2021)
- Horst BuchholzGerman actor (1933–2003)
- Horst MahlerGerman political activist (1936–2025)
Characters named Horst: Horst Schimanski (the German television series Tatort).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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