Herman is the English and Dutch form of the Germanic Hermann, from heri, "army", and man, so it means "army man" or "soldier". The novelist Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick, is its most famous American bearer, and the name was a staple of German and Scandinavian immigrant families. Herman ranked number 1092 in the United States in 2000, drifted to number 1708 by 2015 and stands at number 2368 in 2025.