Horst
A Germanic name meaning "thicket" or a patch of wooded ground. Around 1,300 men in Poland carry it, all of an older generation now: barely a single boy has been named Horst this century.
Horst Pronunciation
Horst is pronounced KHORST (/xɔrst/).
What Horst means
Where Horst comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Horst comes from Germanic roots, and in German the word names a thicket or a patch of wooded ground. The same word does double duty for the nest an eagle builds high in such trees. So the name holds a place before it holds a person, a stand of low growth where something makes its home.
It has stayed close to German soil. Horst Köhler served as Germany's federal president from 2004 to 2010, and the actor Horst Buchholz carried the name onto film screens across Europe. No diminutive softens it and no feminine form branches away. Horst stands alone.
Picture a school register in a German-speaking town, the name printed plain among the rest. The Polish meaning given for it is zarośla, gąszcz, the tangle of brush at a forest's edge.
How many people are named Horst
1 in 16547 men in Poland is named Horst. 1,290 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #854 among male names.
Horst's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Horst as a middle name
Horst is a first name for 1,290 men in Poland and a middle name for another 476, a 73/27 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 325th, between Michel (481) and Felipe (466).
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#323 Jordan485
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#324 Michel481
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#325 Horst476
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#326 Felipe466
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#327 Pawel463