Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...

. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein'', meaning "to have", "to hold", "to check", "restrain". In Scotland, the name ''Hector'' is sometimes an

anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

form of the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

'' Eachann'', and the pet form ''Heckie'' is sometimes used. The name of Sir Ector, the foster father of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

, is also a variant of the same.

Etymology

In Greek, is a derivative of the verb ἔχειν ''ékhein'', archaic form * grc, ἕχειν, hékhein, label=none ('to have' or 'to hold'), from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

*'' seɡ́ʰ-'' ('to hold'). , or as found in Aeolic poetry, is also an epithet of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

in his capacity as 'he who holds verything together. Hector's name could thus be taken to mean 'holding fast'.

Cognates

* Irish: ''Eachtar'' * Italian: ''

Ettore Ettore is a given name, the Italian version of Hector. People *Ettore Arrigoni degli Oddi (1867–1942), Italian naturalist *Ettore Bassi (born 1970), Italian actor and television presenter *Ettore Bastianini (1922–1967), Italian opera singer *Et ...

'' * Portuguese: ''Heitor'' * Greek: Modern Greek: ''Έκτορας'' (Ectoras), Ancient Greek: ''Ἕκτωρ'' (Hector)

People with the name

Hector Abhayavardhana Hector Abhayavardhana (5 January 1919 – 22 September 2012) was a Sri Lankan Trotskyist theoretician, a long-standing member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and a founder-member of the Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burm ...

(1919-2012), Sri Lankan Sinhala Trotskyist politician *

Hector Appuhamy Hector Appuhamy is a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He was elected from Puttalam District in 2015. He is a Member of the United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එ� ...

, Member of the Sri Lanka Parliament for

Puttalam District Puttalam is a district situated near to the west coast of Sri Lanka. It has an area of . Along with the Kurunegala District, it formulates the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. The district capital is Puttalam, which borders the Kala Oya and ...

* Hector Arawwawala, Governor of North Western Province, Sri Lanka from July 1994 - January 1995 *

Héctor Ávila Héctor Julio Ávila (born July 14, 1972 in Santiago de los Caballeros) is a retired boxer from the Dominican Republic.Héctor Ballesteros Héctor Fabio Ballesteros Vélez (born October 18, 1981 in Cali, Valle del Cauca) is a retired male weightlifter from Colombia. He won a gold medal for his native South American country at the 2003 Pan American Games, and competed at the 2004 ...

, Colombian weightlifter *

Héctor Bellerín Héctor Bellerín Moruno (born 19 March 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right-back or wing-back for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP and the Spain national team. Bellerín started his career at Barcelona, and moved ...

, Spanish football (soccer) player * Hector Boece, a Scottish philosopher and historian *

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

, French composer * Hector (Toe) Blake, Canadian hall of fame hockey player and coach *

Hector Luis Bustamante Héctor Luis Bustamante (born March 12, 1972) is a Colombian-American actor. He is best known for his emotionally-charged performance as Pedro Vera in the 2008 original LMN movie '' Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story''. He current stars i ...

, Colombian actor *

Héctor Carrasco Héctor Pacheco Carrasco (born October 22, 1969) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. He bats and throws right handed. In a twelve-season career, Carrasco has posted a 44–50 record with 19 saves and a 3.99 ERA in 637 relief app ...

, Dominican baseball player *

Héctor Castaño Héctor Manuel Castaño Betancurt (born January 23, 1965 in Itagüí, Antioquia) is a retired male professional road cyclist from Colombia. Career ;1994 :1st in General Classification Vuelta a Antioquia (COL) ;1999 :5th in General Classificati ...

, Colombian road cyclist *

Hector Charlesworth Hector Willoughby Charlesworth (28 September 1872 – 30 December 1945) was a Canadian writer, editor, and critic. Biography Hector Charlesworth was born in Hamilton on 28 September 1872. He married Katherine Ryan on 15 February 1897, and they h ...

, Canadian writer, editor and critic * Hector Crawford, Australian radio and television producer *

Hector de Zayas Hector de Zayas (September 7, 1910 – July 26, 1944) was a highly decorated United States Marine Corps Lieutenant colonel (United States), lieutenant colonel. He was killed in action during the Battle of Guam (1944), second battle of Guam in W ...

, U.S. Marine Corps officer and Navy Cross recipient * Hector Deheragoda,

Solicitor General of Sri Lanka The Solicitor General of Sri Lanka is a post subordinate to the Attorney General of Sri Lanka. The Solicitor General of Sri Lanka assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by four Additional Solicitors General. Note that the post was Solicit ...

from 1970-1972 *

Héctor del Curto Héctor del Curto is an Argentine tango bandoneon player. Born in Buenos Aires, he began to study tango music at a young age, winning the Best Bandoneon under 25 when only 17 years old. Following that honour, he played with the late tango giants ...

, Argentine tango bandoneon player *

Héctor Delgado Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein'', m ...

, reggaeton artist *

Héctor Elizondo Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American character actor. He is known for playing Phillip Watters in the television series ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–2000) and Ed Alzate in the television series '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021) ...

, Puerto Rican-American actor *

Héctor Ferri Héctor Américo Ferri (born October 16, 1968) is a retired footballer from Ecuador who played as a midfielder during his professional career. International career He obtained a total number of six caps (no goals) for the Ecuadorian national sid ...

, Ecuadorian football (soccer) player *

Hector Halsall Hector Halsall (20 August 1900 – October 1966) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s, and coached in the 1930 and 1940s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, and at club level fo ...

, English rugby league footballer with Swinton RLFC in the 1920s *

Hector A. Hanson Hector Ames Hanson (May 29, 1904 – September 20, 1993) was an American farmer and politician. Hanson was born in Fertile, Minnesota, Fertile, Polk County, Minnesota. He went to the Fertile Public Schools and to the Northwest School of Agricu ...

, American farmmer and politician *

Hector Hetherington Sir Hector James Wright Hetherington (21 July 1888 – 15 January 1965) was a Scottish philosopher, who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from 1927 to 1936, and Principal of the University of Glasgow until 1961. Early life H ...

, Scottish philosopher *

Héctor King Héctor King (born May 4, 1982) is a Mexican people, Mexican recording artist who has worked in Latin America as well as the United States. King released the Spanish language album ''VIVE'' in 2006, followed-up by "The Sweet Spot", in English in ...

, Mexican recording artist * Hector Kobbekaduwa, Sri Lankan Sinhala lawyer and politician * Héctor Lavoe, Puerto Rican salsa singer *

Hector Lombard In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

, Cuban-Australian mixed martial artist *

Hector Munro Macdonald Prof Hector Munro Macdonald FRAS FRSE LLD (19 January 1865 – 16 May 1935) was a Scottish mathematician, born in Edinburgh in 1865. He researched pure mathematics at Cambridge University after graduating from Aberdeen University with an hono ...

, Scottish mathematician *

Hector Carsewell Macpherson Hector Carsewell Macpherson (16 October 1851 – 17 October 1924) was a prolific Scottish writer and journalist who published books, pamphlets and articles on history, biography, politics, religion, and other subjects. Biography Early ye ...

, Scottish writer and journalist *

Héctor Moreno (footballer) Héctor Alfredo Moreno Herrera (born 17 January 1988) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga MX club Monterrey and the Mexico national team. Moreno ascended the youth ranks of Club Universidad Nacional, makin ...

, Mexican football (soccer) player * Hector Munro, 8th laird of Novar, a Scottish-born British soldier who became the ninth

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

Hector Hugh Munro Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and cultur ...

, British writer who used the pseudonym Saki * Héctor Noguera, Chilean television, film and theatre actor *

Héctor Germán Oesterheld Héctor Germán Oesterheld, also known as his common abbreviation HGO (born July 23, 1919; disappeared and presumed dead 1977), was an Argentine journalist and writer of graphic novels and comics. He has come to be celebrated as a master in his ...

, Argentine journalist and writer of graphic novels and comics * Hector Ó hEochagáin, Irish radio and television presenter *

Héctor Palacio Héctor Ivan Palacio Montoya (born 12 May 1969) is a Colombian former professional cyclist. During the 1992 Olympic Games, Palacio represented Colombia in the individual road race, where he finished 52nd. He most notably won the Vuelta a Colomb ...

, Colombian road racing cyclist *

Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (June 13, 1912 – October 24, 1943) was a French Canadian poet and painter, who "was posthumously hailed as a herald of the Quebec literary renaissance of the 1950s".Roger Cardinal,Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, ...

, Canadian poet *

Héctor Soto Héctor Soto (born June 28, 1978 in New York City, New York) is a former volleyball player from Puerto Rico, who was a member of the Men's National Team that ended up in sixth place at the 2007 FIVB Men's World Cup in Japan and received the Be ...

, Puerto Rican volleyball player *

Héctor Thomas Héctor Thomas Martínez (October 10, 1938 – December 23, 2008) was a decathlete from Venezuela. He won more than ten medals in various athletics events at the Bolivarian Games The Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos'', full n ...

, Venezuelan decathlete * Héctor Timerman, Argentine foreign minister *

Hector Tyndale Hector Tyndale (a.k.a. George Hector Tyndale) was a Union general during the American Civil War rising to the rank of Brevet Major General of Volunteers. He notably led brigades at the battles of Antietam and Wauhatchie. Apart from the war Tyndal ...

, American military officer *

Héctor Velásquez Héctor "Joto" Velásquez Vergara (9 February 1952 – 18 August 2010) was a boxer from Chile. He represented his native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate ...

, Chilean boxer *

Héctor Vidal Martínez Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Troy, Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek language ...

, Paraguayan football (soccer) midfielder * Héctor Vilches, Uruguayan football (soccer) player * Héctor Yan (born 1999), Dominican Republic professional baseball player

Arthurian legend

* Sir Ector * Hector de Maris

Fictional characters

;Monomial characters * Hector, minor character in the book series ''

A Series of Unfortunate Events ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' is a series of thirteen children's novels written by American author Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The books follow the turbulent lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. After their p ...

'' *

Hector (Ambrosia Mascot) Ambrosia Software was a predominantly Macintosh software company founded in 1993 and located in Rochester, New York, U.S. Ambrosia Software was best known for its Macintosh remakes of older arcade games, which began with a 1992 version of Atari ...

, parrot, unofficial mascot of games company Ambrosia Software *

Hector (Castlevania) Listed below are characters from all of the ''Castlevania'' video games in the order of their introduction and the game's release. ''Castlevania'' and ''Simon's Quest'' Dracula The main antagonist of the ''Castlevania'' series is , based on ...

, from ''Castlevania: Curse of Darkness'' *

Hector (Fire Emblem) ''Fire Emblem'', also officially known as ''Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade'', is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance handheld video game console. It is the seventh ...

, from the ''Fire Emblem'' video game franchise * Hector (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics superhero * Hector: Fat Arse of the Law, in the adventure video game ''Hector: Badge of Carnage'' * Hector, a polite robot of the father and son android pair Hector and Vector in "Greetings from Earth" (1979), an episode of the ''

Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series) ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson and starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, and Dirk Benedict. The series follows the surviving humans as they flee in the fictional spacecraft o ...

'' * Hector, the evil robot in the film '' Saturn 3'' * Hector, a character in the film '' Coco'' ;Monomial with descriptor * Hector the Bulldog, in ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' cartoons *

Hector the Cat Hector the Cat (also known as Hector Cat, Hector the Road Safety Cat or simply Hector) is a fictional cat and mascot created to aid the teaching of road safety to children in Australia. Educational material relating to the character was developed b ...

, a mascot for the teaching of road safety to children in Australia * Hector the Dog, in the British children's television series ''

Hector's House ''Hector's House'' (French ''La Maison de Toutou'') is a French children's television series using glove puppets. It was first broadcast in France on 1ère chaine on 27 October 1966 and ran over seven series and 78 episodes. It was re-voiced in ...

'' ;Binomial characters * Hector Alembick, character from '' King Ottokar's Sceptre'' *

Hector Barbossa Captain Hector Barbossa is a fictional character of the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' franchise, appearing in all five films in the series. Starting out as a villainous undead pirate in ''The Curse of the Black Pearl'' (2003), the character dies ...

, in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series * Hector Bowen, aka Prospero the Enchanter, from the novel The Night Circus * Hector Ruiz, from the American television series The Electric Company * Hector Cruz, from the American animated television series '' Ozzy & Drix'' * Hector "Hec" Faulkner, a character from the film ''

Hunt for the Wilderpeople ''Hunt for the Wilderpeople'' is a 2016 New Zealand adventure comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, whose screenplay was based on the book ''Wild Pork and Watercress'' by Barry Crump. Sam Neill and Julian Dennison play "Uncle" ...

'' * Hector Garcia, a character from '' Zits'' *

Hector Gonzales The following is a list of primary antagonists in the ''James Bond'' novels and film series. Novel villains by author Ian Fleming Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham) Christopher Wood John Gardner Raymond Benson ...

, in the film ''For Your Eyes Only'' * Hector Hall, a DC Comics character * Hector Hammond, a DC Comics supervillain. * Hector "High Five" Nieves, one of the two main characters in the animated web television series ''

Glitch Techs ''Glitch Techs'' is an American animated streaming television series created by Eric Robles and Dan Milano for Nickelodeon and Netflix. The series premiered on Netflix on February 21, 2020, with a second season premiering on August 17 of the sa ...

''. * Hector Ricardo, a minor character in the Lorien Legacies series * Hector Salamanca, a character in ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...

'' and ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, '' Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

'' * Hector Williams, one of the main characters in the American television show '' The Unit'' * Hector "Zero" Zeroni, a character in the novel ''

Holes A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

'' and its

film adaption A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

;Polynomial characters *

Hector Con Carne The American animated television series ''Grim & Evil'' created by Maxwell Atoms for Cartoon Network. It consists of two segments which were eventually spun off into their own series, ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' and '' Evil Con Carne' ...

, the main character from the American animated series '' Evil Con Carne''

References