Girls' name · peaked in 1880
Harriet name popularity since 1925
51,280 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Harriet. Half of them were born in 1941 or earlier, so the typical Harriet is about 85 years old in 2026. Harriet peaked in 1880 as the #73 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 51,280
- Named Harriet, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1880
- #73 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,073 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.8% girls
- 51,195 girls · 85 boys
- Most popular in
- Hawaii
- 3.87× its national share
Peak year is the year Harriet made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Harriet births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Harriet peaked earlier, in 1880.
- Steepest fall: Between 1963 and 1968, Harriet's share of baby girls fell by 51%, from 1 in 5,490 to 1 in 11,300.
- Fastest rise: Between 2014 and 2019, it became 2.1× more common, from 1 in 13,500 baby girls to 1 in 6,430.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Harriet's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Harriet.
Decade by decade
Babies named Harriet in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 9,500 | 36 | – |
| 1930s | 13,692 | 26 | #157 |
| 1940s | 12,925 | 18 | #176 |
| 1950s | 7,129 | 5 | #327 |
| 1960s | 2,943 | 0 | #559 |
| 1970s | 851 | 0 | #1,386 |
| 1980s | 453 | 0 | #2,232 |
| 1990s | 345 | 0 | #3,171 |
| 2000s | 449 | 0 | #3,424 |
| 2010s | 1,570 | 0 | #1,307 |
| 2020–25 | 1,338 | 0 | #1,073 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
49.4% of babies named Harriet from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Harriet is most popular
The index compares Harriet's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Harriet.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 3.87× | 583 |
| New York | 2.43× | 8,859 |
| District of Columbia | 2.02× | 448 |
| North Dakota | 2.00× | 303 |
| South Carolina | 2.00× | 1,346 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Harriet and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Harriet (this page) | 51,195 | 1880 |
| Harriett | 11,758 | 1881 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Harriet's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Harriet.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Harriet (1880).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data