Harding
Harding was given to 5 boys in 2025, #12,693 among boys’ names; 1,123 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Harding by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Harding mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Harding is “an English and Irish surname transferred from the given name.” Its etymology gives the sense “hard” (*hard).
Originally a patronymic from Hardy or from compound given names with the Germanic element *hard (“hard”).
/ˈhɑɹdɪŋ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Harding?
#12,693 among boys’ names, 2025
Harding fell from #11,178 in 2015 to #12,693 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 3.1 to 2.9 per million.
235 babies in 1921, the peak
Harding peaked in 1921, when 235 boys were given it, #396 among boys’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #12,693 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 10 | #7,954 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 7 | #10,099 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 7 | #9,923 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 5 | #12,957 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 6 | #11,208 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 6 | #11,178 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 5 | #12,738 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #11,284 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 6 | #11,131 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (59)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 6 | #5,914 | under 0.01 |
| 1971 | 6 | #4,608 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 6 | #4,127 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 6 | #3,708 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 10 | #2,680 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 5 | #4,283 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 5 | #4,232 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,386 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,901 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 6 | #3,696 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,664 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,603 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,604 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 8 | #2,957 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 13 | #2,181 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 12 | #2,259 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,127 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 20 | #1,675 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 24 | #1,534 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 16 | #1,842 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 14 | #1,883 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,245 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 15 | #1,942 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 18 | #1,700 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 5 | #3,723 | under 0.01 |
| 1938 | 5 | #3,739 | under 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #3,745 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #3,762 | under 0.01 |
| 1935 | 5 | #3,872 | under 0.01 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,453 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #3,992 | under 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,001 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,132 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,094 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,387 | under 0.01 |
| 1927 | 11 | #2,603 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 9 | #3,002 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,657 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 33 | #1,276 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 62 | #863 | 0.06 |
| 1922 | 92 | #675 | 0.08 |
| 1921 | 235 | #396 | 0.21 |
| 1920 | 229 | #391 | 0.22 |
| 1919 | 28 | #1,366 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 8 | #3,228 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 13 | #2,220 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,315 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 8 | #2,931 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,627 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Harding a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Harding has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 59 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Harding: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Harding, and how old are they?
An estimated 213 Americans named Harding and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (19% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 14 and 78. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 327 people named Harding (24 women and girls, 303 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 230 born in the U.S. The Census count is 42% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
More about Harding and names like it
- The most given names of the 1920sHarding peaked in 1921.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Harding since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Harding.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Harding alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.