Harl
Harl was last recorded in 1973, when 6 babies were given it; 601 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1973 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Harl by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Harl mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Harl is “a male given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Harl?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #4,728, in 1973; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
23 babies in 1920, the peak
Harl peaked in 1920, when 23 boys were given it, #1,613 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 6 | #4,728 | 3.8 |
| 1970 | 8 | #3,629 | 4.3 |
| 1968 | 6 | #3,877 | 3.5 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,686 | 3.4 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,409 | 3.5 |
| 1961 | 8 | #3,201 | 3.8 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,473 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,755 | 2.8 |
| 1958 | 6 | #3,691 | 2.8 |
| 1957 | 5 | #4,217 | 2.3 |
Every recorded year (55)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 6 | #3,697 | 2.8 |
| 1954 | 7 | #3,274 | 3.4 |
| 1953 | 9 | #2,788 | 4.6 |
| 1952 | 8 | #2,958 | 4.1 |
| 1951 | 5 | #3,920 | 2.7 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,655 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 17 | #1,848 | 9.6 |
| 1948 | 12 | #2,264 | 6.8 |
| 1947 | 12 | #2,297 | 6.6 |
| 1946 | 11 | #2,332 | 6.8 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,500 | 3.7 |
| 1944 | 10 | #2,373 | 7.3 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,327 | 7.7 |
| 1942 | 10 | #2,442 | 7.2 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,036 | 10.6 |
| 1940 | 7 | #2,980 | 6.0 |
| 1939 | 14 | #1,914 | 12.6 |
| 1938 | 14 | #1,929 | 12.6 |
| 1937 | 11 | #2,260 | 10.3 |
| 1936 | 14 | #1,919 | 13.5 |
| 1935 | 14 | #1,973 | 13.4 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,065 | 12.6 |
| 1933 | 8 | #2,842 | 8.1 |
| 1932 | 19 | #1,681 | 18.2 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,227 | 6.7 |
| 1930 | 19 | #1,723 | 17.3 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,251 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,499 | 6.3 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,006 | 8.0 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,243 | 12.6 |
| 1925 | 15 | #2,125 | 13.4 |
| 1924 | 16 | #2,085 | 14.1 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,509 | 10.9 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,089 | 14.7 |
| 1921 | 20 | #1,794 | 18.2 |
| 1920 | 23 | #1,613 | 21.6 |
| 1919 | 13 | #2,312 | 13.3 |
| 1918 | 16 | #2,029 | 15.8 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,557 | 23.8 |
| 1916 | 9 | #2,805 | 10.1 |
| 1915 | 10 | #2,520 | 11.8 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,642 | 22.9 |
| 1913 | 10 | #1,859 | 19.5 |
| 1897 | 6 | #994 | 53.2 |
| 1880 | 5 | #972 | 45.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Harl a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Harl has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 55 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Harl: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Harl, and how old are they?
An estimated 144 Americans named Harl and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (24% of everyone recorded); the median is 75 years old and half are between 66 and 81. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 214 people named Harl (2 women and girls, 212 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 194 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Harl rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 1,720 babies since 1880, Harl is the second most given (35% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Harl
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Harl and names like it
- Compare Harl and HarrelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHarl peaked in 1920.
- Arkansas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Harl since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Harl.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Harl alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.