Harlem
Harlem is given to both girls and boys: 147 girls and 236 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,462 among girls’ names and #971 among boys’, #1,418 among all names counting both); 5,182 Americans have been recorded with it since 1975 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,140 Americans named Harlem and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 4 and 12.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Harlem by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Harlem?
#971 among boys’ names, 2025
Harlem rose from #1,008 in 2015 to #971 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.11 to 0.14 per 1,000.
409 babies in 2023, the peak
Harlem peaked in 2023, when 409 babies were given it (254 boys, #911 among boys’ names). The 383 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 94% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 147 | #1,462 | 236 | #971 |
| 2024 | 177 | #1,302 | 220 | #1,015 |
| 2023 | 155 | #1,441 | 254 | #911 |
| 2022 | 129 | #1,640 | 237 | #957 |
| 2021 | 141 | #1,501 | 240 | #944 |
| 2020 | 158 | #1,377 | 248 | #906 |
| 2019 | 133 | #1,600 | 242 | #909 |
| 2018 | 100 | #1,971 | 210 | #990 |
| 2017 | 101 | #1,966 | 176 | #1,105 |
| 2016 | 93 | #2,099 | 184 | #1,074 |
Every recorded year (26)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 90 | #2,131 | 203 | #1,008 |
| 2014 | 70 | #2,542 | 199 | #1,023 |
| 2013 | 55 | #3,020 | 160 | #1,136 |
| 2012 | 43 | #3,666 | 95 | #1,627 |
| 2011 | 28 | #4,969 | 88 | #1,693 |
| 2010 | 31 | #4,652 | 103 | #1,553 |
| 2009 | 40 | #3,900 | 86 | #1,764 |
| 2008 | 17 | #7,527 | 71 | #1,988 |
| 2007 | 14 | #8,694 | 51 | #2,486 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,103 | 53 | #2,358 |
| 2005 | under 5 | 33 | #3,109 | |
| 2004 | 5 | #17,053 | 20 | #4,312 |
| 2003 | 6 | #14,503 | 11 | #6,405 |
| 2002 | under 5 | 7 | #8,783 | |
| 2000 | 5 | #15,916 | 5 | #11,000 |
| 1975 | under 5 | 5 | #5,789 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Harlem a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,182 Americans recorded as Harlem, 34% are girls and 66% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Harlem: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Harlem, and how old are they?
5,140 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 5,182 Americans ever recorded as Harlem. The median Harlem alive today is 7 years old; half are between 4 and 12.
The 2020 Census counted 2,365 people named Harlem (699 women and girls, 1,666 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,920 born in the U.S. The Census count is 19% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 810 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,330 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Harlem born?
The states with the most babies named Harlem are Texas, Georgia and North Carolina, with 38% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 40 | #1,115 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 37 | #468 | 1.5× |
| North Carolina | 35 | #488 | 1.5× |
| California | 29 | #1,052 | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 20 | #656 | 1.3× |
| Louisiana | 16 | #465 | 3.4× |
| Maryland | 14 | #530 | 2.0× |
| Missouri | 12 | #820 | 0.9× |
| South Carolina | 12 | #786 | 0.9× |
| New York | 10 | #1,158 | 0.4× |
Where Harlem is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Harlem is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1975 it was given 3.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Harlem with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Harlem
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 Harlem and names like it
- Compare Harlem and ZacariBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sHarlem peaked in 2023.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Harlem since 1910.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Harlem.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Harlem alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with HMost given first.