Harlene
Harlene was given to 5 girls in 2025, #15,739 among girls’ names; 1,124 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Harlene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Harlene?
#15,739 among girls’ names, 2025
Harlene entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #15,739 in 2025.
81 babies in 1937, the peak
Harlene peaked in 1937, when 81 girls were given it, #755 among girls’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 6% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #15,739 | 3.1 |
| 2020 | 5 | #15,972 | 3.1 |
| 2019 | 5 | #16,416 | 3.0 |
| 2017 | 5 | #16,773 | 2.9 |
| 2001 | 5 | #16,229 | 2.8 |
| 1979 | 5 | #10,743 | 3.1 |
| 1976 | 5 | #9,803 | 3.4 |
| 1972 | 9 | #5,635 | 5.9 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,207 | 4.8 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,583 | 4.0 |
Every recorded year (57)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 6 | #6,926 | 3.6 |
| 1968 | 8 | #5,303 | 4.9 |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,455 | 4.1 |
| 1965 | 5 | #6,874 | 2.8 |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,521 | 3.6 |
| 1962 | 13 | #3,655 | 6.6 |
| 1961 | 12 | #3,857 | 5.9 |
| 1960 | 9 | #4,575 | 4.5 |
| 1959 | 14 | #3,315 | 6.9 |
| 1958 | 12 | #3,614 | 6.0 |
| 1957 | 14 | #3,200 | 6.8 |
| 1956 | 14 | #3,230 | 7.0 |
| 1955 | 21 | #2,426 | 10.7 |
| 1954 | 14 | #3,069 | 7.2 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,344 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 18 | #2,531 | 9.7 |
| 1951 | 19 | #2,341 | 10.6 |
| 1950 | 21 | #2,149 | 12.3 |
| 1949 | 21 | #2,168 | 12.3 |
| 1948 | 28 | #1,796 | 16.5 |
| 1947 | 26 | #1,916 | 14.7 |
| 1946 | 35 | #1,488 | 22.3 |
| 1945 | 27 | #1,604 | 20.7 |
| 1944 | 47 | #1,146 | 35.4 |
| 1943 | 38 | #1,333 | 27.2 |
| 1942 | 48 | #1,144 | 35.5 |
| 1941 | 32 | #1,368 | 26.5 |
| 1940 | 46 | #1,064 | 40.2 |
| 1939 | 52 | #982 | 47.4 |
| 1938 | 79 | #795 | 71.6 |
| 1937 | 81 | #755 | 76.1 |
| 1936 | 52 | #958 | 50.0 |
| 1935 | 46 | #1,024 | 43.9 |
| 1934 | 25 | #1,495 | 23.9 |
| 1933 | 31 | #1,294 | 30.8 |
| 1932 | 37 | #1,181 | 34.7 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,857 | 9.4 |
| 1930 | 9 | #3,171 | 8.0 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,857 | 9.5 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,685 | 6.7 |
| 1926 | 7 | #4,043 | 5.9 |
| 1925 | 7 | #4,191 | 5.8 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,173 | 5.6 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,633 | 5.0 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,606 | 7.1 |
| 1916 | 6 | #4,121 | 5.7 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,986 | 9.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Harlene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Harlene has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 57 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Harlene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Harlene, and how old are they?
An estimated 541 Americans named Harlene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (48% of everyone recorded); the median is 78 years old and half are between 68 and 85. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 812 people named Harlene (805 women and girls, 7 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 687 born in the U.S. The Census count is 18% 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).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Harlene
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 Harlene and names like it
- Compare Harlene and ShelbaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sHarlene peaked in 1937.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Harlene since 1910.
- The top names of 1937The year the most babies were named Harlene.
- The names of the Silent GenerationMost people named Harlene alive today were born 1928-1945.
- Names starting with HMost given first.