Harold
Harold was given to 230 boys in 2025, #993 among boys’ names; 554,280 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 155,000 Americans named Harold and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 57 and 78.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Harold by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Harold mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Harold is “a male given name from Old English or Old Norse.” Its etymology gives the senses “army” (*harjaz) and “ruler, authority” (*waldaz).
From a merger of Old English Hereweald and Old English Harold (itself from Old Norse Haraldr), both from Proto-Germanic *Harjawaldaz, from *harjaz (“army”) + *waldaz (“ruler, authority”). Related to Walter, which has the elements reversed. Cognate with Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish Harald, Faroese and Icelandic Haraldur.
/ˈhæɹəld/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Harold?
#993 among boys’ names, 2025
Harold fell from #809 in 2015 to #993 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.15 to 0.13 per 1,000.
14,230 babies in 1924, the peak
Harold peaked in 1924, when 14,230 babies were given it (14,149 boys, #13 among boys’ names). The 230 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 230 | #993 | 0.13 |
| 2024 | 227 | #989 | 0.13 |
| 2023 | 253 | #914 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 250 | #925 | 0.14 |
| 2021 | 236 | #955 | 0.13 |
| 2020 | 238 | #932 | 0.14 |
| 2019 | 279 | #815 | 0.16 |
| 2018 | 284 | #797 | 0.16 |
| 2017 | 286 | #800 | 0.15 |
| 2016 | 288 | #802 | 0.15 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 283 | #809 | 0.15 |
| 2014 | 272 | #830 | 0.14 |
| 2013 | 234 | #892 | 0.12 |
| 2012 | 261 | #836 | 0.14 |
| 2011 | 256 | #841 | 0.13 |
| 2010 | 305 | #745 | 0.16 |
| 2009 | 266 | #825 | 0.13 |
| 2008 | 312 | #735 | 0.15 |
| 2007 | 350 | #681 | 0.17 |
| 2006 | 356 | #650 | 0.17 |
| 2005 | 349 | #627 | 0.17 |
| 2004 | 350 | #613 | 0.18 |
| 2003 | 343 | #611 | 0.17 |
| 2002 | 363 | #588 | 0.19 |
| 2001 | 377 | #556 | 0.19 |
| 2000 | 406 | #538 | 0.21 |
| 1999 | 413 | #514 | 0.22 |
| 1998 | 406 | #514 | 0.21 |
| 1997 | 435 | #490 | 0.23 |
| 1996 | 508 | #442 | 0.27 |
| 1995 | 519 | #441 | 0.27 |
| 1994 | 517 | #441 | 0.27 |
| 1993 | 602 | #381 | 0.31 |
| 1992 | 664 | #355 | 0.33 |
| 1991 | 683 | #355 | 0.34 |
| 1990 | 771 | #324 | 0.38 |
| 1989 | 783 | #305 | 0.39 |
| 1988 | 801 | #290 | 0.42 |
| 1987 | 805 | #272 | 0.43 |
| 1986 | 803 | #270 | 0.44 |
| 1985 | 857 | #259 | 0.46 |
| 1984 | 861 | #254 | 0.48 |
| 1983 | 940 | #239 | 0.52 |
| 1982 | 1,043 | #225 | 0.57 |
| 1981 | 1,101 | #223 | 0.61 |
| 1980 | 1,189 | #207 | 0.67 |
| 1979 | 1,246 | #195 | 0.72 |
| 1978 | 1,243 | #190 | 0.76 |
| 1977 | 1,434 | #167 | 0.87 |
| 1976 | 1,440 | #162 | 0.92 |
| 1975 | 1,587 | #153 | 1.0 |
| 1974 | 1,677 | #146 | 1.1 |
| 1973 | 1,812 | #140 | 1.2 |
| 1972 | 2,035 | #132 | 1.3 |
| 1971 | 2,387 | #130 | 1.3 |
| 1970 | 2,726 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 1969 | 2,763 | #117 | 1.5 |
| 1968 | 2,835 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 1967 | 2,956 | #104 | 1.7 |
| 1966 | 3,323 | #99 | 1.9 |
| 1965 | 3,539 | #99 | 1.9 |
| 1964 | 3,875 | #98 | 1.9 |
| 1963 | 4,093 | #96 | 2.0 |
| 1962 | 4,233 | #95 | 2.0 |
| 1961 | 4,448 | #94 | 2.1 |
| 1960 | 4,679 | #92 | 2.2 |
| 1959 | 4,943 | #87 | 2.3 |
| 1958 | 5,149 | #84 | 2.4 |
| 1957 | 5,752 | #74 | 2.7 |
| 1956 | 5,955 | #72 | 2.8 |
| 1955 | 6,096 | #63 | 3.0 |
| 1954 | 6,359 | #60 | 3.1 |
| 1953 | 6,580 | #56 | 3.3 |
| 1952 | 6,957 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1951 | 7,178 | #46 | 3.8 |
| 1950 | 7,214 | #45 | 4.0 |
| 1949 | 7,817 | #42 | 4.4 |
| 1948 | 8,144 | #36 | 4.6 |
| 1947 | 8,904 | #35 | 4.9 |
| 1946 | 8,373 | #33 | 5.2 |
| 1945 | 7,524 | #28 | 5.6 |
| 1944 | 7,980 | #27 | 5.9 |
| 1943 | 8,670 | #27 | 6.1 |
| 1942 | 8,582 | #27 | 6.2 |
| 1941 | 8,102 | #24 | 6.6 |
| 1940 | 8,080 | #23 | 7.0 |
| 1939 | 8,299 | #23 | 7.5 |
| 1938 | 8,563 | #23 | 7.7 |
| 1937 | 8,550 | #21 | 8.0 |
| 1936 | 8,628 | #21 | 8.3 |
| 1935 | 9,170 | #20 | 8.8 |
| 1934 | 9,926 | #18 | 9.6 |
| 1933 | 9,543 | #18 | 9.6 |
| 1932 | 10,433 | #18 | 10.0 |
| 1931 | 10,695 | #18 | 10.3 |
| 1930 | 11,660 | #18 | 10.6 |
| 1929 | 11,677 | #16 | 10.9 |
| 1928 | 12,670 | #14 | 11.4 |
| 1927 | 13,226 | #14 | 11.7 |
| 1926 | 13,310 | #14 | 12.0 |
| 1925 | 13,597 | #14 | 12.2 |
| 1924 | 14,149 | #13 | 12.5 |
| 1923 | 13,874 | #13 | 12.7 |
| 1922 | 13,593 | #13 | 12.5 |
| 1921 | 13,811 | #12 | 12.5 |
| 1920 | 13,678 | #12 | 12.9 |
| 1919 | 12,021 | #13 | 12.3 |
| 1918 | 12,185 | #13 | 12.0 |
| 1917 | 11,194 | #12 | 12.1 |
| 1916 | 10,698 | #13 | 12.0 |
| 1915 | 10,444 | #12 | 12.3 |
| 1914 | 7,563 | #14 | 11.6 |
| 1913 | 6,157 | #13 | 12.0 |
| 1912 | 5,102 | #13 | 11.9 |
| 1911 | 2,448 | #16 | 10.8 |
| 1910 | 1,909 | #18 | 9.8 |
| 1909 | 1,725 | #16 | 10.5 |
| 1908 | 1,542 | #17 | 10.0 |
| 1907 | 1,452 | #17 | 9.9 |
| 1906 | 1,330 | #17 | 10.0 |
| 1905 | 1,258 | #20 | 9.5 |
| 1904 | 1,186 | #20 | 9.3 |
| 1903 | 1,065 | #20 | 8.9 |
| 1902 | 1,077 | #19 | 8.8 |
| 1901 | 915 | #21 | 8.6 |
| 1900 | 1,245 | #20 | 8.3 |
| 1899 | 914 | #19 | 8.6 |
| 1898 | 963 | #22 | 7.8 |
| 1897 | 860 | #21 | 7.6 |
| 1896 | 862 | #23 | 7.2 |
| 1895 | 753 | #29 | 6.4 |
| 1894 | 690 | #32 | 6.0 |
| 1893 | 566 | #34 | 5.0 |
| 1892 | 583 | #37 | 4.8 |
| 1891 | 419 | #42 | 4.1 |
| 1890 | 408 | #47 | 3.7 |
| 1889 | 340 | #57 | 3.1 |
| 1888 | 298 | #70 | 2.5 |
| 1887 | 279 | #61 | 2.8 |
| 1886 | 224 | #78 | 2.0 |
| 1885 | 201 | #82 | 1.9 |
| 1884 | 191 | #85 | 1.7 |
| 1883 | 108 | #117 | 1.0 |
| 1882 | 127 | #115 | 1.1 |
| 1881 | 120 | #106 | 1.2 |
| 1880 | 113 | #116 | 1.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Harold a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Harold has been given almost only to boys: 2,648 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Harold: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Harold, and how old are they?
155,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 28% of the 554,280 Americans ever recorded as Harold. The median Harold alive today is 69 years old; half are between 57 and 78.
The 2020 Census counted 186,450 people named Harold (247 women and girls, 186,203 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 195,102 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 29,700 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 74,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 30,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11,700 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,460 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,340 |
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 Harold born?
The states with the most babies named Harold are New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, with 21% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 46,098 | #1,239 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 34,514 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 30,907 | #826 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 30,781 | #889 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 23,155 | #865 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 21,473 | #962 | 0.7× |
| California | 20,189 | #1,534 | 0.7× |
| Missouri | 18,864 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Indiana | 16,562 | #1,001 | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 15,994 | #1,074 | 0.9× |
Where Harold is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Harold is most over-represented in Kansas: since 1910 it was given 1.3 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 Harold with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 556,194 babies since 1880, Harold is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 230 of their 245 babies (94%), again the most given.
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 Harold
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 Harold and names like it
- Compare Harold and HarroldBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHarold peaked in 1924.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Harold since 1910.
- Old English namesWiktionary’s origin for Harold: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1924The year the most babies were named Harold.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Harold alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.