Humanverse

Haroldene vs Harvey

American parents have registered 128,792 Harveys since 1880, against 26 Haroldenes. Harvey is still ahead, with 1,400 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Haroldene against Harvey, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Haroldene Harvey

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Harvey has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1926, when Haroldene had 8 and Harvey had 2,158.

Side by side

  Haroldene Harvey
Total US births 26128,792
Most in one year 82,294
Babies in 2025 under 51,400
Estimated living today 749,000
Median age today 8462
Peak year 19261921
Best rank 3,564th girls87th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked251st
First recorded 19261880
Girls / boys 26 / 0867 / 127,925

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Haroldenes alive today are over 84; half the Harveys are over 62. That is 22 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Haroldene and Harvey.