Humanverse

Harper vs Haruko

American parents have registered 145,832 Harpers since 1880, against 680 Harukos. Harper is still ahead, with 6,869 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Harper against Haruko, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Harper Haruko

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

Of the 136 years in which either name was published, Harper for 116 years and Haruko for 20 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Harper Haruko
Total US births 145,832680
Most in one year 11,10259
Babies in 2025 6,869under 5
Estimated living today 144,00030
Median age today 891
Peak year 20161919
Best rank 11th girls917th girls
Rank in 2025 16thunranked
First recorded 18811908
Girls / boys 139,063 / 6,769680 / 0

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 Harukos alive today are over 91; half the Harpers are over 8. That is 83 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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