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Harrison vs Hartwell

American parents have registered 99,462 Harrisons since 1880, against 652 Hartwells. Harrison is still ahead, with 3,080 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Harrison against Hartwell, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Harrison Hartwell

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

Harrison 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 1881, when Harrison had 61 and Hartwell had 8.

Side by side

  Harrison Hartwell
Total US births 99,462652
Most in one year 3,67027
Babies in 2025 3,0807
Estimated living today 86,000150
Median age today 1372
Peak year 20161917
Best rank 107th boys1,322nd boys
Rank in 2025 116th9,714th
First recorded 18801881
Girls / boys 324 / 99,1380 / 652

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 Hartwells alive today are over 72; half the Harrisons are over 13. That is 59 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: Harrison and Hartwell.