Harrison vs Harvard
American parents have registered 99,462 Harrisons since 1880, against 614 Harvards. Harrison is still ahead, with 3,080 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Harrison Harvard
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 1913, when Harrison had 197 and Harvard had 21.
Side by side
| Harrison | Harvard | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 99,462 | 614 |
| Most in one year | 3,670 | 27 |
| Babies in 2025 | 3,080 | 10 |
| Estimated living today | 86,000 | 160 |
| Median age today | 13 | 69 |
| Peak year | 2016 | 1915 |
| Best rank | 107th boys | 1,265th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 116th | 7,679th |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1912 |
| Girls / boys | 324 / 99,138 | 0 / 614 |
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 Harvards alive today are over 69; half the Harrisons are over 13. That is 56 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 Harvard.