Humanverse

Harry vs Hartwell

American parents have registered 425,883 Harrys since 1880, against 652 Hartwells. Harry is still ahead, with 329 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Harry against Hartwell, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Harry 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

Harry 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 2024, when Harry had 324 and Hartwell had 8.

Side by side

  Harry Hartwell
Total US births 425,883652
Most in one year 9,93827
Babies in 2025 3297
Estimated living today 114,000150
Median age today 6872
Peak year 19181917
Best rank 20th boys1,322nd boys
Rank in 2025 775th9,714th
First recorded 18801881
Girls / boys 2,017 / 423,8660 / 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 Harrys are over 68. That is 4 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: Harry and Hartwell.