Humanverse

Harry vs Harvard

American parents have registered 425,883 Harrys since 1880, against 614 Harvards. Harry is still ahead, with 329 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Harry 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

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 2025, when Harry had 329 and Harvard had 10.

Side by side

  Harry Harvard
Total US births 425,883614
Most in one year 9,93827
Babies in 2025 32910
Estimated living today 114,000160
Median age today 6869
Peak year 19181915
Best rank 20th boys1,265th boys
Rank in 2025 775th7,679th
First recorded 18801912
Girls / boys 2,017 / 423,8660 / 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.

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