Harper

Popularity Trends

The name Harper is the #567 most popular name of all time in the U.S. on a gender-neutral basis, with a total of 131,388 recorded births since 1881. This represents the 92.7% percentile of name popularity (more popular than 92.7% of all names). For girls, it ranks #314 (94.5% percentile) for all time with 124,787 births since 1971. For boys, it ranks #1,446 (68.5% percentile) for all time with 6,601 births since 1881.

Harper first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1881 (1881 for boys and 1971 for girls). Birth data for Harper is available in 132 out of the 143 years between 1881 and 2023 (132 years for boys and 50 years for girls). The Social Security Administration only reports birth data for years in which the name was given to at least five children of the same gender.

The name Harper has been given almost exclusively to girls, with 95.0% of all recorded births being female. Interestingly, until around 1989, the name was more popular for boys (90.7% boys from 1881 to 1988), but since then it has been more commonly used for girls (95.8% girls from 1989 to 2023).

For girls, Harper reached its peak popularity in 2018, achieving the 99.2% percentile (ranked #9) with 5,722 births per million. The name was most common in 2018, with 5,722 births per million (ranked 99.2% percentile). Since reaching a high point in 2019, the popularity of this name for girls has been declining. Currently, Harper ranks #11 for girls (98.9% percentile) with 4,441 births per million, which is 77.6% of its peak share of births.

For boys, Harper reached its peak popularity in 2012, achieving the 41.3% percentile (ranked #529) with 205 births per million. The name was most common in 2012, with 205 births per million (ranked 41.3% percentile). Since reaching a high point around 2015, the popularity of this name for boys has been declining. Currently, Harper ranks #789 for boys (13.4% percentile) with 69 births per million, which is 33.8% of its peak share of births.

This chart shows the total number of births per million babies in each year for the name "Harper".

1881 2023 18812023

Key Statistics

Total Births

124,787

Peak Births

10,801

Peak Year

2018

First Recorded

1971

Peak Percentile

99.2%

Current Percentile

98.9%

Peak Rank

Current Rank

#11

Female statistics

Total Births

6,601

Peak Births

416

Peak Year

2012

First Recorded

1881

Peak Percentile

41.3%

Current Percentile

13.4%

Peak Rank

#529

Current Rank

#789

Male statistics

Names That Sound Similar

These names exclude other spelling variations of this name. View all variations of Harper.

Names with Similar Spellings

These similar-looking names have spellings that are closest to the spelling of "Harper", in the sense that there are the fewest number of letter differences between the two spellings. These names exclude other spelling variations of this name. View all variations of Harper.

Names with Correlated Trends

These 12 names have popularity trends that correlate most strongly with the name Harper's popularity from 1966 to 2023 on a gender-neutral basis. Names may rise and fall in popularity for a variety of reasons, but correlations often reflect either changes in naming fashion or demographic shifts.

The correlation calculations in the table below ignore absolute popularity to show you names that move in similar directions as the name Harper at the same time. They also correct for changes in the overall birth rate over time. The 0-100% trend values are calculated by dividing each name's gender-neutral births per million by the peak births per million for that name.

The 12 names most strongly correlated to Harper range from Coraline at 99.6% correlation to Briella at 99.2% correlation, with an average correlation level of 99.4%. The most popular of these 12 most correlated names is Paisley with 58.3K births (100% girls) and the least popular is Kenzleigh with 888 births (100% girls).

Harper's share of births peaked at 5,832.1 births per million in 2018 (5,722 for girls in 2018 and 205 for boys in 2012). It reached its lowest point of 2.5 births per million (0% of peak) in 1953. In 2023, the most recent period with data, the name Harper had 4,510.8 births per million, 77% of its peak popularity.

This chart shows how each name's popularity has changed over time relative to its peak (100%).

Coraline

5,974

99.56% (very strong)

Adelynn

13.6k

99.55% (very strong)

Paisley

58.3k

99.55% (very strong)

Ryker

37.6k

99.50% (very strong)

Kenzlee

1,520

99.48% (very strong)

Kinzley

2,542

99.48% (very strong)

Adalynn

30.6k

99.44% (very strong)

Milah

2,610

99.40% (very strong)

Kenzleigh

888

99.30% (very strong)

Jaxton

10.1k

99.29% (very strong)

Kinzlee

1,397

99.27% (very strong)

Briella

13.4k

99.24% (very strong)

About this table: Correlation values are shown as percentages from 0% to 100%, with each value accompanied by its strength (very weak to very strong). Higher percentages and stronger correlations indicate names that rise and fall together more closely in popularity. The strength labels are color-coded from gray (very weak) to green (very strong). The Trend column visualizes how each name's popularity has changed over time relative to its peak. Absolute correlation values are shown for simplicity (all correlations here are positive). The Total Births column is color-coded by gender distribution - blue shades for predominantly male names and red shades for predominantly female names, with purple hues indicating a more balanced gender distribution.

How to Pronounce Harper

Our model found one way to pronounce the name Harper. Click the play button under each pronunciation to hear it spoken aloud.

Our model is 100.0% confident that Harper is pronounced as HAHR-per, which has 2 syllables.

HAHR-per

100.0%

HAHR-per (2 syllables)

Verified

100.0% confidence

HH AA1 R P ER0

Possible Additional Pronunciations

If none of the pronunciations above sound right to you, could you please check whether any of these related pronunciations should be applied to the name Harper? These are pronunciations that other similar names use, but which are not currently associated with Harper. If you think any of these are valid pronunciations for Harper, please vote using the thumbs up button.

About Pronunciation Data

Our confidence scores estimate the likelihood that a particular pronunciation is the most correct for a given name spelling. These scores are derived from pronunciation dictionaries, manual verification, your feedback, and a fine-tuned large language model trained to generate name pronunciations.

For any given spelling, confidence scores across all identified pronunciations sum to 100%. However, these scores don't account for the possibility of valid pronunciations that our model hasn't identified.

The raw pronunciations shown (like HH AA1 R P ER0) use the ARPAbet phoneme system, a standardized way to represent English speech sounds. Each symbol represents a distinct sound in American English. Visit the ARPAbet Wikipedia page to learn more about these phonetic symbols.

Pronunciation audio is generated by an open source text to speech model that has been customized to adhere to pronunciations provided in ARPAbet format, but sometimes pronunciations that differ subtly will sound identical, particularly if the only difference is the level of emphasis on a syllable or a single vowel sound.

Made with ❤️ by Aaron J Becker

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