Harding vs Harper
American parents have registered 145,832 Harpers since 1880, against 1,123 Hardings. Harper is still ahead, with 6,869 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Harding Harper
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
Of the 134 years in which either name was published, Harper for 116 years and Harding for 18 years. The lead changed hands 16 times.
- 1881–1918 Harper ahead
- 1919–1924 Harding ahead
- 1925–1941 Harper ahead
- 1945–1948 Harding ahead
- 1954–2025 Harper ahead, apart from 2 short spells
10 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Harding | Harper | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,123 | 145,832 |
| Most in one year | 235 | 11,102 |
| Babies in 2025 | 5 | 6,869 |
| Estimated living today | 220 | 144,000 |
| Median age today | 68 | 8 |
| Peak year | 1921 | 2016 |
| Best rank | 396th boys | 11th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 12,008th | 16th |
| First recorded | 1913 | 1881 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,123 | 139,063 / 6,769 |
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 Hardings alive today are over 68; half the Harpers are over 8. That is 60 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Harding Arkansas (6.4×), Oklahoma (5.4×), Virginia (5.3×)
- Harper Idaho (1.9×), Alaska (1.9×), Utah (1.9×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Harding and Harper.