Humanverse

Harmie vs Harriet

American parents have registered 90,427 Harriets since 1880, against 12 Harmies. Harriet is still ahead, with 226 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Harmie against Harriet, 1880 to 2025 0 600 1.2k 1.8k 2.4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Harmie Harriet

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

Harriet 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 1946, when Harmie had 7 and Harriet had 1,306.

Side by side

  Harmie Harriet
Total US births 1290,427
Most in one year 72,395
Babies in 2025 under 5226
Estimated living today 624,000
Median age today 7974
Peak year 19461921
Best rank 2,919th boys114th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,071st
First recorded 19461880
Girls / boys 0 / 1290,306 / 121

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 Harmies alive today are over 79; half the Harriets are over 74. That is 5 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: Harmie and Harriet.