Humanverse

Harmon vs Harry

American parents have registered 425,883 Harrys since 1880, against 6,642 Harmons. Harry is still ahead, with 329 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Harmon Harry

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 2012, when Harmon had 35 and Harry had 325.

Side by side

  Harmon Harry
Total US births 6,642425,883
Most in one year 1699,938
Babies in 2025 20329
Estimated living today 2,200114,000
Median age today 5868
Peak year 19211918
Best rank 471st boys20th boys
Rank in 2025 5,861st775th
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 35 / 6,6072,017 / 423,866

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 Harrys alive today are over 68; half the Harmons are over 58. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Harmon and Harry.