Primarily a girl's name · 95% girls
In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Harper yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.
Harper is one of the youngest names in this entire batch by history: it first appears in SSA data only in 1971, more than a century after most of its neighbors here, and its enrichment data lists exactly one famous bearer — novelist Harper Lee, born Nelle Harper Lee in 1926, whose fame predates the name's use as a first name by decades.
Its rank peaked at #9 in 2018, and by 2024 it had eased to #12 with 7,370 births, short of its decade-earlier count by 23% — a milder decline than Alexander's or Michael's, consistent with a name still relatively early in its adoption cycle rather than one fading from a much older peak.
That combination — a very short data history, a single strong namesake, and a comparatively gentle decline — makes Harper's trajectory look less like the long rise-and-fall arcs of Michael or John and more like a recent cultural pick that's still finding its ceiling.
Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.
→ See names similar to Harper · Compare Harper with another name → · Popular names of the 2010s · Girls names starting with H
Rank is among all girls' names registered that year.
| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 5 | #8,771 |
| 1974 | 9 | #5,925 |
| 1975 | 7 | #7,428 |
| 1976 | 9 | #6,228 |
| 1977 | 5 | #10,156 |
| 1978 | 9 | #6,581 |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,493 |
| 1981 | 8 | #7,641 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,543 |
| 1983 | 5 | #10,840 |
| 1984 | 5 | #10,996 |
| 1985 | 13 | #5,462 |
| 1986 | 8 | #7,994 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,258 |
| 1988 | 12 | #6,406 |
| 1989 | 11 | #7,141 |
| 1990 | 12 | #7,028 |
| 1991 | 22 | #4,550 |
| 1992 | 21 | #4,742 |
| 1993 | 23 | #4,437 |
| 1994 | 34 | #3,320 |
| 1995 | 53 | #2,432 |
| 1996 | 107 | #1,504 |
| 1997 | 86 | #1,759 |
| 1998 | 93 | #1,715 |
| 1999 | 112 | #1,527 |
| 2000 | 136 | #1,370 |
| 2001 | 176 | #1,172 |
| 2002 | 164 | #1,225 |
| 2003 | 200 | #1,103 |
| 2004 | 274 | #887 |
| 2005 | 363 | #743 |
| 2006 | 597 | #510 |
| 2007 | 729 | #440 |
| 2008 | 1,128 | #296 |
| 2009 | 1,903 | #173 |
| 2010 | 2,634 | #120 |
| 2011 | 4,676 | #54 |
| 2012 | 7,199 | #24 |
| 2013 | 8,284 | #16 |
| 2014 | 9,616 | #11 |
| 2015 | 10,310 | #10 |
| 2016 | 10,802 | #11 |
| 2017 | 10,521 | #11 |
| 2018 | 10,644 | #9 |
| 2019 | 10,494 | #9 |
| 2020 | 8,848 | #10 |
| 2021 | 8,441 | #10 |
| 2022 | 8,223 | #11 |
| 2023 | 7,792 | #11 |
| 2024 | 7,370 | #12 |
