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US baby names · Boys · 1880–2025

Harry: name popularity by year

How often US parents chose Harry for a baby boy, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.

The short answer

Harry was one of the 10 most common boys' names in the US in 7 years, between 1888 and 1894, reaching #8. Births peaked in 1918, when 9,896 baby boys were named Harry, so by peak year it is a Greatest Generation name.

Generation at the peak
Greatest Generation
Born 1901–1927
Peak year
1918
9,896 baby boys named Harry
Years in the top 10
7
1888–1894
Best rank
#8
Never #1
Babies named Harry
423,866
Boys, 1880–2025 (423,866)

Harry in the US top 10, by year

#1#5#1018801920196020002025

Rank among boys' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Harry (1918).

Top-10 years by generation

Years Harry spent in the US top 10, by generation of the babies
GenerationYears in top 10Best rank
Lost Generation 7 (1888–1894) #8

Every top-10 year

1888 · #9 1889 · #8 1890 · #10 1891 · #9 1892 · #9 1893 · #10 1894 · #10

Questions people ask

When was the name Harry most popular?

By number of babies, in 1918, when 9,896 boys were given the name. By rank, it reached #8 and spent 7 years in the top 10.

What generation is the name Harry?

Its peak year, 1918, falls in Greatest Generation (1901–1927). Its 7 top-10 years fall in: Lost Generation (7).

How many people have been named Harry?

SSA counted 423,866 boys named Harry born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.

In the top 10 at the same time

Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Harry are alive today.