How Many People Are Named Harriet?
An estimated 20,568 people in the United States have the first name Harriet. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 65 years old, and Harriet peaked in popularity in 1921 with 2,395 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Harriet as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Harriet paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Harriet is overwhelmingly female, 121 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
- With an average bearer age of 65, Harriet is a vintage name most associated with earlier generations. Most living bearers were born before 1971.
Estimated Living Americans
20,568
About 1 in 16,664 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.9% confidence
Average Age
65
years old
Peak Year
1921
2,395 births
Total Registered
90,197
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Harriet
Harriet is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 90,197 total births registered, 99.9% were female.
Harriet as a male name
Ranked #4,167 in 1956
5 male births in 1956
Peak: 1929 (11 births)
Harriet as a female name
Ranked #1,157 in 2024
208 female births in 2024
Peak: 1921 (2,389 births)
Harriet: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Harriet span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 20,927 babies were registered. Harriet has declined significantly from its peak in the 1920s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Harriet by Decade
How has Harriet tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,369 | 0 | 3,369 | |
| 1890s | 4,171 | 0 | 4,171 | |
| 1900s | 4,610 | 10 | 4,600 | |
| 1910s | 15,606 | 8 | 15,598 | |
| 1920s | 20,927 | 54 | 20,873 | |
| 1930s | 13,718 | 26 | 13,692 | |
| 1940s | 12,942 | 18 | 12,924 | |
| 1950s | 7,134 | 5 | 7,129 | |
| 1960s | 2,943 | 0 | 2,943 | |
| 1970s | 851 | 0 | 851 | |
| 1980s | 453 | 0 | 453 | |
| 1990s | 345 | 0 | 345 | |
| 2000s | 449 | 0 | 449 | |
| 2010s | 1,570 | 0 | 1,570 | |
| 2020s | 1,109 | 0 | 1,109 | |
Harriet by State
Birth registrations for Harriet span all 50 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois. The lowest are in Alaska, New Mexico, Wyoming. On average, about 1,482 Harriets were registered per state.
Harriet + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Harriet as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Harriet
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
Harriet: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harriet?
We estimate approximately 20,568 people named Harriet are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 16,664 Americans share this first name.
Is Harriet a common name?
Harriet is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 90,197 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Harriet most popular?
Harriet reached peak popularity in 1921, when 2,395 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Harriet is approximately 65 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Harriet a female name?
Harriet is predominantly female. 99.9% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Harriet Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Harriet Smith, Harriet Johnson, Harriet Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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