Harper
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Meaning
harp player or maker, from an English occupational surname
The story
Before Harper Lee's name could appear on a book cover, some of its pages had to come back out of the snow. The National Endowment for the Arts recounts that Lee threw manuscript pages from her New York apartment one winter night; her editor, Tay Hohoff, told her to retrieve them. The account leaves her intention unknown. Her choice of a cover name is clearer: Nelle Harper Lee used Harper Lee for To Kill a Mockingbird because she wanted to avoid being mistaken for Nellie. Harper itself comes from an English occupational surname for someone who played or made harps, from Old English hearpe. That craft history now has a literary association with its own practical details: pages retrieved at an editor's insistence, and an author choosing exactly how she would be addressed.
How popular is Harper around the world?
In the United States, 48,242 babies were named Harper between 2020 and 2025. In South Australia, 91 girls were registered as Harper in 2017.
Harper is on the official records of the United States, South Australia, Scotland, England and Wales, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, New South Wales, France and Spain.
United States
1 in 450
In the United States, 48,242 babies were named Harper between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Harper peaked in the 2020s. Harper went to 10,652 US babies in 2015 and 6,869 in 2025, 64% of the earlier figure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
South Australia
1 in 1902017
In South Australia, 91 girls were registered as Harper in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Scotland
1 in 300
In Scotland, 149 girls named Harper were registered in 2024, the 21st most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 430
In England and Wales, 1,367 girls named Harper were born in 2025, the 23rd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
New Zealand
1 in 500
In New Zealand, 115 girls named Harper were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Ireland
1 in 600
In Ireland, 90 girls named Harper were born in 2025, the 54th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 690
In Canada, 522 girls named Harper were born in 2024, the 35th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
New South Wales
#15 · 2025
In New South Wales, 242 girls named Harper were registered in 2025, ranked 15th in that year’s top 100 for girls.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
France
1 in 14,000
In France, about 45 girls named Harper were born in 2025, the 870th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Spain
1 in 2.2M
In Spain, 20 residents are named Harper, ranked 31,469th among women, with a mean age of 5.9 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Argentina
last on record 2023
Harper is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Austria
last on record 2024
Harper is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Poland
last on record 2022
Harper is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Not on the record in Mexico City and Puerto Rico: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Harper
Most people given the name Harper in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Harper · Names that go with Harper · Middle names for Harper · Names of poets and writers · Climbers and fallers
The Harper deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Harper truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Harper fits with your family’s names and surname.
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