Harbour
A place of shelter for ships or vessels, providing safety and refuge.
Name Census estimates that about 132 living Americans carry the first name Harbour. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Harbour today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harbour births was 2015 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harbour. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Harbour with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
132
~ 1 in 2,596,624 Americans
Peak year
2015
15 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,359
Tracked since 2013
Gender
Gender distribution for Harbour
Harbour leans heavily female at 82.0% of total registrations, but 24 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Harbour as a male name
- Ranked #11,359 in 2022
- 6 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2015 (7 births)
Harbour as a female name
- Ranked #11,428 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (13 births)
Popularity
Harbour: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harbour from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 92 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Harbour remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harbour by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Harbour during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Harbour
The name Harbour is derived from the Old English word "herebeorg," which means "shelter for soldiers" or "army camp." It originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries. The name was likely given to children born in or near such army camps or shelters.
In ancient times, the name Harbour was often spelled as "Herebeorht" or "Herebeorga." It was a common name among the Anglo-Saxon nobility and warrior class. The name appears in several historical records and chronicles from that era, including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Domesday Book.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Harbour was Herebeorht of Northumbria, a nobleman who lived in the 7th century. Another notable figure was Herebeorga of Mercia, a thegn (nobleman) who served King Offa of Mercia in the 8th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Harbour gained popularity among the English gentry and noblemen. In the 12th century, a knight named Harbour de Montfort fought in the Crusades and was mentioned in several accounts of the battles. In the 13th century, Harbour de Lacy was a prominent English landowner and baron.
In the Renaissance period, the name Harbour was often associated with seafarers and naval officers. One notable example is Harbour Raleigh, an English explorer and navigator who was active in the late 16th century. He is believed to be a distant relative of the famous Sir Walter Raleigh.
Another famous bearer of the name was Harbour Colburn, an English mathematician and writer who lived in the 19th century. He is known for his contributions to the field of mathematics and his work on calculating logarithms.
People
Harbour + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harbour as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Harbour: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harbour?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 132 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harbour going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,596,624 US residents.
Is Harbour a common name?
We classify Harbour as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 133 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harbour most popular?
The single biggest year for Harbour was 2015, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harbour is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Harbour in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harbour a female name?
Yes, 82.0% of people registered as Harbour in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Harbour still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harbour in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Harbour can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Harbour?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Harbour on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.