Harel
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "mountain of God".
Name Census estimates that about 183 living Americans carry the first name Harel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Harel today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harel births was 2005 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harel. 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 Harel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
183
~ 1 in 1,872,975 Americans
Peak year
2005
14 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,322
Tracked since 1930
Census
Harel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 278 people with the first name Harel, which placed it at #31,017 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#31,017
National first-name rank
People counted
278
278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harel is White at 72.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Black (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Harel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Harel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.7% · 202
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 36
- Black or African American8.3% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 10
- Two or more races2.5% · 7
Popularity
Harel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harel from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 84 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harel 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 Harel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Harel
The name Harel is a Hebrew name that dates back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "har," which means mountain, and the suffix "-el," which means "God." The name can be translated to mean "mountain of God" or "God's mountain."
In the Hebrew Bible, there are several references to mountains and their significance. Mount Sinai, also known as Mount Horeb, is mentioned as the place where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Mount Zion is referred to as the holy mountain where the Temple of Jerusalem was built. Mountains were often seen as places of worship and spiritual significance in ancient Hebrew culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Harel can be found in the Book of Ezra, which mentions a Jewish leader named Harel who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile in the 5th century BCE. The name was likely more common during this period and in the centuries that followed.
In the Middle Ages, there are records of several Jewish scholars and rabbis who bore the name Harel. One notable figure was Harel ben Elijah, a 13th-century scholar from Spain who wrote commentaries on the Talmud.
During the Renaissance period, a famous Italian Jewish physician and philosopher named Harel da Fabriano lived in the 15th century. He was known for his works on medicine and philosophy, and his writings influenced the development of Jewish thought in Italy.
In more recent history, Harel Hershtik was an Israeli soldier and commander who fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six-Day War. He received several military honors for his service and played a significant role in the defense of Israel.
Another notable individual with the name Harel was Harel Skaat, an Israeli writer and journalist who lived from 1935 to 2018. He was known for his novels and essays that explored themes of identity, memory, and the human condition.
While not as common as some other Hebrew names, Harel has been used throughout history by individuals from various walks of life, reflecting its connection to the spiritual and cultural significance of mountains in ancient Hebrew tradition.
People
Harel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harel 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
Harel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harel 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 1,872,975 US residents.
Is Harel a common name?
We classify Harel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harel most popular?
The single biggest year for Harel was 2005, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harel is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Harel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 278 people with the name Harel, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,017 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Harel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Harel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harel leans strongly male. 256 people counted with this name were male (93.1%), compared with 19 female bearers (6.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Harel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harel is White at 72.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Black (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Harel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Harel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.7% (202 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Harel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Harel in the SSA data are male. 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 Harel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harel 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 Harel 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.
How many people have Harel as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.