Harlea
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a combination of "hare" and "lea".
Name Census estimates that about 119 living Americans carry the first name Harlea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Harlea today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harlea births was 1994 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harlea. 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 Harlea with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
119
~ 1 in 2,880,289 Americans
Peak year
1994
13 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,551
Tracked since 1994
Census
Harlea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 138 people with the first name Harlea, which placed it at #47,373 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
#47,373
National first-name rank
People counted
138
138 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harlea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harlea is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.3%). 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 Harlea 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 Harlea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.3% · 115
- Two or more races5.8% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.3% · 6
- Black or African American2.9% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 2
Popularity
Harlea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harlea from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 45 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Harlea remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harlea 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 Harlea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harleas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Harlea
The given name Harlea is believed to have originated from the ancient Germanic language, with roots that can be traced back to the 5th century AD. The name is thought to be derived from the Germanic words "harja" meaning "army" and "laidijan" meaning "to lead," suggesting a possible connotation of "army leader" or "military commander."
During the Middle Ages, the name Harlea was prominent among the Frankish nobility and warrior class. It is found in several medieval records and chronicles, often associated with prominent figures involved in military campaigns and battles. One notable example is Harlea of Metz, a Frankish nobleman who fought alongside King Clovis I in the 6th century.
In the 9th century, a warrior named Harlea is mentioned in the Annals of Fulda, a significant historical record of the Carolingian dynasty. This Harlea is described as a valiant fighter who participated in campaigns against the Vikings and Slavic tribes that threatened the Frankish territories.
The name Harlea also appears in several religious texts and manuscripts from the early medieval period. For instance, a monk named Harlea is recorded in the chronicles of the Benedictine monastery of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland, dating back to the 10th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Harlea can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is listed as a landowner in the county of Yorkshire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Harlea. One such person was Harlea of Brindisi, an Italian crusader and military leader who participated in the Third Crusade in the late 12th century. Another was Harlea of Antioch, a nobleman and knight who played a significant role in the defense of the Principality of Antioch during the Crusades in the 13th century.
In the 15th century, Harlea von Stein was a German knight and military commander who served under the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. He was known for his bravery and strategic skills in battles against the Ottoman Turks.
During the 16th century, Harlea de Mendoza was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico. He later became a prominent landowner and administrator in the newly established Spanish territories in the Americas.
People
Harlea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harlea 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
Harlea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harlea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 119 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harlea 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 2,880,289 US residents.
Is Harlea a common name?
We classify Harlea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 121 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harlea most popular?
The single biggest year for Harlea was 1994, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harlea is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Harlea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 138 people with the name Harlea, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,373 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 Harlea 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 Harlea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harlea appears almost entirely female. Of the 136 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Harlea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harlea is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (4.3%). 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 Harlea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Harlea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (115 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 Harlea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harlea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Harlea 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 Harlea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harlea 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 Harlea 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 are named Harlea?
Want to know how many people share the name Harlea? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.