Harlee
A feminine name of Old English origin meaning "hare meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 8,049 living Americans carry the first name Harlee. It is a predominantly female name (94.2% of registrations). The average person named Harlee today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harlee births was 2017 (494 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harlee. 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 Harlee with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Harlee started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Harlee is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.0K
~ 1 in 42,583 Americans
Peak year
2017
494 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#980
Tracked since 1915
Census
Harlee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,600 people with the first name Harlee, which placed it at #3,644 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
#3,644
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,600 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harlee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harlee is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Harlee 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 Harlee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.8% · 4,414
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 438
- Black or African American6.0% · 338
- Two or more races5.0% · 280
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 90
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 40
Gender
Gender distribution for Harlee
Harlee leans heavily female at 94.2% of total registrations, but 479 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Harlee as a male name
- Ranked #7,923 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (18 births)
Harlee as a female name
- Ranked #980 in 2024
- 264 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (482 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harlee leans strongly female. 5,282 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 309 male bearers (5.5%).
Popularity
Harlee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harlee from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,522 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Harlee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harlee 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 Harlee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harlees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Harlee, while North Dakota, Connecticut, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 153 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Harlee
The name Harlee is believed to have originated from the Old English words "here" meaning army and "leah" meaning meadow or clearing. It was primarily used as a surname in medieval England and referred to someone who lived near a meadow where armies would gather or camp.
While the name's origins lie in Old English, some sources suggest it may have been influenced by the Norman French name "Herlioun" or "Herlion", meaning "little army". This variation was likely brought to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and became intertwined with the Old English roots.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Harlee dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where a landowner named Herley was listed among the tenants of Oxfordshire. In the 12th century, a knight named Harlee de Millers fought in the Crusades and was mentioned in several chronicles of the time.
In the 13th century, a monk named Harlee of Evesham was renowned for his illuminated manuscripts and calligraphy. His works can still be found in the British Library and Oxford's Bodleian Library.
During the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century, Sir Harlee Stafford was a prominent Yorkist knight who fought alongside Edward IV at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.
In the 16th century, Harlee Bacon, an English philosopher and statesman, served as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Queen Elizabeth I. He is known for his essays and influential works on law and philosophy.
Moving forward to the 17th century, Harlee Vere was an English naval officer and explorer who led several expeditions to the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico. He was knighted by King James I for his services to the crown.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Harlee, showcasing its longevity and roots in medieval England.
People
Harlee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harlee 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
Harlee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harlee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,049 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harlee 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 42,583 US residents.
Is Harlee a common name?
We classify Harlee as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,258 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harlee most popular?
The single biggest year for Harlee was 2017, when 494 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harlee 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 Harlee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,600 people with the name Harlee, or 1.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,644 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 Harlee 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 Harlee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harlee leans strongly female. 5,282 people counted with this name were female (94.5%), compared with 309 male bearers (5.5%). 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 Harlee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harlee is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Harlee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Harlee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (4,414 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 Harlee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harlee a female name?
Yes, 94.2% of people registered as Harlee 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 Harlee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harlee 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 Harlee 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 share the name Harlee?
Find out how many Americans are named Harlee on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.