Harless
A variant of the English surname suggesting one without harm or injury.
Name Census estimates that about 101 living Americans carry the first name Harless. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Harless today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harless births was 1928 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harless. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Harless is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Harless' were born before 1958.
People living today
101
~ 1 in 3,393,607 Americans
Peak year
1928
19 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1971 SSA rank
#5,210
Tracked since 1895
Census
Harless in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 145 people with the first name Harless, which placed it at #46,211 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
#46,211
National first-name rank
People counted
145
145 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harless
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harless is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Black (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.1%). 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 Harless 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 Harless at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.0% · 129
- Black or African American3.4% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 3
- Two or more races2.1% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 2
Popularity
Harless: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harless from the 1890s through to the 1970s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 127 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harless 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 Harless during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harless' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Harless
The name Harless is a variant of the German name Harles or Harless, which originated in the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old German word "haril," meaning warrior or army leader. This name likely emerged in the regions of present-day Germany and the Netherlands during the 9th to 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Harless can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of medieval historical documents from the region of Saxony. This text, dating back to the 11th century, mentions a nobleman named Harless von Wettin, who held lands and titles in the area.
In the 12th century, a Benedictine monk named Harless von Regensburg was known for his scholarly works on theology and philosophy. He lived and worked in the monastery of St. Emmeram in Regensburg, Bavaria.
During the 16th century, a prominent figure named Harless Fugger was part of the wealthy Fugger family of merchants and bankers from Augsburg, Germany. He played a significant role in the family's business dealings and contributed to their vast fortune.
In the 18th century, a German theologian and philosopher named Gottlieb Christoph Harless (1738-1815) gained recognition for his works on ethics and moral philosophy. He served as a professor at the University of Erlangen and published several influential treatises.
Another notable bearer of the name was Johann Christian Harless (1773-1853), a German Protestant theologian and educator. He held the position of rector at the University of Erlangen and made contributions to the field of Biblical exegesis.
While the name Harless has its roots in Germany, it has been used in other parts of Europe and the English-speaking world over time. However, it remains predominantly associated with its German origins and the historical figures who carried this name throughout the centuries.
People
Harless + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harless 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
Harless: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harless?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harless 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 3,393,607 US residents.
Is Harless a common name?
We classify Harless as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 428 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harless most popular?
The single biggest year for Harless was 1928, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harless is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Harless in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 145 people with the name Harless, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,211 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 Harless 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 Harless?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harless leans strongly male. 138 people counted with this name were male (97.2%), compared with 4 female bearers (2.8%). 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 Harless?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harless is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Black (3.4%) and Hispanic (2.1%). 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 Harless most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Harless in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.0% (129 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 Harless in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harless a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Harless 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 Harless still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harless 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 Harless 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 called Harless?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.