Harlow
Derived from an Old English surname meaning "rock hill" or "army hill".
Name Census estimates that about 14,302 living Americans carry the first name Harlow. It sits at #293 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Harlow today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harlow births was 2023 (1,455 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harlow. 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
- • Harlow started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Harlow is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
14K
~ 1 in 23,965 Americans
Peak year
2023
1,455 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#293
Tracked since 1882
Gender
Gender distribution for Harlow
Harlow leans heavily female at 83.9% of total registrations, but 2,500 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Harlow as a male name
- Ranked #1,251 in 2024
- 158 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (182 births)
Harlow as a female name
- Ranked #293 in 2024
- 1,079 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (1,278 births)
Popularity
Harlow: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harlow from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7,017 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harlow 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 Harlow during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harlows live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Harlow, while Rhode Island, Hawaii, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 271 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Harlow
The name Harlow is an English given name with origins dating back to the Anglo-Saxon era. It is derived from the Old English words "hær" meaning "rock, stone" and "hlāw" meaning "hill, mound." Together, these elements suggest the name Harlow may have been used to describe someone who lived near a rocky hill or mound.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Harlow can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of land and property ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The entry lists a place called "Harlow" in the county of Essex.
In the medieval period, the name Harlow was primarily associated with various locations in England, such as Harlow in Essex, Harlow Hill in Yorkshire, and Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire. These places likely took their names from the Old English words that formed the basis of the personal name.
One notable historical figure with the name Harlow was Sir Robert Harlow (1584-1654), an English politician and Member of Parliament during the reign of King Charles I. He served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1629 to 1640.
Another individual of note was John Harlow (1786-1853), an American Baptist minister and educator who served as the first president of Waterville College, now known as Colby College, in Maine.
In the realm of literature, Harlow Wilcox (1900-1949) was an American author and playwright best known for his work "The Egg and I," a semi-autobiographical novel about life on a chicken farm in the Pacific Northwest.
The name Harlow also gained prominence in the 20th century with the rise of Hollywood actress Jean Harlow (1911-1937), whose birth name was Harlean Harlow Carpenter. She was a leading sex symbol and one of the most popular actresses of the 1930s, known for her platinum blonde hair and distinctive voice.
Another notable figure was Harlow Shapley (1885-1972), an American astronomer and mathematician who played a crucial role in establishing the scale of the Milky Way galaxy and the existence of other galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
People
Harlow + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harlow 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
Harlow: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harlow?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,302 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harlow 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 23,965 US residents.
Is Harlow a common name?
We classify Harlow as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,501 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harlow most popular?
The single biggest year for Harlow was 2023, when 1,455 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harlow is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Harlow a female name?
Yes, 83.9% of people registered as Harlow 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.
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.