Harold
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "commander of the army".
Name Census estimates that about 183,886 living Americans carry the first name Harold. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Harold today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harold births was 1924 (14,230 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harold. 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
- • Although Harold is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,648 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Harold is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Harolds were born before 1967.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Harold have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
184K
~ 1 in 1,864 Americans
Peak year
1924
14,230 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
2024 SSA rank
#988
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Harold
Out of the 554,046 babies given the name Harold since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Harold as a male name
- Ranked #988 in 2024
- 227 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (14,149 births)
Harold as a female name
- Ranked #14,813 in 2004
- 6 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1927 (99 births)
Popularity
Harold: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harold from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 134,392 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
Harold 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 Harold during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harolds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Harold, while Nevada, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10,347 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Harold
The name Harold is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old Norse name Haraldr. It is composed of the elements "har" meaning "army" and "valdr" meaning "ruler" or "leader." The name can be traced back to the 9th century and was particularly popular among the Vikings and other Scandinavian peoples.
Harold was a common name among the ruling classes in medieval England, after the Norman Conquest in 1066. The most famous bearer of this name was Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, who was defeated by William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This historical event marked a significant turning point in English history and contributed to the popularity of the name.
In the 11th century, the name Harold appeared in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an important historical record that documented events in England from the 9th to the 12th centuries. The name was also mentioned in various medieval literary works, such as the Old English poem "Beowulf" and the Icelandic sagas.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Harold was Harold Fairhair, the first king of Norway, who ruled from around 872 to 930 AD. Another notable figure was Harold Bluetooth, the king of Denmark and Norway, who lived from around 935 to 986 AD and was responsible for uniting the two kingdoms.
Throughout history, several other prominent individuals have borne the name Harold. These include Harold Hardrada (c. 1015-1066), the King of Norway who was defeated by Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. Another notable bearer was Harold I (c. 1016-1040), the King of England from 1037 to 1040.
In the modern era, some famous individuals with the name Harold include Harold Pinter (1930-2008), the British playwright and Nobel Prize winner in Literature, and Harold Wilson (1916-1995), the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Harold
People
Harold + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harold 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
Harold: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harold?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183,886 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harold 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 1,864 US residents.
Is Harold a common name?
We classify Harold as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 554,046 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harold most popular?
The single biggest year for Harold was 1924, when 14,230 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harold is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Harold a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Harold 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.
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.