How Many People Are Named Harlan?
people named Harlan are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 24,929 people in the US has this name
Based on 26,980 babies named Harlan in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎 Rare
Peak Year
519 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
From a surname which was from a place name meaning "hare land" in Old English. In America it has sometimes been given in honour of Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911).
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Of the babies given the name Harlan, 3.6% were girls and 96.4% were boys. The share has stayed close to this since the 1880s: 0% of the babies were girls then and 9.1% in the 2020s.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Harlan alive today is about 39 years old, and 47% are under 30. Half of them were between 8 and 68 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Harlan first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1924, to 519 babies. In 2025, 490 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Harlan has never been one of the 100 most popular boys' names. Its best rank was #253, in 1924. In 2025 it ranked #617.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #617 |
| Best rank | #253 (1924) |
| Years in the top 100 | None |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #279 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Harlan alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Harlan were born in California than in any other state: about 1,041 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Harlan was given 6.5 times as often in South Dakota, 5.1 times in Iowa and 4.4 times in Minnesota.
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