Head to head · Girls' names
Harper vs Hazel
#16 vs #21 in 2025 · both Old English roots
Harper is a whisker ahead (#16 vs #21 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Harper is stepping back from its peak, Hazel is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Hazel has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Harper leads 4 measures of 6; Hazel leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Harper —, Hazel #139 — Hazel higher
- 1890s: Harper —, Hazel #25 — Hazel higher
- 1900s: Harper —, Hazel #25 — Hazel higher
- 1910s: Harper —, Hazel #28 — Hazel higher
- 1920s: Harper —, Hazel #46 — Hazel higher
- 1930s: Harper —, Hazel #91 — Hazel higher
- 1940s: Harper —, Hazel #161 — Hazel higher
- 1950s: Harper —, Hazel #288 — Hazel higher
- 1960s: Harper —, Hazel #523 — Hazel higher
- 1970s: Harper #7155, Hazel #932 — Hazel higher
- 1980s: Harper #8013, Hazel #1161 — Hazel higher
- 1990s: Harper #3266, Hazel #1112 — Hazel higher
- 2000s: Harper #791, Hazel #575 — Hazel higher
- 2010s: Harper #28, Hazel #114 — Harper higher
- 2020s: Harper #12, Hazel #24 — Harper higher
Hazel stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Harper has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Harper | Hazel |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #139 |
| 1890s | — | #25 |
| 1900s | — | #25 |
| 1910s | — | #28 |
| 1920s | — | #46 |
| 1930s | — | #91 |
| 1940s | — | #161 |
| 1950s | — | #288 |
| 1960s | — | #523 |
| 1970s | #7155 | #932 |
| 1980s | #8013 | #1161 |
| 1990s | #3266 | #1112 |
| 2000s | #791 | #575 |
| 2010s | #28 | #114 |
| 2020s | #12 | #24 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Harper
- England & Wales#22
- Scotland#23
- Canada#35
Hazel
- Canada#27
- England & Wales#75
- Scotland#94
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Harper
Harp player
From Old English hearpere, 'one who plays the harp' — an occupational surname, like Baker or Miller, formed from the name of the trade.
hearpe (Old English 'harp') → hearpere ('harp player') → le Harpere (medieval surname) → Harper (surname) → Harper (given name)
How it traveled
The word behind it is Old English hearpe, 'harp', and hearpere, the man who played one. Harpers were kept by noble and royal households in medieval England and Scotland, and by the later Middle Ages the occupation had become a hereditary surname, recorded in forms such as le Harpere.
Hazel
The hazel tree, or its nut
From Old English hæsel, the ordinary word for the tree. English has also used "hazel" for a greenish-brown eye color since the sixteenth century, which is part of why the word felt like a name.
hæsel (Old English) → hazel (the tree and the nut) → Hazel
How it traveled
The word is Old English, hæsel, with cousins across the Germanic languages, and it stayed a plain botanical term for centuries. In nineteenth-century Britain and America, plant and flower words were adopted wholesale as girls' names, and Hazel arrived on the American charts in that wave and rose quickly.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Harper
HAR-per
Two syllables, stress on the first, exactly as the English surname. In non-rhotic accents such as much of England, both r sounds soften, giving something closer to HAH-puh.
- Harp — The main informal shortening, used within families rather than as a name on its own.
- Harps — Casual, playground- and teammate-style; not used formally.
- Harper — In practice most bearers go by the full name — it is short enough to survive intact in daily use.
Hazel
HAY-zul
Stress on the first syllable. The spelling is the everyday English word, so misreadings are almost unheard of among English speakers.
- Haze — The most common informal shortening; used among family and friends rather than in writing.
- Hazy — An affectionate childhood form, generally outgrown.
- Zel — Occasionally used within families; rare outside them.
- Hazel — Most bearers simply use the full name — at two syllables it is already short, and nicknames are optional here in a way they are not for longer names.
Who has carried each name
Harper
Harper Lee (b. 1926) — Wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, one of America's most beloved novels
Hazel
No documented entry for Hazel yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Harper if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsHarper is stepping back from its peak
- a newer arrivalHarper entered the US charts in 1971
- a name that feels very nowHarper is stepping back from its peak
Choose Hazel if you want…
- a name on the way upup 10 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordHazel was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 83% for Harper
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Harper
Strengths
- A spelling nearly everyone already knows from the surname, so it rarely needs to be repeated or corrected.
- A documented meaning that is not in dispute: the harp player, from Old English.
- Established in the United States, Canada, England and Wales, and Scotland alike, so it travels well in English-speaking countries.
To consider
- Its wave is very recent, so nearly all Harpers are children. Adult bearers are few, which some parents like and others find untested.
- It is also given to boys, through the same surname, though US records are now overwhelmingly female — a boy named Harper will often be assumed to be a girl on paper.
- It resists shortening. Beyond Harp, there is no traditional nickname, so what you name is what will be used.
Hazel
Strengths
- Spelled exactly like the common English word, so it is written correctly on the first try by almost everyone.
- A single obvious pronunciation, with no regional variants to correct.
- An unbroken record in English use since the Victorian plant-name fashion, and still rising now.
To consider
- It is rising sharply, and the wider plant-name family is rising with it — a Hazel is likely to share a classroom with Ivy, Willow or Olive even if not with another Hazel.
- Because so many living bearers belong to older generations, some people still hear it as a name from their grandparents' era rather than a current one.
- In mid-century America a popular television series centered on a housekeeper named Hazel, an association a few older listeners may still make.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Harper
83%chance Harper feels dated by 2040
Harper is coming down from a big peak (#9 in 2018). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Hazel
12%chance Hazel feels dated by 2040
Hazel has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Harper and Hazel in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Harper and Hazel?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Harper and Hazel — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Harper or Hazel — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Harper or Hazel?
- Harper, in 2025: Harper ranked #16 with 6,792 babies; Hazel ranked #21 with 6,318 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Harper or Hazel?
- Hazel. Over the last five years Harper moved down 6 places; Hazel moved up 10 places.
- Which is the older name, Harper or Hazel?
- Harper entered the US charts in 1971; Hazel was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Hazel is the older name.
- How many people are named Harper and Hazel?
- About 138,000 people named Harper are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 111,000 people named Hazel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Harpers or Hazels in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 9 classrooms will have a child named Harper. Hazel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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