Harbor
Feminine · “a shelter”
Harbor is given to both — 840 girls and 418 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Harbor started as a shelter for an army. Old English herebeorg is here, an army, with beorg, a shelter — a place where a war-band could stop safely. The sea sense came later, and the older one is still visible in harbouring somebody.
How old is the name Harbor?
Harbor first appears in US birth records in 2006 — 19 years ago. The typical Harbor is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 800 people named Harbor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Harbor most popular?
Harbor peaked in 2018, reaching #2254 nationally. Today it ranks #2957, 703 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From herebeorg to Harbor
The story of Harbor
The word narrowed from any refuge to a sheltered stretch of water over the medieval period, and the two senses have coexisted in English ever since — a harbor is a place ships are safe, and to harbor is to keep someone safe. As a given name it is very recent and American, and it belongs to a small group of shelter-words used as names alongside Haven and Refuge. It is given almost entirely to daughters, and the -or spelling is the American one; British English writes harbor.
Meaning
a shelter; a safe anchorage
Old English herebeorg, from here, 'army', and beorg, 'protection, shelter' — the same beorg behind borough and burg. It named a lodging or refuge first, and only later a place where ships could lie safely. The verb sense, to harbor someone, keeps the older meaning. The reading is documented.
How the name formed
- herebeorg
- herberwe
- harbor
Related forms: Harbour · Herberge
Pronouncing Harbor
HAR-ber
Two syllables, stress on the first, said exactly as the ordinary word. There is no ambiguity in it, and the only question is whether the spelling carries a u.
Nicknames for Harbor
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 2006
- Most girls named
- 201881 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2254reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- +24.4%56 in 2025, from 45
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Harbor in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Harbour in English — spelling variant
- Herberge in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, North Carolina, California.
Harbors among us
people named Harbor are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 28,701 born in 2025 was named Harbor
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Elonda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Harbor's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elonda climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elonda's path sketches the road Harbor is walking now.
Harbor sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Harbor is headed
Harbor should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Harbor beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Harbor in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Said and spelled correctly by every English speaker without being told.
- A genuinely interesting documented history — an army's shelter before a ship's.
- Two syllables that sit easily in front of most surnames.
- It is a common noun and will be read as one before it is read as a name.
- Harbor and Harbour are both correct in different countries, so the spelling gets asked about.
- Word-names of this kind date visibly to the period that made them fashionable.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Harbor
Feminine · #2957 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Harbors are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Harbor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Harbor in 2025?
- Harbor ranks #2957 among US girl names in 2025, with 56 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Harbor?
- About 1 in every 28,701 US girls born in 2025 was named Harbor — 56 in all.
- Will my child share the name Harbor with classmates?
- Harbor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Harbor
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Klaire#2957 · Pauline#2957 · Alea#2957 · Odelia#2957 · Rahaf#2957 · Rosabella#2957 · Kenzlee#2957 · Kalli#2957
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Harbor? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Harbor and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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