Harlow
Feminine
Harlow is given to both — 13,986 girls and 2,669 boys since 1880. See Harlow as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Harlow began as a patch of English ground — a hill in Essex written down as Herlawe long before anyone thought to give the word to a child. It traveled the usual English route, from place to family name to first name, and it still sounds like what it is: two plain syllables, the stress landing straight on the first.
How old is the name Harlow?
Harlow first appears in US birth records in 2002 — 23 years ago. The typical Harlow is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 14,000 people named Harlow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Harlow most popular?
Harlow peaked in 2021, reaching #237 nationally. Today it ranks #309, 72 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Where it comes from
From Herlawe (recorded Essex place name) to Harlow
The story of Harlow
Harlow is a place before it is a person: a settlement in Essex recorded in early medieval documents, joined later by Harlow Hill in Northumberland. Families who came from those places took the name with them, so Harlow became an English surname, and from there — as English surnames reliably do — it crossed over into use as a first name. That crossing happened for boys first; the American astronomer Harlow Shapley, born in the nineteenth century, carried it as a given name generations before the current wave. Its modern life as a girl's name in the United States is much more recent, and belongs to the same broad turn toward surname-style names for daughters.
Meaningscholars disagree
from an Old English place name combining hlāw, "hill" or "burial mound", with a first element that is still argued over
The second half is not in doubt: hlāw, an Old English word for a hill or a burial mound. The first half is read two ways — either hearg, a heathen temple or shrine, giving "temple mound", or here, "army", giving "army hill". Both are serious readings of the early spellings of Harlow in Essex, and neither has won.
How the name formed
- Herlawerecorded Essex place name
- HarlowEnglish place name
- HarlowEnglish surname
- Harlowgiven name
Related forms: Harlowe
Pronouncing Harlow
HAR-loh
Two syllables, stress on the first: HAR as in "car", then "low". English speakers read it correctly on sight, and it survives the trip into most other languages without much damage.
Nicknames for Harlow
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
- 2002
- Most girls named
- 20211,278 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #237reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −9.4%981 in 2025, from 1,083
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.
Harlow in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Harlowe in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio.
Harlows among us
people named Harlow are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,638 born in 2025 was named Harlow
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 Clarissa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Harlow's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Clarissa climbed just as high around 1994, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Clarissa's path sketches the road Harlow is walking now.
Harlow 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 Harlow is headed
Harlow should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Harlow beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Harlow in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads exactly as it is spelled — most people get both the pronunciation and the spelling right on the first attempt.
- Already familiar as an English surname and place name, so it looks like a real word rather than an invention.
- Two syllables with the stress up front, which sits easily beside most one- and three-syllable middle names.
- Works for a boy or a girl without changing form, and has documented use on both sides.
- Rare enough in any one classroom that a child is unlikely to share it, while the spelling itself is recognizable.
- Both boys and girls carry this spelling, but girls are the clear majority in American records. A boy named Harlow will meet forms and teachers that assume otherwise — manageable, but worth knowing in advance.
- Harlowe is a real alternative spelling, so expect to confirm which one you mean. Harley is close enough in sound that it will be substituted sometimes too.
- The surname carries a strong Hollywood association through the actress Jean Harlow, which some families like and others would rather avoid.
- Its rise as a girl's name is recent, so it may end up sounding of a particular moment — the trade-off for a name that is currently distinctive without being unfamiliar.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Harlow
Feminine · #309 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Harlows are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,000 people named Harlow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Harlow in 2025?
- Harlow ranks #309 among US girl names in 2025, with 981 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Harlow?
- About 1 in every 1,638 US girls born in 2025 was named Harlow — 981 in all.
- Will my child share the name Harlow with classmates?
- Harlow will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Harlow
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elodie#310 · Octavia#308 · Francesca#307 · Tessa#311 · Joanna#306 · Morgan#312 · Catherine#313 · Brooke#313
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Harlow? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Harlow and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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