Harold
Masculine · “army ruler”
Harold is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 551,632 boys against 2,648 girls since 1880. See Harold as a girl name
Harold is the only name of an English king that the Normans did not adopt. They took Edward, they took Henry and Richard and John and William into the royal line, and they never once used the name of the man they killed at Hastings.
How old is the name Harold?
Harold was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Harold alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 170,000 people named Harold are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Harold most popular?
Harold peaked in 1915, reaching #12 nationally. Today it ranks #991, 979 places below that high. See the whole 1915 chart.
Where it comes from
From Haraldr to Harold
The story of Harold
Harold Godwinson was king for nine months and fought two full-scale invasions in three weeks. He destroyed a Norwegian army at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire, marched two hundred and fifty miles south, and lost at Hastings to a force that had landed while he was gone. The name went quiet in England for centuries afterwards and came back in the Victorian revival, when English families began deliberately reviving Anglo-Saxon and Norse names; it reached America in that wave and was near the top of the lists by the early twentieth century. Its ending then detached and produced Darold, Garold and Jerold.
Meaning
army ruler
The Norse original joins a word for an army to one for a ruler. English had its own version of the same compound before the Danes arrived, and the two fell together.
How the name formed
- Haraldr
- Harold
Related forms: Harald · Harald · Harald · Harold
Pronouncing Harold
HAR-uld
Two syllables with the weight at the front, the second reduced to a hum. Norwegian and Danish say HAH-ralt, giving the second syllable full value.
Nicknames for Harold
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 192414,149 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #12reached in 1915
- Change vs 2022
- −8.0%230 in 2025, from 250
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.
Harold in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Harald in Norwegian — same name
- Harald in Danish — same name
- Harald in German — same name
- Harold in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Harolds among us
people named Harold are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 7,426 born in 2025 was named Harold
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Harold has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Harold is headed
Harold should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Harold beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Harold in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing.
- It is a standing name across Scandinavia and Germany as well as English.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- Hal is a short form with six centuries of English use behind it.
- It is strongly associated with the first half of the twentieth century.
- The king who carried it is famous chiefly for losing, which some families think about.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
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What they receive
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Harold
Masculine · #991 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Harolds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 170,000 people named Harold are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Harold in 2025?
- Harold ranks #991 among US boy names in 2025, with 230 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Harold?
- About 1 in every 7,426 US boys born in 2025 was named Harold — 230 in all.
- Will my child share the name Harold with classmates?
- Harold will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Harold
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Palmer#991 · Aurelius#991 · Blaine#991 · Joe#991 · Jiraiya#988 · Isael#988 · Ephraim#988 · Oziel#996
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Harold? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Harold and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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