Harison
Of English origin meaning "son of Harry" or "son of Henry".
Name Census estimates that about 62 living Americans carry the first name Harison. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Harison today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harison births was 2019 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harison. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Harison with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Harison. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
62
~ 1 in 5,528,296 Americans
Peak year
2019
7 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2019 SSA rank
#10,113
Tracked since 1988
Census
Harison in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205 people with the first name Harison, which placed it at #37,817 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#37,817
National first-name rank
People counted
205
205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harison
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harison is White at 53.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Black (10.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Harison described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Harison at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.2% · 109
- Hispanic or Latino18.5% · 38
- Black or African American10.2% · 21
- Two or more races9.3% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.8% · 18
Popularity
Harison: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harison from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 28 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harison by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Harison during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Harison
The given name Harison has its roots in the Germanic language family, specifically derived from the Old Norse name Haraldr. This name can be traced back to the 9th century and was commonly used among the Vikings and Norse people of Scandinavia.
The name Haraldr is composed of two elements: "har" meaning "army" or "warrior," and "valdr" meaning "ruler" or "commander." Thus, the name Harison essentially translates to "army ruler" or "commander of the warriors," reflecting the warrior culture and military prowess of the Norse people during that era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Harison comes from the Icelandic sagas, where it was borne by several prominent figures, including Haraldr Fairhair, the first king of Norway, who lived from around 850 to 933 AD. He is renowned for uniting the petty kingdoms of Norway into a single realm.
In the 11th century, the name gained popularity in England after the Norman Conquest, when the Normans, who were descendants of the Vikings, introduced many Norse names to the region. One notable bearer of the name during this time was Harison de Bohun, a Norman nobleman and military commander who fought in the First Crusade in the late 11th century.
Another famous Harison throughout history was Harison the Red, a Norwegian king who ruled from 1134 to 1136. He was known for his military campaigns against neighboring territories and his efforts to expand the Norwegian kingdom.
In the 13th century, Harison Håkonsson, a Norwegian prince and later King of Norway from 1299 to 1319, was a significant figure in Scandinavian history. He played a crucial role in strengthening the Norwegian monarchy and promoting Norwegian culture and language.
During the Renaissance period, Harison van Eyck, a Flemish painter born around 1370, was a renowned artist known for his innovative techniques and highly detailed works, including the famous "Ghent Altarpiece."
While the name Harison has its roots in Norse and Germanic cultures, it has been adapted and used in various forms across different regions and time periods, reflecting the cultural exchange and influence of the Viking era on other parts of Europe.
People
Harison + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harison as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Harison: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harison?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 62 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harison going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 5,528,296 US residents.
Is Harison a common name?
We classify Harison as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 63 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harison most popular?
The single biggest year for Harison was 2019, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harison is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Harison in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205 people with the name Harison, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,817 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Harison in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Harison?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harison leans strongly male. 197 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 5 female bearers (2.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Harison?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harison is White at 53.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Black (10.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Harison most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Harison in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.2% (109 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Harison in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harison a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Harison in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Harison still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harison in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Harison can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Harison?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.