Harlowe
From a combination meaning "army rock" or "rock meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 899 living Americans carry the first name Harlowe. It is a predominantly female name (94.5% of registrations). The average person named Harlowe today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harlowe births was 2024 (134 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harlowe. 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 Harlowe with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
899
~ 1 in 381,262 Americans
Peak year
2024
134 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,684
Tracked since 1916
Census
Harlowe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 505 people with the first name Harlowe, which placed it at #20,449 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
#20,449
National first-name rank
People counted
505
505 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Harlowe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harlowe is White at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.7%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Harlowe 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 Harlowe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.3% · 340
- Two or more races12.7% · 64
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 52
- Black or African American7.5% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Harlowe
Harlowe leans heavily female at 94.5% of total registrations, but 51 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Harlowe as a male name
- Ranked #6,575 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (13 births)
Harlowe as a female name
- Ranked #1,684 in 2024
- 121 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (121 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harlowe leans strongly female. 462 people counted with this name were female (90.4%), compared with 49 male bearers (9.6%).
Popularity
Harlowe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harlowe from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 448 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
Harlowe 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 Harlowe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harlowes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Harlowe, while Washington, Tennessee, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Harlowe
The given name Harlowe originated in England during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "here," meaning army, and "hlaw," meaning hill or mound, thus referring to a hill where armies gathered or encamped. The name was initially a locational surname, indicating someone who lived near such a strategic military hill.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Harlowe dates back to the 13th century, when a William de Herlawe was mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire in 1275. The name also appears in various medieval records, such as the Hundred Rolls of 1273, where a Robert de Herlawe is listed.
During the Renaissance period, the name Harlowe gained literary significance when it was used as a character name in the 1592 play "The Tragedy of Soliman and Perseda" by Thomas Kyd. This association with literature may have contributed to its transition from a surname to a given name.
In the 17th century, a notable bearer of the name was Sir Harlowe Raleigh (1617-1689), an English politician and Member of Parliament. He was the grandson of Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous explorer and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I.
Another prominent figure was Harlowe Harland (1805-1873), an American educator and historian who served as the sixth president of the University of Miami in Ohio. He was known for his work on the history of Presbyterianism in the United States.
In the 19th century, Harlowe Arlin (1846-1923) was an American businessman and real estate developer who played a significant role in the growth of Los Angeles, California. He established the town of Harlowton, Montana, which was named after him.
The name Harlowe also appeared in the literary world with Harlowe Bradford (1901-1951), an American novelist and short story writer known for her works depicting life in the American South.
While the name Harlowe has traditionally been more common for males, it has gained popularity as a unisex name in recent times, with some notable female bearers, such as Harlowe Grace, an American child actress born in 2010.
People
Harlowe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harlowe 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
Harlowe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harlowe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 899 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harlowe 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 381,262 US residents.
Is Harlowe a common name?
We classify Harlowe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 930 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harlowe most popular?
The single biggest year for Harlowe was 2024, when 134 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harlowe is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Harlowe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 505 people with the name Harlowe, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,449 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 Harlowe 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 Harlowe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Harlowe leans strongly female. 462 people counted with this name were female (90.4%), compared with 49 male bearers (9.6%). 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 Harlowe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Harlowe is White at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.7%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Harlowe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Harlowe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.3% (340 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 Harlowe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Harlowe a female name?
Yes, 94.5% of people registered as Harlowe in the SSA data are female. 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 Harlowe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Harlowe 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 Harlowe 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 Americans are named Harlowe?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.