NameRealm
Harper

Harper: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“harp player”
Origin
English
Say it
HAR-per · 2 syllables
Used for
Girls (95% of all uses)

Harper comes from an English occupational surname for a harpist. Its origin is the Middle English word harper.

English namesAmerican namesNames meaning musicSurname-style namesModern names

How popular is Harper?

20242,242 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Harper in 20247,461

2024 rank#12 girls

Peak year2018

Total US babies since 1880138,906

Harper has been fairly stable over the last fifteen years.

Names like Harper

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Oliviaolive tree · English
  • Evelyndesired; little bird · English
  • Violetviolet flower · English
  • Hazelhazel tree · English
  • Ellieshort form of names ending in -el or -ella · English
  • Lilylily flower · English
  • Scarlettscarlet, bright red · English
  • Ivyivy plant · English

Harper questions

What does the name Harper mean?

Harper means "harp player". It comes from English. Harper comes from an English occupational surname for a harpist. Its origin is the Middle English word harper.

Is Harper a boy or girl name?

Harper is mainly a girl's name in US records (95% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Harper?

7,461 US babies were named Harper in 2024. Its peak year was 2018.

How do you pronounce Harper?

Harper is usually pronounced HAR-per.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.