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The first name 
Harper

Harper is a female first name. In very rare cases it is also used for boys.

The name Harper is very popular!

The first name Harper is one of the top 100 most popular girls names in the US – currently at #11 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Harper, accounting for approximately 0.60 % of all newborn girls. In the entire USA, approximately 119,746 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Harper. That is 0.04 % of all living Americans.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Harper

What does the name 
Harper mean?

Originally, the name Harper was primarily a surname, a so-called professional name. This was given to people who played the harp. The name may also be derived from the Norman ‘le Harpur’ or from the Gaelic ‘Mac Chruiteir’ (‘son of Harper’).

Interesting facts! Especially in America, it is also used as a first name.

Harper has quite a few famous namesakes

A fictional character

Harper Finkle
Harper Finkle is a fictional character from the Disney Channel show 'Wizards of Waverly Place' and friend of the two main characters, Alex and Justin Rosso. She is played by actress Jennifer Stone. The series was broadcast between 2007 and 2012.

A novelist

Harper Lee (1926 - 2016)
She was born as Nelle Harper Lee and published her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'To kill a Mockingbird' in 1960. The work was a success from the start and it has been translated into more than 40 languages and sold over 50 million copies. She also helped her friend and author Truman Capote research his work 'In cold blood'.

A baseball player

Bryce Harper (*1992)
He is an American professional baseball right fielder and designated hitter. He is known as a player for teams like Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball or the Washington Nationals. He is considered a 'five-tool player', meaning someone who possesses all five baseball playing skills.

A computer programmer

Harper Reed (*1978)
Harper Reed is a computer programmer, entrepeneur and CEO in the technology industry. He co-founded Modest Inc., which he sold to Braintree in 2015, and Experimental Future, a consulting firm, of which he is also the CEO. In addition to his work, he also enjoys public speaking and lecturing.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Harper, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Harper? Are you also called Harper? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

A mountain

Harper Peak is a 2575.5 ft (785 m) mountain on the north coast of South Georgia. It rises east of Fortuna Peak and Fortuna Bay.

Harper Point...

is a headland that represents the northern end of Saunders Island in the South Sandwich Islands archipelago.

A university

You can attend Harper Adams University in England. It was founded in 1901 and specializes in higher education for the agricultural and rural sectors.

The village of Harper,...

a small port town, is located at Cape Palmas, the southwesternmost point of the Republic of Liberia and also the southernmost point in West Africa.

Harper -
at home in every state from California to New York

The name Harper may not be in the top rankings of the most popular girls’ names, but it is one of the few female given names, along with only 536 others, that can be found in every single state in the U.S. from Alaska to Florida and from California to New York. Of course, the name occurs more frequently in some states than in others – and Harper is apparently especially popular in Nevada. Although the name is not one of the top 100 most popular women’s names here either, one in 597 women in Nevada is called Harper. In total, that’s 748 women who feel addressed when the name Harper is shouted loudly across Nevada and who ensure that their name makes it to #164 in our SmartGenius ranking of the most common female names in this nice state. If you asked all women in the entire U.S. for their first name, you would hear Harper as the answer a total of 115,796 times. This places Harper at #294 in our SmartGenius statistics for the most popular women’s names in the whole of the USA. This is true for all currently living women across all states and age groups – the recent popularity of the name Harper as a baby name is, of course, a bit different, as you can see from the statistics above.

Harper has 6 letters 
and begins with an H

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter H is quite rare as a first letter for girls' names: only 1.7% of all common girls' names in the US begin with H. The most common first letters of girls' names, by the way, are A, S and M, while U, X and Q are the least common initials of girls' names.

With six letters, the name Harper is of average length. In fact, 28% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly six letters. 24% of all first names are shorter, while 48% have seven letters or more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

Therefore: As 1.7% of all girls' names begin with an H, this initial letter is less common than the other letters on average. Interesting detail: of all the names that begin with an H, Helen is the most common.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Harper

If your name is Harper and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Harper

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Harper, you can simply say:

Hat

Apple

Rocket

Pig

Elephant

Rocket

This is how the name Harper is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Harper in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Harper

Harper

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Harper

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Harper is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

H
A
R
P
E
R

Have you ever waved the name Harper

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

H
A
R
P
E
R

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Harper sounds like this: