Harold

“Army ruler” — Old English, or Old Norse origin

Boy's name · #993 in the US (2025) · Heirloom

Harold is an heirloom: its strongest era came around 1915, when it ranked #12. It has thinned since but never left the records — about 552,000 boys since 1880, ranked #993 today. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records. Harold's short forms are Harry and Hal.

Around the world: about 1 in 3,200 boys in Belgium (2025) · about 1 in 12,000 boys in England & Wales (2025) · about 1 in 12,000 boys in Canada (2024).

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 26 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Harolds

Harold Pinter — British playwright (1930–2008)
Harold Macmillan — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963
Harold Wilson — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964-1970 and 1974-1976 (1916–1995)
Harold Urey — American physical chemist (1893-1981)
Harold Godwinson — Anglo-Saxon King of England in 1066

In stories & tradition

Harold (Mr. Krabs) — SpongeBob SquarePants · The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Harold (Harry Osborn) — The Amazing Spider-Man · Spider-Man
Harold (Hal Jordan) — Injustice 2 · Injustice: Gods Among Us

What Harolds become

Among 3,692 notable people named Harold:

Military figures appear 2.23× more often than among typical names — e.g. Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, British military commander and field marshal; Governor General of Canada (1891-1969).

Similar names: Ralph · Arnold · Stanley · Howard · Gerald · Harry

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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