Recorded 1975–2025 · United States
Harlem was most popular in 2023, when 409 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,360 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,418, with 383 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 5,182 people named Harlem.
Harlem first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1975, which makes it about 50 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 26 of the 51 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 5,182 American births named Harlem between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 5,143 are estimated to be alive today.
383 American babies were named Harlem in 2025, ranking #1,418 that year.
Harlem is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 387 births a year, against 206 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +88% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Harlem is a unisex name — 33.7% of the 5,182 Americans given it were girls and 66.3% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 37% girls and 63% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 5,143 Americans named Harlem are alive today — 99% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 7 years old, and half are between 4 and 12. That is a narrow band because Harlem is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Harlem on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org