Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Harley was most popular in 2017, when 1,933 American babies were given the name — ranking #368 that year. In 2025 it ranked #684, with 947 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 71,872 people named Harley.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Harley is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 146 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 71,872 American births named Harley 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 54,941 are estimated to be alive today.
947 American babies were named Harley in 2025, ranking #684 that year.
Harley is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 1,120 births a year, against 1,280 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -12% 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 Harley is a unisex name — 43.4% of the 71,872 Americans given it were girls and 56.6% were boys. It changed hands: since 1994 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 80% girls and 20% 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 54,941 Americans named Harley are alive today — 76% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 21 years old, and half are between 10 and 32.
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 Harley on the interactive charts
About · Privacy · Contact
Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org