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Harper

Heart
English
"harp player"

Harper Origin and Meaning

The name Harper is a girl's name of English origin meaning "harp player".

You might think of Harper as the hottest name of the last decade, jumping from obscurity to the Top 10, where it remained until last year.

Victoria and David Beckham's choice of Harper for their youngest child and only daughter in 2011 did much to catapult the name to stardom. Some reports say Harper was named after a character on Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, her brother's favorite show, while other say she was named after Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird
, her mom's favorite book.

Those two influences definitely helped propel Harper up the popularity list in general. Plus Harper is a member of the trendy group of occupational surnames turned first names for both genders, including Taylor, Parker, Mason, and Skylar.

Harper has been a shooting star in the celebrisphere, chosen first by Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulis, followed by Lisa Marie Presley, David Spade, Dave Grohl, Martie Maguire, Tiffani Thiessen, Bill Hader and Neil Patrick Harris. Singer Paul Simon used it for his son more than 50 years ago.

While Harper was used near-exclusively for boys in the 1800s and remains technically unisex, in reality it's used today overwhelmingly for girls. More than 8000 baby girls were named Harper in the US last year, versus only 138 baby boys.

# 11 in the US

Harper Rank in US Top 1000

# 146 on Nameberry

Harper Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Harper Popularity

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Famous People Named Harper

  • (Nelle) Harper LeeAmerican novelist
  • Harper Renee Henry (b. 2001)daughter of Miss America Heather French Henry and Steve Henry
  • Harper Rhimes (adopted 2002)daughter of screenwriter, producer/director Shonda Rhimes
  • Harper Kelsay (b. 2006)daughter of NFL player Chris Kelsay
  • Harper Spade (b. 2008)daughter of actor David Spade and model Jillian Grace
  • Harper Moon Margaret Vedder (2008)daughter of musician Eddie Vedder
  • Harper Rosie Maguire (b. 2008)daughter of musician Martie Maguire
  • Harper Tillman (b. 2008)daughter of NFL player Travares Tillman
  • Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood (b. 2008)daughter of singer Lisa Marie Presley; granddaughter of Elvis Presley; twin of brother Finley Aaron
  • Harper Willow Grohl (b. 2009)daughter of American rock musician Dave Grohl
  • Harper Grace BurtkaHarris (b. 2010) daughter of actor Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
  • Harper Renn Smith (b. 2010)daughter of actors Tiffani Thiessen and Brady Smith
  • Harper Reese Hedrick (b. 2010)daughter of speed skater Chad Hedrick
  • Harper Rain Sinclair McGlinchey (b. 2010)daughter of musicians Natalie Bassingthwaite and Cameron McGlinchey
  • Harper Adams (b. 2010)daughter of singer Kristin (Holt) Adams
  • Harper Seven Beckham (b. 2011) daughter of Victoria and David Beckham
  • Harper Hader (b. 2012)daughter of actor Bill Hader and director Maggie Carey
  • Harper Estelle WolfeldGosk (b. 2013), daughter of TV journalists Jenna Wolfe and Stephanie Gosk
  • Harper Marie Kirk (b. 2014)daughter of actress Jenna Fischer
  • Harper Rose Barash (b. 2014)daughter of actors Brandon Barash and Kirsten Storms
  • Harper Foxx Cotchin (b. 2014)daughter of AFL footballer Trent Cotchin
  • Harper Grace Hammer (b. 2014)daughter of actor Armie Hammer
  • Harper Clark (b. 2014)daughter of model Kristy Hinze and James Clark
  • Harper Marie Anderson (b. 2015)daughter of baseball player Brian Anderson
  • Harper Raines (b. 2016)daughter of TV personalities Madison Channing Walls and Tony Raines of "The Real World"
  • Harper Rose Garner (b. 2016)daughter of TV personalities Zoe Hendrix and Alex Garner of "Married at First Sight"
  • Harper May Stefanovic (b. 2020)daughter of Australian television presenter Karl Stefanovic

Harper in Pop Culture

  • Harper Pittcharacter in Tony Kushner's "Angels in America"
  • Harper Finklecharacter on TV's "Wizards of Waverly Place"
  • Harper Weilcharacter on TV's "The Whispers"
  • Harper Whitleycharacter on New Zealand soap "Shortland Street"
  • Harper Connellymain character in a series by Charlaine Harris
  • Harper Pricemain character in "Rebel Belle" by Rachel Hawkins
  • Harper Deancharacter in webcomic "Real Life" by Greg Dean
  • Harper Burkecharacter in film "Things We Lost in the Fire"
  • Harper McIntyrecharacter in The CW's "The 100"
  • Harperthe estranged cousin living in the basement in the game "Ghost of Thornton Hall"
  • Harperone of the main characters of TNT's "Leverage"
  • Harpercharacter in "Minecraft: Story Mode"