How rare is the name Harvey?

48,796 people in the United States have the first name Harvey, about 1 in 6,190. It ranks #920 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

HARVEY

#920

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
48,796
About
1 in 6,190
This common or more
68.8%
Who bears it

Of the 48,796 people named Harvey, 73.8% reported their origin as White, 15% as Black and 4.5% as Hispanic or Latino. 99.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Harvey peaked in 1921, when 2,294 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1921
Births that year
2,294
In 2025*
1,400 ▼39%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 128,792 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Harvey by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #158. The largest share of babies named Harvey, 28.7%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#1583,123
1890s#2182,827
1900s#2483,104
1910s#21713,398
1920s#21321,966
1930s#22520,049
1940s#25320,871
1950s#40914,322
1960s#6037,836
1970s#8853,920
1980s#1,2882,412
1990s#1,9361,655
2000s#2,4921,514
2010s#1,0605,571
2020s#6396,224
Before 19014.9%
Greatest Generation 1901–2726.3%
Silent Generation 1928–4528.7%
Baby boom 1946–6421.1%
Generation X 1965–805.8%
Millennials 1981–962.6%
Generation Z 1997–122.1%
2013 and later8.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Harvey is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Harvey has been most common in South Dakota (2.3×), North Dakota (2.3×), and North Carolina (1.8×), and least common in Nevada (0.22×).

115,230 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Harvey

#918 Janelle · 48,979#919 Reese · 48,829#921 Marisa · 48,703#922 Mikayla · 48,659

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Harvey, most common first.

#28,553 Harvy · 314#39,783 Harve · 189

Also a last name

As a last name, Harvey ranks #273 of 156,621, with 111,716 people. See Harvey as a last name

Compare