Harding

#12,693 in 2025Boys' name

Hard

Harding has been given to 1,123 babies in the U.S. since 1913. In 2025 it ranked #12,693 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 235 recorded.

Babies named Harding, 2025

1 in 663,000

Harding over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Harding: meaning, origin, and history

Hard

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Harding means

Harding means “hard”, associated with hard.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Originally a patronymic from Hardy or from compound given names with the Germanic element *hard (“hard”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Harding (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Harding is used in English.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Harding is pronounced /ˈhɑɹdɪŋ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,123 boys were recorded with the name Harding between 1913 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 235 in 1921; its best national rank was #391 in 1920.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,923 in 2020 to #12,693 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #11,178 in 2015 to #12,693 in 2025.

How common is Harding?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 663,000; 5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 342,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #12,693; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 459,581 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Harding sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Harding. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hardings were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Harding was born before 1922 — so the typical Harding is around 103 today.

Median birth year: 1922; About 103 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 61.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 5.6%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 184; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 61.9% of all recorded uses (695).

Is Harding rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: −4,739; Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago: −2,770; Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago: −1,515; Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago: 0.83×; Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak: 2.1%; Peak was 1921 (235)
Years since peak: 104; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 20.8% average annual change
Best rank ever: #391; 1920

Spellings of Harding

Harding is not the most common spelling — Harlin is, with 32.7% against Harding's 19.5%.

Harlin32.7%1,879
Hardin23.1%1,330
Harding19.5%1,123
Harden13.4%771
Hardie11.2%644

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Harding is used

Across 1910–2025, Harding was most concentrated in Arkansas — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 213,648 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Arkansas1 in 50,000
2Alabama1 in 100,000
3Kentucky1 in 100,000
4Louisiana1 in 100,000
5Mississippi1 in 100,000
6North Carolina1 in 100,000
7Oklahoma1 in 100,000
8South Carolina1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Harding has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Harding around the world

Where Harding ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

South Australia
1948–1948
#268
in 1948

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Harding by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #12,693
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Down 2,770
Best rank ever: #391; 1920
Peak year: 1921; 235 that year
First recorded: 1913
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 1,123
Count in 2025: 5

Names similar to Harding

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Hartley Harvard Harman Hardin Haroon Harald Harden Harlon Harlin Harrold Hartwell Harvest Harun Harlow Harland Hartford Harlyn Harbor Manning Haroun Harlen Harlem Haruki Haris

Sibling names for Harding

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Idella Vina Adell Mozelle Kattie Tressie Alene Beryl

For a brother

Dewitt Granville Delmer Buford Eldridge Trinidad Vern Barney

Explore around Harding

Top names of 1921, Harding's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1920 Boys' names starting with H