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Hardy

#2,496 in 2025Boys' name

Hardy, daring, stout, bold

Hardy has been given to 5,831 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,496 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 151 recorded.

Babies named Hardy, 2025

1 in 61,400

Hardy over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hardy: meaning, origin, and history

Hardy, daring, stout, bold

surname transfer

What Hardy means

Hardy means “hardy, daring, stout, bold”, associated with hardi.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

* As an English, Scottish, and French surname, from Middle English hardy, hardi, from Old French hardi (“hardy, daring, stout, bold”). * As an Irish surname, via mac giolla deacair (“son of the hard lad”) as a calque of the above. * Also as a Scottish surname, variant of Hardie.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Hardy is used in English and Danish. Its origins include surname transfer.

Hardy comes through Middle English hardy and Old French hardi.

Hardy is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Hardie.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Hardy is pronounced /ˈhɑɹdi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,814 boys were recorded with the name Hardy between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 151 in 1921; its best national rank was #334 in 1886.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,038 in 2020 to #2,496 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,783 in 2015 to #2,496 in 2025.

In the United States, 17 girls were recorded with the name Hardy between 1927 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2022; its best national rank was #4,679 in 1932.

How common is Hardy?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 61,400
54 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 31,600
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,496
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
42,555 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Hardy 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 42,555 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hardy. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hardys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hardy was born before 1943 — so the typical Hardy is around 82 today.

Median birth year
1943
About 82 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
16.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
13.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,399
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 16.5% of all recorded uses (958).

Is Hardy 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
+42
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+542
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+287
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.26×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
35.8%
Peak was 1921 (151)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#334
1886

Spellings of Hardy

Hardy is not the most common spelling — Gary is, with 28.9% against Hardy's 0.19%.

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 Hardy is used

Across 1910–2025, Hardy was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 7,692 boys, against 1 in 35,247 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

013 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 7,692
  2. 2Louisiana1 in 10,000
  3. 3Georgia1 in 14,286
  4. 4North Carolina1 in 16,667
  5. 5Alabama1 in 25,000
  6. 6Texas1 in 25,000
  7. 7Arkansas1 in 33,333
  8. 8South Carolina1 in 50,000

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. Hardy has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hardy around the world

Where Hardy 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.

  • England & Wales
    2002–2025
    #2,014
    in 2025
  • France
    2000–2022
    #5,702
    in 2022
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #2,328
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1965–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Hardy

People whose public names include Hardy, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Hardy by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,496
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 542
Best rank ever
#334
1886
Peak year
1921
151 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,814
Count in 2025
54

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,679
1932
Peak year
2022
7 that year
First recorded
1927
Last recorded
2022
All-time count
17
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Hardy

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

HarmonHarperHarisHarlemHarlenJordyHarlandHarlowHarunHarrisHarlinHarlonHaroonHardinHarlanHartHarmanHariHarleyHaraldHardenHartleyHarloHarvy

Names with a curve like Hardy

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Hardy, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

WaltonLuciousRollinLonzoRowlandEldridgeHaywoodMahlonEmileHiltonGilesAlvis

Sibling names for Hardy

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

Explore around Hardy

Top names of 1921, Hardy's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1886Boys' names starting with HDanish NamesUncommon Danish Boy Names