The baby name Harriet is delightfully vintage, perfectly on trend, and somehow, still under the radar.
Thanks to Sarah for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME HARRIET MEAN?
Henry and Harriet feel English, but we wouldn’t have either name without the French.
Germanic forms of Henry were first heard round the 900s. The Normans brought Henri to England, where it became Henry and Herry and Harry.
The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources lists Henriot and Henriet as masculine French forms of Henry in the 1300s.
Henriette is the French feminine form. Both Henriette and Henrietta were in use by the sixteenth century.
In 1625, Princess Henriette Marie of France married King Charles I of England, and once again, a form of Henry became a fashionable import. Queen Henrietta passed her name on to their youngest princess.
The first name Harriet developed in England in the 1600s. It makes sense as a feminine form of Harry. In at least some cases, it was used as a short form of Henrietta. If you’ve seen Keira Knightley as the eighteenth century Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess, you might recall that Georgiana had a daughter called Harryo or Harriet – but actually baptized Henrietta.
The name ranked in the US Top 100 in the late nineteenth century.
That means it shares the same meaning as Germanic Henry: home ruler, from Heimrich. (It comes from the terms heim, whichmeans home and ric, ruler.)
FAMOUS HARRIETS
So many women of accomplishment have worn this name that it’s impossible to list them all!
- Harriet Martineau was a pioneer sociologist and a noted feminist thinker of the early 1800s.
- Aristocratic Harriet Arbuthnot kept diaries about her life among the powerful. Arbuthnot’s husband served in Parliament, but it is her writings that have endured.
- Born Elizabeth Ann Haryett, Harriet Howard’s life story reads like fiction, including her affair with Napoleon III of France.
- Jane Austen’s Emma includes the character Harriet Smith, a friend to Emma.
- Hawaiian Queen Keopulani converted to Christianity on her deathbed in 1823, and adopted the name. She borrowed Harriet from a missionary’s wife. Her daughter became known as Harrieta.
- Born Araminta, Harriet Tubman adopted her mother’s given name, and went on to become one of the most famous leaders of the Underground Railroad. A 2016 vote named Tubman the people’s choice to become the first woman on US currency, and the US Treasury indicated she would be on the new design … though it will probably take years for the bills to circulate.
- Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe is remembered for her world-changing 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
- Bachelor US President James Buchanan relied on his niece, Harriet Lane, to serve as his hostess during the 1850s.
- Harriet Brooks was a pioneer in the field of nuclear physics.
- Suffragette Harriet Shaw Weaver supported early publications of James Joyce’s novels.
- Harriet Quimby was the first American woman to receive a pilot’s license in the US.
- Harriet Zwerling was part of the bohemian circle of Beat poets in Paris in the 1950s.
- Real-life married couple Ozzie and Harriet Nelson starred in a successful radio program turned ABC sitcom, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. So did their sons, and later their son’s wives. Call it the first reality TV show.
- In 2024, British TV series Geek Girl introduced the world to Harriet Manners, an awkward teenager who beocmes a model.
NICKNAMES FOR HARRIET
While the baby name Harriet doesn’t appear in the current US Top 1000, two Harriet nicknames do:
- First, there’s Hattie. It’s as sweetly vintage as Millie or Sadie.
- More recently, Hallie has been on the rise. If Hal is a nickname for Harry – and is, though we don’t always think of it that way now – then Hallie is a logical nickname for the baby name Harriet, too.
Other options include Harry – or Harrie, maybe? – as well as the even more antique Hetty or Hettie. Etta, Ettie, Hen, and Henny are more often associated with Henrietta, but might work for Harriet, too.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME HARRIET?
In an age of Charlotte and Eleanor, it’s surprising that this name hasn’t been in the US Top 1000 since 1970.
Still, as. of 2023, 214 girls were given the name. That’s not too far outside of the current US Top 1000. In 2023, it took 255 births for a name to rank in the girls’ Top 1000. Harriet has increased in use over the last decade.
Harriet enjoys more popularity elsewhere in the English-speaking world. The name ranks in the Top 100 for England & Wales, as is popular in Australia and New Zealand, too.
So the name could catch on:
- -et girl names like Juliet/Juliette, Violet and Scarlett are fashionable.
- Again, those nicknames options help, like stylish, sassy Hattie.
- Louise Fitzhugh gave the name to a memorable character in 1964’s Harriet the Spy, putting this name in the company of other fictional heroines like Madeline, Matilda, and Eloise.
VINTAGE GEM
Altogether, the baby name Harriet is an appealing choice – smart, quirky cool, outside of the mainstream but exactly on trend.
If you’re after something that’s both familiar and strong, and fits with classic names we love now but remains less common, Harriet might be the perfect name.
What do you think of the baby name Harriet?
This post was originally published on March 8, 2010. It was revised on June 1, 2015 and again on January 14, 2025.
We are almost surely done having kids, but that doesn’t stop me from laying awake thinking about what I’d name our Louisa’s siblings. Wouldn’t Harriet be perfect as a sister for Louisa? I saw the trailer for the new Harriet Tubman movie last night and it just clicked. Louisa & Harriet. [SWOON]. Also the Harriet Tubman movie looks amazing.
My first daughter is Harriet. I think the strong nature of the name really suits her. I feel like Harriets change the world. Sometimes by daughter goes by Hattie sometimes which I adore as it’s much sweeter and softer.
I have a three year old daughter named Harriet. I named her after Harriet Tubman. Of all six of my children, her name gets the strongest reaction from people. It usually goes by generation–the older the person the less they like Harriet’s name. The strongest reaction was from a middle-aged woman who asked me “why in the world” I picked the name Harriet. I told her that I named my daughter after Harriet Tubman, a hero of mine. The woman then shrieked, “You named her after an old black woman??!!”
Yes. I’m allowed to name my little blond, blue-eyed, white child after anyone I want to, thank you. This is a free country.
I admit I found her reaction a little offensive.
Regardless of people’s responses, I ADORE Harriet’s name!!!! I think it is spunky and solid and smart-sounding. And of course, now that we’ve been calling her that for three years it is impossible to think of her as anything but Harriet.
My family is really fond of old classic names that are timeless. None of that trendy stuff for us! I have one son who is 22 and named Judson after a great grandfather who fought in the Civil War. My niece had a daughter almost 3 years ago named Louisa Tatum (Tatum is a family name for us), She is due in August of 2010 with another daughter named Harriett Augusta which I think is so cool! I hate names that when the teacher calls that name 10 kids answer to it!I am 46 but thinking of adopting a special needs daughter in the next few years as a single parent and if she is young enough for a name change then I will give her a great classic old-fashioned name such as Penelope or Alice Jane.
I like Harriet a lot. However, I don’t think it’s a name any girl today would really like to be named. Hattie is charming, but I just love Harryo, which I first heard watching The Duchess. But again, I don’t think anyone would love to be called Harryo. I certaintly wouldn’t want to be called that, but I still love it, if that makes any sense at all!
Harriett is still a wonderful name and I would really respect a baby’s parents for having such class! One of the prettiest girls that i have ever known was named Harriett! My great niece on the way will be named “Harriett Augusta”!