How popular is the baby name Harrison in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Harrison.

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Popularity of the baby name Harrison


Posts that mention the name Harrison

Baby name story: John Dempsey

Jack Dempsey poster
Jack Dempsey

On July 2, 1921, American boxer William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey fought French boxer Georges Carpentier in New Jersey. It was boxing’s first million-dollar gate, and the radio broadcast of the bout drew radio’s largest-ever audience up to that point.

That morning, a baby boy was born in Pittsburgh to Mr. and Mrs. John Mahoney. “[A]s the father was an enthusiastic rooter for the Irish fighter, it was decided to hold off naming the baby till after the result of the Jersey City fight should be known.”

Dempsey won in the 4th round. So the baby was named John Dempsey Mahoney.

Mr. Mahoney’s brother stopped by later that night. The brother was a Carpentier supporter, and the men fought over the baby’s name. They ended up at the police station, charged with disorderly conduct.

Ultimately, the magistrate ordered the uncle to buy baby John Dempsey Mahoney his first pair of shoes.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Dempsey Carpentier 1921 fight film poster (public domain)

Baby chooses between two names

In 1892, on the eve of the presidential election, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Jervis of Baltimore wrote the names of the major party candidates, Cleveland and Harrison, on two small pieces of paper. They mixed the bits of paper up and put one in the left hand and the other in the right hand of their 6-week-old daughter.

After holding on tightly for about five minutes, baby threw away the slip in her left hand, which on being opened was found to bear the name of Harrison. The baby’s choice was Cleveland.

(The nation’s choice was Cleveland as well.)

The baby was named Frances Cleveland, presumably after Grover Cleveland’s wife, Frances.

Source: “How a Baby Chose Its Name.” New York Times 12 Nov. 1892.

Baby name story: Harrison

Fish & chip shop

Emma and James Kennedy of West Bromwich, England, welcomed a baby boy about six weeks ago. They’d “been toying with a couple of names including Fraser and Harrison,” said Emma, but didn’t have a name chosen on the day she went into labor.

So it was fortuitous that her contractions began inside a Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip restaurant. They took that as a sign and named their son Harrison, nickname Harry.

This is the second fish and chip baby I’ve come across. The first one, Taylor, was named for Taylor’s Fish and Chip Shop in Stockport — just 90 miles south of of the Harry Ramsden’s in Brierley Hill.

Source: “Baby’s name inspired after Harry Ramsden’s drama.” Express & Star 17 Sept. 2010.

Image: Adapted from Mobile Fish and Chips by Stefan Schäfer under CC BY-SA 3.0.