Name of the Week

^.

An old-fashioned, quintessentially English name,
given a modern twist by a wizard, a prince and a popstar.

 

Origin:

Though Harry is generally considered to be a diminutive of Henry, it was originally Henry's standard English vernacular form.  The name originally started out as the Old High German name Heimerich, composed of the elements heim "home" and rīhhi "ruler". It was Latinised as Henricus, from which came the French Henri. The Normans brought Henri with them to Britain where it was pronounced "Harry" or "Herry" in Middle English. By the 19th century, Harry and Henry had distinct pronunciations, and Harry was being used as a diminutive of both Henry and Harold. There are, however, still parts of Britain today where the local dialect turns Henry into "Herry" or "Harry."

Usage:

As Harry was the standard English vernacular form of Henri/Henry, it is rarely found in written documents. The great number of surnames derived from it however, such as Harris, Harrison and Parry, attest to its usage. Henry's medieval petform Hal, and its diminutive Halkin, also preserves Harry's 'a'.  For Harry's popularity then, we need to look at Henry. Redmond's popularity ranking, puts Henry at #6 in England from 1377-81 and Smith Bannister's popularity rankings have it consistently ranking between #6 and #11 from 1538 to 1700. [For more information see the Name of the Week post on Henry].  By the 16th and 17th century, Harry has more of a presence in written documents, and was beginning to see more use in its own right — most likely as Henry began to develop a seperate pronunciation — though the two were still closely linked. Data from the Surname Atlas (click to enlarge) Harry's popularity was very consistent in the 19th century. It sat happily in the top 20 in England and Wales, ranked #16 in 1870, #18 in 1880, and #15 both 1890 and 1900. It also ranked #38 in Scotland in 1900.  Data from the 1881 census (right) shows that, although Harry was in good use in Scotland and Wales, most of its usage was in England.  Its popularity per 100,000 people shows that it was also very evenly distributed across England. It is fair to say that, as it was so extremely popularly there, Harry became a quintessentially English name. No wonder Harry was listed alongside Tom and Dick in the well known phrase meaning 'men in general'.  The fate of both Harry and Henry were very similar in the 20th century.  In 1904, Harry was #18 in England and Wales, while Henry was just above at #17. Both saw a steep decline, and by 1954 Henry was #84 and Harry was clinging on to #100. After that, both names fell out of the top 100. In Scotland, Harry ranked #68 in 1950, but had also fallen out of their top 100 by 1975.  This is not very surprising. By the 1960s Harry had moved into the "old man name" category. In 1958, for example, rock and roll star Harry Webb changed his common old-fashioned name for the much more edgy "Cliff Richard". The men born in Harry and Henry's turn-of-the-century height were, by that time, the First World War veterans, and quite literally the "grandfathers" of the young generation. From not ranking at all in the top 100 at all in 1984, Harry had miraculously leaped to #30 in 1994. The reason almost certainly lies with the birth of the Prince and Princess of Wales' second son, Prince Henry Charles Albert David "Harry" in 1984.  Harry has been steadily rising in England and Wales since the 1990s, finally making it to the number one spot on both 2011 and 2012.  In 1996, Harry ranked #17 with 4434 births. By 2001, 5662 boys were given the name (#6) and 6143 by 2009 (#3).  In 2012, 7168 boys were given the name, ranking at #1. That year also saw an increase in the number of boys who were given Harry as a hyphenated name (see image right). The most popular of these was Harry-James (17 births), followed by Harry-Lee (11), Harry-Jack (6), Harry-Jay (5), Harry-George (3) and Harry-John (3).  In Scotland, Harry has also been on the rise. It ranked #58 in 2005, #43 in 2007, #30 in 2009, #9 in 2011, #8 in 2012 and #10 in 2013 with 299 births.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Harry Atkinson (1831-1892), tenth Premier of New Zealand. * Harry B. Smith (1860-1936), writer, lyricist, and composer. * Harry Altham (1888-1965), English cricketer. * Harry Akst (1894-1963), American songwriter. * Harry Andrews (1911-1989), British film actor. Contemporary: * Prince Henry "Harry" of Wales (b.1984), forth in line to the British throne. * Harry Styles (1994), member of boyband One Direction.  Literature and Other Media: * Harry Potter, the protagonist in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. * Harry Callahan, Clint Eastwood's character in The Dirty Harry series. * Harry Bailey, George Bailey's younger brother in the movie It's A Wonderful Life (1946).

Variants:

Harri (Welsh, Finnish), Hari (Indian), Harrie

Pronunciation:

HA-ree [key]

Possible longer forms:

Henry, Harrison, Harold, Horace, Haran, Harun, Hartley, Harriet, Henrietta, Harmony, Harmonia

Sibling Names:

Lily     Emily     Ruby     Ella     Phoebe     Annie  Jack    Charlie     Max     Toby     Freddie     George

Name Lists:

Diminutive Names   Lively Lads   Names from Tennyson   Names from Enid Blyton

 

If you like Harry you may also like:   Stanley, Archie, Ralph, Teddy, Harvey, Bobby, Alfie, Barney, Reggie, Jamie

 

Thanks to Scarlett for requesting this post.