--- title: Baby Name Harper: Why It's So Popular description: Harper is the hottest new baby name this year, cracking the Top 10 list for the first time ever. Here's why it's seen a recent surge canonical: https://time.com/4320867/harper-baby-name/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-06T15:14:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:41.222Z og:title: Why Harper Is the New Hot Baby Name og:description: It's only gotten popular in the last few years og:url: https://time.com/4320867/harper-baby-name/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Harper Is the New Hot Baby Name twitter:description: It's only gotten popular in the last few years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Harper Is the New Hot Baby Name  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 6, 2016 3:14 PM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 6, 2016 3:14 PM UTC Harper is the [hot new baby name this year](http://time.com/4320773/popular-baby-names-2015), cracking the Top 10 list for girls for the first time ever. The list of most popular baby names, released by the Social Security Administration Friday, catalogues the top names for any given year. While names like Emma, Olivia and Emily have been staples in the last few years, this year Harper came in at No. 10. Which is strange, since practically nobody was naming their baby girls Harper before 2000\. The name has experienced a massive spike in popularity over the last few years. One possible explanation could be the recent resurgence of author Harper Lee as a figure of cultural fascination: the controversy surrounding her second novel, [_Go Set a Watchman,_](http://time.com/4234210/harper-lee-childhood/) in 2015 and her [subsequent death](http://time.com/4230580/harper-lee-to-kill-mockingbird-dies-89/) in 2016 have kept her name in the news. [Harper Beckham,](http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/g26095/harper-beckham-best-style/) the 4-year old daughter of David Beckham and Victoria Beckham, might also have sparked the trend. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4320867/harper-baby-name/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4320867/harper-baby-name/"},"headline":"Harper Is the New Hot Baby Name","datePublished":"2016-05-06T15:14:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:41.222Z","description":"The name has seen a dramatic rise over the last few years","url":"https://time.com/4320867/harper-baby-name/","keywords":["Living","baby names"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4320867/harper-baby-name/","name":"Harper Is the New Hot Baby Name"}}]}] ```