Harlene

Where Harlene comes from

Harlene hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1915
    First appearance
    #2,900 among girls, 9 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1937
    Peak, #752
    81 babies named Harlene — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1941
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,355.
  4. 1942
    Harlene Anderson born
    American psychologist
  5. 1961
    Harlene Hayne born
    New Zealand academic
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Harlene Anderson · American psychologist, born 1942
  • Harlene Hayne · New Zealand academic, born 1961
  • Harlene Bautista · Filipino actress

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.