Harrington

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Harrington, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Kit
• Christopher
• Doll
• Girl
• Kat

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Harrington is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Harringtön

• German surname2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Germany, United States, Austria, United Kingdom

  Also written Harrinǵton

52 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Harrington is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from Harrington (Cumbria, Lancashire, Northants); first attested William de Harinton’ 1202 AssL

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic 6 hOireachtaigh ‘descendant of Oireachtach', a byname meaning ‘member of the assembly’ or ‘frequenting assemblies’. FOREBEARSIHarington is the name of a family derived from the place in Cumbria. The earliest recorded bearer of the name was Robert de Heverington, living in the reign of Richard I (1189-99).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, adopted as an Anglicized form of Gaelic 6 hArrachtain ‘descendant of Arrachtdn', a personal name from a diminutive of arrac/ztac/i ‘mighty’, ‘powerful’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, adopted as an Anglicized form of Gaelic 6 hlongardail, later 6 hUrdail, ‘descendant of longardaV.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, A habitational surname from Old English from several places of that name in England.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Michael Harringtonb. 1928USAmerican socialist writer (1928–1989)
• Jay Harringtonb. 1971USAmerican actor (born 1971)
• Desmond Harringtonb. 1976USAmerican actor (born 1976)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

42 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 24 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Harrington mean, and where does it come from?

(i) also Harington: ‘person from Harrington’, a place-name in Cumbria, Lincolnshire or Northamptonshire; (ii) from Irish Gaelic O hArrachtdin, meaning ‘little powerful one’. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

Which countries have the most people with the surname Harrington?

In the United States, the national register counted about 67 thousand people named Harrington, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled harrington. After it come United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Ireland; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Harrington?

In the United States, the national register counted 66,959 people named Harrington in 2010, about 1 in 5.0 thousand residents.

How common is Harrington compared with other names?

In the United States, Harrington is the 434th most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.