Harriet - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 3 syll. har-riet, ha-rri-et ] The girl name Harriet is pronounced HHEHRiyahT ^KEY. Harriet is of Germanic origin and it is used mainly in English. The name is an Anglicized form of the French Henriette. It was first adopted by English speakers in the 17th century, and it was commonly used in the subsequent two centuries. It is also used as an Anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic Oighrig. In literature, it has appeared as the name of the sweet girl Harriet Smith in Jane Austen's novel Emma (1816). Harriet is the feminine form of the English Harry.

Harriet has 30 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of the name include Harri, Harrietta, Henia (used in Polish as well), Henrietta (used in German as well), Henriette (used in French, Dutch, German, and Scandinavian as well), Hetti, Hettie, and Hetty (used in German and Dutch as well). Other English forms include the pet forms Harrie, Harry, Hatsie, Hatsy, Hattie, and Hatty, and the spelling variants Hariet, Harriett, Harriette, Harriot, and Harriott.

Forms of Harriet used in foreign languages include the Scandinavian Arriet, the Romanian Enrieta, the Spanish Enriqueta, the Spanish Enriquita, the Polish Henka, the Polish Henrieta, the Latvian Henriete, the Czech Jindraska, the Spanish Kika, the Spanish Kiki, and the Spanish Queta.

Harriet is a form of the English and German Henrietta in the English language.

See also the related form, the Scottish Oighrig.

Harriet is unusual as a baby girl name. Its usage peaked modestly in 1917 with 0.196% of baby girls being named Harriet. It had a ranking of #104 then. The baby name has markedly slipped in popularity since then, and is used only on an infrequent scale today. Among all girl names in its family, Harriet was nevertheless the most regularly used in 2008.

Baby names that sound like Harriet include the English Harriot, the Indian Harita, the English Harriett, the English Harriette, the English Harriott, the English Hariet, the English Harrietta, the English and German Herta, and the English and German Hertha.

Details of famous persons named Harriet:
Actress Harriet Walter, born Harriet Mary Walter 24 September 1950, London, England.
Anti-slavery Activist Harriet Tubman, born Araminta Ross, Dorchester County, Maryland.
Author Harriet Beecher Stowe, born Harriet Elizabeth Beecher 14 June 1811 - 1 July 1896, Litchfield, Connecticut.
Author Harriet Martineau, born June 12, 1802 - June 27, 1876, Norwich, England.
Lawyer Harriet Miers, born 10 August 1945, Dallas, Texas.

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