Harry

Meaning

Harry is traditionally a familiar English form of Henry. In the excerpted 19th-century naming books, it is explicitly described as derived from Henry, and Harriet is noted as a female name formed from Harry. The underlying Germanic sense of Henry is often given as “home ruler” or “ruler of the household.”

Origin

Fun fact

The same surname-and-given-name family also produced Harriet in these older naming books, showing how often nicknames became names of their own.