Where the Harper name comes from

Harper began as an occupational surname for a player of the harp, inherited from the Middle English harper or harpere. Some Harper families trace their name instead to the Norman form le Harpur. A third root is the Gaelic Mac Chruiteir, meaning "son of the harper." German families named Härpfer, a word that also meant harper, sometimes took Harper as the English form of their name.

The surname later passed into use as a given name, first for men and in modern usage for women. As a female given name, Harper ranked tenth in the United States in 2021 and 34th in Canada in 2022.