A Scottish pronunciation of Harry.

The name Harris is an English derivative of the colloquial pronunciations of the name Henry (Herry and Harry). All the English kings we now call Henry were known in their time as King Harry. The first King Henry (or Harry) was the first Norman king to be born on English soil. This fact encouraged his popularity, and in turn made the name itself popular. Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries there were eight English kings so named-a number equalled only by the Edwards. Amongst these were three of England’s greatest kings: King Henry V who won the Battle of Agincourt and is now immortalised in Shakespeare’s play; King Henry VIII with his six wives and decisive ways with matrimonial disputes; and the less spectacular Henry VII whose long and prosperous reign laid the foundations for the glories of Henry VIII and then the Elizabethan age. Before Henry I there were just five Henrys listed as tenants in the Domesday Book, but after his reign the name quickly grew in popularity, becoming amongst the dozen most popular English first names.

The origins of the name Henry go back to Old German. Here the name Heimirick first appeared. This was a compound of the word ‘haimi’, meaning ‘house’ or ‘home’, and ‘ric’, meaning ‘ruler’. With the coming of the Romans, the name Haimiric became Latinised to Henricus. Post-Roman migration spread the name which evolved into Italian, French, Spanish, and so on. Thus there are now forms of the name Henry in almost all European languages. In German it is Heinrich, Heinz or Heine. It is Hendrik in Dutch, Henri in French, Enrico in Italian and Enrique in Spanish.

In England Harris’s spawned a further set of names. The best known of these are Harrison, Henderson and Hendry. The rarer name Harrissmith is not derived from Harris, but is almost certainly a corruption of Arrowsmith, a maker of arrowheads.

Of the many surnames derived from the original Henry (or Harry), Harris and Harrison are by far the most popular, both names appearing all over England and Wales. However, each has its prevalent areas. In the south of England, below a line drawn between Lincoln and Chester, you are more likely to come across the name Harris. It is most frequent in Gwent and South Wales as well as in the South Midlands, especially Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Oxford and Northampton. It is also fairly popular down in Devon and Cornwall. Inexplicably, it is less frequent in the eastern part of England.

Harrisons, on the other hand, are mostly found in the north, appearing most frequently in Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Recent evidence seems to suggest that the Harrisons are on the march south and large numbers have been noted in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, with concentrated outposts as far south as the English Channel coast. Indeed, if present trends continue in the war between Harris’s and Harrisons, the outcome is inevitable: Harrison domination throughout the land.

Harris was also a very popular name with the Jews who fled to England in the last decades of the nineteenth century to escape Russian and Polish pogroms. Their Eastern European names were often unpronounceable to the English and made their owners feel socially conspicuous. Consequently, they often adopted solid English names; many chose Harris.

A great many of these immigrants were in the garment trade, but the famous Scottish Harris tweed has nothing to do with either the Jewish Harris’s or the English ones. This tweed cloth is named after the Hebridean Island of Harris where the cloth is woven.

One of the earliest references to the name is to one John Herryson mentioned in a charter dating from 1376.

The Harrison Cup is one of the main events in the polo calendar and takes place at Cowdray Park each July.

There have been two Presidents of the United States called Harrison (the 9th and the 23rd), a distinction shared only by the Johnsons and the Roosevelts.

The Harris Movement takes its name from the founding prophet, William Wade Harris (1858—1929). It is the largest mass movement for conversion to Christianity in West Africa, while another major movement is also Harris-connected. Chicago lawyer Paul Harris (1868—1947) founded the worldwide Rotary Club in 1905.

The first true English encyclopaedia, the Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1704), was edited by John Harris (c. 1666— 1719).

Britain’s most successful arsonist, Leopold Harris (b.1894) caused the Great Arson Scandal of 1933 which revealed that insurance-company employees and members of the Fire Brigade had helped to defraud the insurers of hundreds of thousands of pounds annually for years.

The entertainment world abounds with stars with the surname: Kathleen Harrison (b.

1898), Julie Harris (b. 1925), Rosemary Harris (b. 1930), Phil Harris (b. 1906), Rex Harrison (b. 1908), Richard Harris (b. 1932) and Rolf Harris (b. 1930).

The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, flood was at the heart of America’s 1972 Hurricane Agnes disaster. In the town and the surrounding area 122 lives were lost, with over £2 billion in damage.

The United Kingdom has towns named Harris and Harrishead. There are also Harristowns in Canada and the US which has 2 out of a total of 23 Harris-related cities and towns. Mountains, lakes, rivers and islands around the world bear the name as does a forest in the United Kingdom.

With about 165,000 namesakes Harris is the 25th most popular surname in England and Wales while Harrison accounts for another 144,000-in combination making the name the 7th most popular in the area. (Neither name is common enough throughout Scotland to be counted separately.) Harris is notably popular in and around Cardiff where an estimated one in about 175 families bears the name while Harrison is most popular in Teesside (an estimated one in 245 families). Around the world Harris’s and Harrisons are most common in Wellington (one in 370 families), Auckland (one in 525) and Sydney (one in 712). In the United States the two names are tallied together and account for 729,000 people, a larger number than the total population of Leeds. In combination this makes it the country’s 11th most popular surname.