Harper

Harper is an English occupational surname turned given name, derived from the Old English word hearpere, meaning a player of the harp. The harp was a prestigious instrument in medieval culture, and those who played it professionally carried the title as a hereditary family name before it transitioned into use as a personal name. The name gained considerable popularity as a given name in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, particularly for girls, partly influenced by the novelist Harper Lee. Related forms include the Scottish and Irish Gaelic equivalent, Clàrsair.