Harold (given name)
Harold is a personal name derived from the Old English name Hereweald, derived from the Germanic elements here "army" and weald "power, brightness".
The Old Norse cognate, Haraldr, was also common among settlers in the Danelaw. Diminutives of Harold are Harry, Hank and. The Old High German form is Heriwald or Heriold, from hari "army" and wald- "power, brightness". The Germanic name is recorded very early, as the name of Cariovalda, a king of the Batavi in Tacitus, and later, as Arioald, as the name of a king of the Lombards, and in the 10th century as the name of Harald Bluetooth, as runic haraltr in the Jelling stone inscription.
Medieval
- Hagrold, also known as Harold, Scandinavian chieftain in Normandy
- Harold Harefoot, or Harold I, King of England from 1035 to 1040
- Harold Godwinson, or Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England and Earl of Wessex
- Harold of Gloucester, supposed child martyr and saint, allegedly murdered by Jews
- Harald Fairhair, the first King of Norway
- Arioald, king of the Lombards
Modern name
- Harold Abrahams, British Olympic champion sprinter and subject of Chariots of Fire
- Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First World War and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor General of Canada, the 17th since Canadian Confederation
- Harold Arroyo, Puerto Rican boxer
- Harold Bailey , American football player
- Harold Walter Bailey, British linguist
- Harold Baker , British photographer
- Harold Baker , British politician, Financial Secretary to the War Office 1912–1915
- H. A. Baker, American author and Pentecostal missionary
- Harold Baker , English cricketer
- Shorty Baker, American jazz musician
- Harold A. Baker, federal judge on United States District Courts in Illinois
- George Harold Baker, lawyer, political figure, and soldier from Quebec, Canada
- Harold Brooks-Baker, American-British financier, journalist, and publisher, and self-proclaimed expert on genealogy
- Harold Bekkering, Dutch cognitive psychologist
- Harold Bloom, American literary critic
- Harold Craxton, British composer and pianist
- Harold Camping, President of Family Radio
- Hal Daub, American politician
- Harold Demsetz, American economist
- Harold Diamond, American art dealer
- Harold Ely, American football player
- Harold Faltermeyer, German musician
- Harold H. Fisher,, American church architect
- Harold Ford, Jr., U.S. Congressman, candidate for U.S. Senate
- Harold Frost, American orthopedist and surgeon
- Harold Goldsmith, American fencer
- Harold Hart, American football player
- Hal Holbrook, American actor
- Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister
- Harold Holt, South African-English impresario
- Harold Houser, American admiral and 35th Governor of American Samoa
- Harold A. Jerry, Jr., New York politician
- Harold Keller, American Marine and Iwo Jima flag raiser
- Harold La Borde, Trinidadian circumnavigator
- Harold Landry, American football player
- Hal Lindsey, American evangelist and Christian writer
- Harold Lloyd, American film actor
- Harold C. Luther, New York politician
- Harold MacMichael, British Colonial administrator
- Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of Great Britain
- Harold McCartney, English rugby player
- Harold James Nicholson, former Central Intelligence Agency officer and a twice-convicted spy for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service
- Harold Nicolson, British diplomat, author, diarist, and politician
- Harold Norse, American poet
- Harold I. Panken, New York state senator
- Harold Perrineau, American actor
- Harold Pinter, British playwright
- Harold Prince, American theatrical producer and director
- Harold Ramis, American film actor, director, writer and producer.
- Harold S. Roise, American Marine officer, double Navy Cross recipient
- Harold G. Schrier, American Marine officer and Iwo Jima flag raiser
- Harold Schultz, American Marine and Iwo Jima flag raiser
- Harold Solomon, American tennis player
- Hal Steinbrenner, principal owner, managing general partner and co-chairman of the New York Yankees baseball franchise
- Harold Syrett, American executive editor of The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, and president of Brooklyn College
- J. E. Harold Terry, English novelist, playwright, actor and critic
- Harold Tucker, Lord Mayor of Manchester, England, from 1984–1985
- Harold I. Tyler, New York assemblyman
- Harold R. Tyler, Jr., federal judge in New York
- Harold Urey, American physical chemist
- Hal B. Wallis, American film producer
- Harold Walker, several people
- Harold Washington, first African-American mayor of Chicago
- Harold Weed, digital artist
- Harold E. Weeks, American politician
- Harold Wellman, New Zealand geologist
- Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister
- Harold G. Wren, American dean of three law schools
- Harold "Butch" Wynegar, baseball player
- Harold Zent, member of the Washington House of Representatives
Fictional characters
- Childe Harold, from the Byron poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
- Harold Allnut, from the Batman comic series
- Harold Bishop, from the Australian soap Neighbours
- Harold Chasen, from the film Harold and Maude
- Harold Finch, a main character from the television series Person of Interest
- Harold Green, Red Green's nephew on The Red Green Show
- Harold the Helicopter, from The Railway Series by W.V. Awdry and the television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
- Harold Lauder, from Stephen King's The Stand
- Harold and the Purple Crayon from the children's books by Crockett Johnson
- Harold Lee, from Harold & Kumar
- Harold Hutchins, a main character in Captain Underpants
- Harold McBride, a supporting character from the animated series The Loud House
- Harold, from the Teletoon animated series Total Drama
- Harold, from the Cartoon Network animated series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
- Harold Berman, from the Nickelodeon animated series Hey Arnold!
- Harold Buttowski, from the Disney XD animated series
- Harold Foster, a multibillionaire Australian newspaper company chairman from Anthony Horowitz's Power of Five series
- Harold Saxon, an alias of The Master in Doctor Who
- Harold "Hal" Jordan, a fictional DC Comics superhero known as Green Lantern
- Harold, from All Dogs Go to Heaven
- Hide the Pain Harold, a fictional identity in meme images based on photos of Hungarian engineer András Arató
- King Harold of Far Far Away, from the movies Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third