1880s Baby Names

1,407 names were given to children in the United States between 1880 and 1889, ranked below by how many.

A name's place is its total across those ten years. Names that appear in only some of the decade say so, because a name recorded once is a different fact from one recorded every year.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#2
John John is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is gracious," from Yochanan.
90,394 in the 1880s
#3
William William is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protection," from wil, meaning will or desire, and helm, meaning helmet.
85,246 in the 1880s
#4
James James is a boy's name of Hebrew origin, an English form of Jacob by way of Late Latin Iacomus.
54,322 in the 1880s
#5
George George is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer" or "worker of the earth," from ge, earth, and ergon, work.
47,980 in the 1880s
#6
Charles Charles is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man," from karl.
46,879 in the 1880s
#8
Frank Frank is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frank."
31,135 in the 1880s
#9
Joseph Joseph is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," from Yosef.
26,404 in the 1880s
#12
Henry Henry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler," from heim, meaning home or estate, and ric, meaning ruler or power.
24,289 in the 1880s
#13
Robert Robert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," from hrod, fame, and beraht, bright.
24,193 in the 1880s
#14
Thomas Thomas is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," from te'oma.
23,841 in the 1880s
#15
Edward Edward is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "wealthy guardian."
23,202 in the 1880s
#16
Harry Harry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
22,747 in the 1880s
#21
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
18,255 in the 1880s
#26
Arthur Arthur is a boy's name of disputed origin.
16,246 in the 1880s
#27
Fred Fred is a boy's name, the short form of Frederick meaning peaceful ruler.
15,706 in the 1880s
#32
Albert Albert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble and bright."
14,429 in the 1880s
#58
Willie Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more mixed names on record — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
9,303 in the 1880s
#59
Samuel Samuel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin usually translated as "God has heard," from Shemu'el.
9,129 in the 1880s
#62
Clarence Clarence is a boy's name taken from an English dukedom, itself named for a Suffolk town.
8,777 in the 1880s
#66
Louis Louis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior."
8,338 in the 1880s
#68
David David is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved," from Dawid.
7,589 in the 1880s
#73
Joe Joe is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," a short form of Joseph that has become the English word for an ordinary person.
7,235 in the 1880s
#76
Richard Richard is a boy's name from Germanic roots meaning strong or brave ruler.
7,038 in the 1880s
#79
Ernest Ernest is a boy's name from a Germanic word meaning serious or resolute, and it is far stronger in Europe than in America — 252nd in England and Wales and 276th in France against 1,042nd in the United States.
6,727 in the 1880s
#81
Roy Roy is a boy's name with two independent sources — the Gaelic ruadh, meaning red-haired, and the French roi, meaning king.
6,597 in the 1880s
#84
Will Will means will-helmet, and the compound is stranger than it looks — the Germanic joins desire to a piece of armor, so the name reads as protection by determination.
6,246 in the 1880s
#87
Jesse Jesse is a name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is debated.
6,095 in the 1880s
#89
Andrew Andrew is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "manly" or "brave," from andreios, from aner, a man.
6,063 in the 1880s
#90
Oscar Oscar is a boy's name with two competing origins: the Irish os, deer, plus cara, friend, giving "deer lover," or the Old Norse Ásgeirr, meaning "god's spear."
5,992 in the 1880s
#93
Daniel Daniel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge," from Daniyyel.
5,679 in the 1880s
#96
Benjamin Benjamin is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son of the right hand," from Binyamin.
5,407 in the 1880s
#100
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
5,261 in the 1880s
#101
Sam Sam is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has heard," a short form of Samuel.
5,080 in the 1880s
#105
Earl Earl is a boy's name taken from the English noble title, and it is the only rank in the British peerage with a native English name rather than a French one.
4,843 in the 1880s
#107
Alfred Alfred is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "elf counsel."
4,837 in the 1880s
#110
Peter Peter is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "rock."
4,662 in the 1880s
#111
Elmer Elmer means noble and famous, and its American popularity is traceable to two brothers — the Ebenezer and Jonathan Elmer who signed early revolutionary documents, after whom patriotic families went on to name sons.
4,642 in the 1880s
#112
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
4,603 in the 1880s
#113
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
4,439 in the 1880s
#114
Howard Howard is a boy's name whose origin is contested — high guardian, brave heart and even a keeper of pigs have all been proposed.
4,362 in the 1880s
#115
Lewis Lewis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the English form of Louis.
4,341 in the 1880s
#116
Ralph Ralph is a boy's name of Norse origin meaning "wolf counsel."
4,285 in the 1880s
#117
Herbert Herbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright army.
4,257 in the 1880s
#119
Paul Paul is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," borne by the apostle whose letters shaped Christian doctrine.
4,213 in the 1880s
#129
Tom Tom is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," a short form of Thomas used as a full name across Europe.
3,798 in the 1880s
#132
Herman Herman means army man, and the German national hero Hermann is a Latin scribe's version of a Cheruscan name we cannot now recover — Arminius, the chief who destroyed three Roman legions in AD 9.
3,689 in the 1880s
#134
Martin Martin is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "of Mars," borne by Saint Martin of Tours, whose cloak gave Europe the word chapel.
3,600 in the 1880s
#135
Claude Claude is a name from a Roman family name meaning lame, one of very few widely used names with an unflattering literal sense.
3,575 in the 1880s

What Made a 1880s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1880 and 1889. A name's position here is how many of them were.

Why Some Names Only Cover Part of the Decade

A name that appears in three of the ten years either arrived partway through or faded out — and either is more interesting than the total on its own. The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.

Where to Go Next

Open any name to see its full curve — most of these have a hundred and forty years of it. Or compare the ends of the same measurement: the most popular names now and the rarest.