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

#136
Jacob Jacob is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter" or "holder of the heel," from Ya'aqov.
3,566 in the 1880s
#137
Michael Michael is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "who is like God?" — a rhetorical question expecting the answer that no one is.
3,558 in the 1880s
#140
Jim Jim is a boy's name meaning supplanter, shortened from James — which is the same name as Jacob, split into two by Latin.
3,525 in the 1880s
#144
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
3,461 in the 1880s
#145
Ben Ben is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son," used both as a short form of Benjamin and as a name in its own right.
3,456 in the 1880s
#151
Clyde Clyde took nothing from Bonnie and Clyde.
3,267 in the 1880s
#154
Grover
3,197 in the 1880s
#157
Raymond Raymond is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning counsel and protection.
3,135 in the 1880s
#158
Harvey Harvey is a boy's name of Breton origin meaning "battle worthy."
3,123 in the 1880s
#160
Edgar Edgar is a boy's name meaning wealthy spear, and it is one of very few Old English names still in wide use.
3,011 in the 1880s
#161
Edwin Edwin is a boy's name from Old English meaning rich friend, borne by a Northumbrian king whose fortress may have given Edinburgh its name.
3,011 in the 1880s
#163
Ed
2,957 in the 1880s
#167
Lawrence Lawrence is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, an ancient Italian town linked to the laurel.
2,919 in the 1880s
#171
Bert
2,834 in the 1880s
#172
Chester Chester is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "fortress" or "walled camp."
2,699 in the 1880s
#173
Jack Jack is a boy's name of English origin that began as a pet form of John, by way of the medieval nickname Jankin.
2,689 in the 1880s
#174
Otto Otto is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "wealth" or "fortune."
2,679 in the 1880s
#177
Luther Luther means army of the people, and its weight comes from a surname rather than a saint — Martin Luther's family name became a given name across the Protestant world, and then across Black America.
2,619 in the 1880s
#179
Ray Ray is a boy's name that serves as a short form of Raymond and as the English word for a beam of light.
2,564 in the 1880s
#183
Floyd Floyd is the same name as Lloyd, and the F is a mistake that stuck — English had no way to say the Welsh double L, so it substituted the closest sound it had, and the substitution became a separate name.
2,509 in the 1880s
#185
Guy Guy is a boy's name from a Germanic word probably meaning wood or wide, and one of very few names to have become an ordinary English noun — through Guy Fawkes, whose effigies gave the word its modern sense.
2,489 in the 1880s
#188
Hugh Hugh is a boy's name from a Germanic word for mind or spirit, brought to Britain by the Normans.
2,355 in the 1880s
#190
Isaac Isaac is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he laughs," from Yitzhak.
2,311 in the 1880s
#191
Oliver Oliver is a boy's name that entered England with the Normans and has a disputed origin.
2,287 in the 1880s
#192
Patrick Patrick is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "nobleman."
2,285 in the 1880s
#193
Homer Homer means hostage, which makes it the third pledge name in this group alongside Gage and Giselle — and the ancient tradition that the poet was blind may have been read backward out of a dialect word rather than recorded from life.
2,213 in the 1880s
#194
Theodore Theodore is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God," formed from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
2,176 in the 1880s
#196
Leo Leo is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "lion."
2,159 in the 1880s
#198
Leonard Leonard is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "lion-strong," and its saint is the patron of prisoners and of women in labor.
2,144 in the 1880s
#208
Alexander Alexander is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," from alexein, to defend, and aner, man.
2,081 in the 1880s
#210
August August is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "venerable" or "majestic," from augustus.
2,012 in the 1880s
#211
Harold Harold is a boy's name from Norse and Old English elements meaning army ruler, and it belongs to the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, killed at Hastings in 1066.
2,001 in the 1880s
#212
Allen Allen is a boy's name whose meaning is unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from an unidentified Breton source.
1,998 in the 1880s
#220
Archie Archie is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "genuine and bold."
1,827 in the 1880s
#223
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
1,746 in the 1880s
#224
Philip Philip is a boy's name from Greek elements meaning lover of horses.
1,741 in the 1880s
#226
Stephen Stephen is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, borne by the first Christian martyr.
1,684 in the 1880s
#227
Horace Horace has no reliable meaning — the Roman family name Horatius resists derivation, and France ranks it 2,765th against the United States at 6,218th, so the poet's name is now used more readily in French than in English.
1,650 in the 1880s
#229
Clifford Clifford is a boy's name from an English place name meaning a ford by a cliff — a river crossing below a steep bank.
1,630 in the 1880s
#231
Bernard Bernard is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning brave as a bear.
1,616 in the 1880s
#232
Anthony Anthony is a boy's name from the Roman family name Antonius, whose meaning is unknown — it is probably Etruscan rather than Latin.
1,611 in the 1880s
#233
Julius Julius means downy-bearded, and the family claimed descent from Venus — the Julii traced themselves to Iulus, son of Aeneas, which is the genealogy Virgil wrote the Aeneid to dignify.
1,610 in the 1880s
#235
Warren Warren is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and it is the second-strongest revival on record — it peaked in 1921 and now ranks 240th in the United States on 1,493 births, a century later.
1,580 in the 1880s
#236
Leroy Leroy is a boy's name that is simply the French for the king, taken as one word.
1,574 in the 1880s
#246
Milton Milton means the mill settlement, and there is a second and quite separate source meaning the middle settlement — two entirely different Old English place names that ended up producing exactly the same modern spelling.
1,479 in the 1880s
#247
Leon Leon is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "lion."
1,475 in the 1880s
#249
Lester Lester means from Leicester, and the spelling is the honest one — Leicester has been pronounced LES-ter for centuries, so the surname simply wrote down what people had been saying to each other all along.
1,451 in the 1880s
#250
Alex Alex is a name of Greek origin meaning "defender of mankind."
1,451 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.