1880s Baby Names

3,546 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

#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
#146
Harriet Harriet is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
3,369 in the 1880s
#147
Emily Emily is a girl's name of Latin origin, from the Roman family name Aemilius.
3,368 in the 1880s
#148
Charlotte Charlotte is a girl's name of French origin meaning "free man," the feminine form of Charles, itself from the Germanic name Karl.
3,311 in the 1880s
#149
Amanda Amanda is a girl's name from the Latin for she who must be loved, and one of the few names on this site that can be dated to a specific literary invention — Colley Cibber used it for a character in his 1696 play Love's Last Shift.
3,280 in the 1880s
#150
Kathryn Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
3,276 in the 1880s
#151
Clyde Clyde took nothing from Bonnie and Clyde.
3,267 in the 1880s
#152
Lulu
3,253 in the 1880s
#153
Susan Susan is a girl's name from a Hebrew word for lily, taken in turn from an Egyptian word for lotus.
3,231 in the 1880s
#154
Grover
3,197 in the 1880s
#155
Kate Kate is a girl's name of Greek origin, a short form of Katherine whose meaning has never actually been established.
3,194 in the 1880s
#156
Nannie
3,165 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
#159
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
#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
Ora Ora has three unrelated sources — the Latin imperative meaning pray, the Hebrew for light, and an Albanian word for hour — and our data marks it reviving across three markets.
3,011 in the 1880s
#162
Jane Jane is a girl's name from the Hebrew for God is gracious, the English feminine of John.
2,971 in the 1880s
#163
Amelia Amelia is a girl's name most often explained as a blend of two older names: the Germanic Amalia, meaning "work" or "industrious," and the Latin Emilia, from the Roman family name Aemilius.
2,957 in the 1880s
#164
Ed
2,957 in the 1880s
#165
Virginia Virginia is a girl's name from a Roman family name, and the American state was named before the name became common in America — both honoring Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.
2,948 in the 1880s
#166
Mildred Mildred is a girl's name from Old English elements meaning gentle strength, and it is among the least fashionable names of the twentieth century — yet our data marks it reviving, ninety years after its 1920 peak.
2,924 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
#168
Beulah Beulah means married, and it is a place before it is a person — Isaiah calls the restored land Beulah, and Bunyan turned it into the country just short of heaven in Pilgrim's Progress.
2,866 in the 1880s
#169
Eliza Eliza is a girl's name that began as a short form of Elizabeth, and so means "God is my oath," from the Hebrew Elisheva.
2,857 in the 1880s
#170
Rebecca Rebecca is a girl's name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is unsettled, and the standard gloss involves a rope for tying cattle.
2,849 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
#175
Belle
2,648 in the 1880s
#176
Ruby Ruby is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the red gemstone, from ruber, meaning red.
2,645 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
#178
Pauline Pauline is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
2,594 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
#180
Ira Ira means watchful, and it is 12 percent female in our records despite being a man's name in the Hebrew Bible — one of David's priests carries it in Samuel.
2,551 in the 1880s
#181
Charley Charley means free man, and it is one of the few genuinely mixed names on this site — 39 percent of the births in our records are female, and our data marks it rising.
2,550 in the 1880s
#182
Matilda Matilda is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "mighty in battle."
2,538 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
#184
Theresa Theresa is a girl's name of uncertain meaning, the German and English spelling of Teresa.
2,505 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
#186
Hannah Hannah is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor," from Channah.
2,480 in the 1880s
#187
Henrietta Henrietta named a American state — Maryland was chartered for Henrietta Maria, queen to Charles I, so a French princess's middle name sits on the map of the United States.
2,480 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
#189
Estella Estella means star, and Dickens chose the name deliberately — Great Expectations gives it to a girl raised to be beautiful and unreachable, which is what a star is.
2,326 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 genuinely 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

What made a 1880s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1880 and 1889, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1880s names" you will find elsewhere is somebody's sense of the period; this one is the register.

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.