1890s Baby Names

4,411 names were given to children in the United States between 1890 and 1899, 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

#1
Mary Mary is a girl's name of Hebrew origin whose meaning has never been settled.
131,632 in the 1890s
#2
John John is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is gracious," from Yochanan.
81,191 in the 1890s
#3
William William is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protection," from wil, meaning will or desire, and helm, meaning helmet.
72,618 in the 1890s
#4
Anna Anna is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor," the Greek and Latin form of Hannah.
55,461 in the 1890s
#5
James James is a boy's name of Hebrew origin, an English form of Jacob by way of Late Latin Iacomus.
51,005 in the 1890s
#6
George George is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer" or "worker of the earth," from ge, earth, and ergon, work.
43,703 in the 1890s
#7
Margaret Margaret is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "pearl," from margarites.
38,060 in the 1890s
#8
Helen Helen is a girl's name from Greek whose meaning is not settled, though torch and shining are the usual readings.
37,917 in the 1890s
#9
Charles Charles is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man," from karl.
37,084 in the 1890s
#10
Elizabeth Elizabeth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," from Elisheva, the name of Aaron's wife in the Book of Exodus.
33,995 in the 1890s
#11
Ruth Ruth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin usually given as "companion" or "friend," though the derivation is not secure.
32,974 in the 1890s
#12
Florence Florence is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "blossoming" or "flourishing."
32,504 in the 1890s
#13
Ethel Ethel is a girl's name from an Old English word meaning noble, and it is not a name in its own right in that language — it is the first half of longer names like Ethelred, cut off and used alone.
31,593 in the 1890s
#14
Joseph Joseph is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," from Yosef.
29,187 in the 1890s
#15
Frank Frank is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frank."
28,939 in the 1890s
#16
Emma Emma is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "whole" or "universal," from the element ermen, found in older names such as Ermintrude.
28,763 in the 1890s
#17
Robert Robert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," from hrod, fame, and beraht, bright.
26,319 in the 1890s
#18
Marie Marie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the French form of Mary, and the largest name in our entire dataset with more than 2.8 million births on record.
25,941 in the 1890s
#19
Clara Clara is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "bright" or "clear," from clarus.
25,545 in the 1890s
#20
Bertha Bertha is a girl's name from a Germanic word meaning bright, and it was Charlemagne's mother's name.
25,224 in the 1890s
#21
Minnie Minnie Mouse did not make Minnie popular.
24,732 in the 1890s
#22
Alice Alice is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble," arrived at by a long contraction of Adelaide.
24,515 in the 1890s
#23
Bessie Bessie is a girl's name meaning God is my oath, a pet form of Elizabeth.
24,491 in the 1890s
#24
Lillian Lillian is a girl's name usually explained as an elaboration of Lily, from the Latin lilium, and sometimes as a variant of Elizabeth by way of the medieval pet form Lilian.
24,210 in the 1890s
#25
Edna Edna is a girl's name from a Hebrew word meaning delight, and it shares its root with Eden.
24,144 in the 1890s
#26
Grace Grace is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "favor" or "blessing," from gratia.
23,909 in the 1890s
#27
Annie Annie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor."
23,211 in the 1890s
#28
Edward Edward is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "wealthy guardian."
22,134 in the 1890s
#29
Mabel Mabel is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "lovable."
22,046 in the 1890s
#30
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.
21,851 in the 1890s
#31
Harry Harry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
21,431 in the 1890s
#32
Ida Ida is a girl's name from a Germanic word for work or labor, and it charts in all seven markets we track.
21,289 in the 1890s
#33
Thomas Thomas is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," from te'oma.
21,238 in the 1890s
#34
Rose Rose is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the flower, from rosa.
21,228 in the 1890s
#35
Hazel Hazel is a girl's name of English origin naming the hazel tree, from the Old English hæsel.
20,273 in the 1890s
#36
Gertrude Gertrude is a girl's name from Germanic elements meaning spear-strength, and its saint is patron of cats — a modern attribution that no medieval source supports.
19,980 in the 1890s
#37
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
19,613 in the 1890s
#38
Pearl Pearl is a girl's name taken from the gem, and it charts in all seven markets we track.
19,483 in the 1890s
#39
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
19,474 in the 1890s
#40
Frances Frances is a girl's name meaning a Frank, or a free one, and the feminine of Francis.
18,245 in the 1890s
#41
Myrtle Myrtle means the evergreen shrub, and it was the plant of Aphrodite — carried by Greek and Roman brides long before the Victorians made it a name.
17,786 in the 1890s
#42
Edith Edith is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "prosperous in war."
17,713 in the 1890s
#43
Nellie Nellie is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "shining light."
17,372 in the 1890s
#44
Sarah Sarah is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "princess" or "noblewoman."
17,219 in the 1890s
#45
Ella Ella is a girl's name with two distinct origins. The Norman French line derives from the Germanic element ali, meaning other or foreign, while a Hebrew line gives Ella as a word for a terebinth tree.
17,118 in the 1890s
#46
Willie Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more genuinely mixed names in our records — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
16,958 in the 1890s
#47
Eva Eva is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "life" or "living."
16,514 in the 1890s
#48
Laura Laura is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "laurel," the tree whose leaves crowned Roman victors and poets.
16,486 in the 1890s

What made a 1890s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1890 and 1899, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1890s 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.