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

#49
Elsie Elsie is a girl's name that began as a Scottish short form of Elspeth, itself a Scottish form of Elizabeth.
16,456 in the 1890s
#50
Arthur Arthur is a boy's name of disputed origin.
16,431 in the 1890s
#51
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
15,259 in the 1890s
#52
Esther Esther is a girl's name usually connected to the Persian word for star, and possibly to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
14,796 in the 1890s
#53
Catherine Catherine is a girl's name of Greek origin whose meaning is unknown — the familiar reading of pure is a later reshaping, not the original sense.
14,523 in the 1890s
#54
Agnes Agnes is a girl's name from the Greek for pure, and the reason its saint is shown with a lamb is a Latin pun — agnus, lamb, sounds like the Greek hagnos but is a completely different word.
14,468 in the 1890s
#55
Fred Fred is a boy's name, the short form of Frederick meaning peaceful ruler.
14,395 in the 1890s
#56
Carrie Carrie is a girl's name, a pet form of Caroline meaning free man through Charles.
14,343 in the 1890s
#57
Jessie Jessie is a name that arrives from two unrelated directions — the Scottish pet form of Janet, and a feminine of the Hebrew Jesse.
14,294 in the 1890s
#58
Lillie Lillie is a girl's name from the flower, which has stood for purity in Christian art for so long that the association predates the name.
14,168 in the 1890s
#59
Albert Albert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble and bright."
13,850 in the 1890s
#60
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 it is reviving, ninety years after its 1920 peak.
13,839 in the 1890s
#61
Irene Irene is a girl's name from the Greek word for peace, and the name of the goddess who personified it.
13,672 in the 1890s
#62
Gladys Gladys is a girl's name from Welsh, usually taken as a form of Claudia — which would give it the meaning lame.
13,659 in the 1890s
#63
Julia Julia is a girl's name of Latin origin, the feminine of the Roman family name Julius.
13,482 in the 1890s
#64
Hattie Hattie is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
12,981 in the 1890s
#65
Cora Cora is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "maiden," from kore.
12,916 in the 1890s
#66
Mattie Mattie serves two entirely unrelated names — Martha, which is Aramaic for a lady, and Matilda, which is Germanic for might in battle.
12,511 in the 1890s
#67
Lena Lena is a girl's name used as a short form of Helena, Magdalena and Elena, so it usually carries the sense "light" or "torch."
12,511 in the 1890s
#68
Josephine Josephine is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the French feminine form of Joseph.
12,500 in the 1890s
#69
Clarence Clarence is a boy's name taken from an English dukedom, itself named for a Suffolk town.
11,949 in the 1890s
#70
Jennie Jennie began as a Scottish pet form of Jean and only later attached to Jennifer, which is a Cornish name with no connection to it.
11,915 in the 1890s
#71
Maude Maude belonged to the woman who nearly became England's first ruling queen — the Empress Matilda fought her cousin for the throne through nineteen years of civil war the chroniclers called the Anarchy.
11,354 in the 1890s
#72
Alma Alma is a girl's name with several competing origins: "nourishing" in Latin, "soul" in Spanish, and "young woman" in Hebrew.
11,295 in the 1890s
#73
Mae Mae is a girl's name in France, generally read as a form of Mae or as a feminine of the Breton Mahé.
10,948 in the 1890s
#74
Blanche Blanche means white, and its revival is entirely French — 252nd in France on 220 births against 6,874th in the United States.
10,888 in the 1890s
#75
Dorothy Dorothy is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God."
10,872 in the 1890s
#76
Ada Ada is a girl's name with two origins. In Germanic it is a short form of names beginning with adal, noble; in Hebrew, Adah means "adornment" and belongs to two women in Genesis.
10,422 in the 1890s
#77
Lucy Lucy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "light," from lux.
10,365 in the 1890s
#78
Lula Lula has no single parent — it shortens Louise, Lucille and Tallulah alike, and it is reviving, ranking 1,306th in England and Wales against 1,938th in the United States.
10,266 in the 1890s
#79
Mamie Mamie has no single parent — it shortens Mary, Margaret and Miriam alike, and Mary's own meaning has never been established, so the name inherits an unresolved question three ways.
10,112 in the 1890s
#80
Fannie Fannie means Frenchwoman, shortened from Frances, and it left English-speaking use for reasons of slang rather than fashion — the word acquired a sense the name could not survive.
9,919 in the 1890s
#81
Roy Roy is a boy's name with two independent sources — the Gaelic ruadh, meaning red-haired, and the French roi, meaning king.
9,859 in the 1890s
#82
Stella Stella is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "star."
9,833 in the 1890s
#83
Katherine Katherine is a girl's name whose meaning is not settled.
9,413 in the 1890s
#84
Viola Viola means violet, and it names the flower, the instrument and a Shakespeare heroine from the same Latin root.
9,398 in the 1890s
#85
Ruby Ruby is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the red gemstone, from ruber, meaning red.
8,819 in the 1890s
#86
Marion Marion is a French diminutive of Mary that has crossed sexes twice over — it is 81 percent female on record, yet its most famous bearer was John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison.
8,818 in the 1890s
#87
Dora Dora means gift, and it is the end of several names rather than a name in its own right — Theodora, Isidora and Dorothea all supply it, and Dorothy means the same thing with the halves reversed.
8,731 in the 1890s
#88
Maggie Maggie is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "pearl."
8,637 in the 1890s
#89
Louis Louis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior."
8,544 in the 1890s
#90
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.
8,389 in the 1890s
#91
Nora Nora is a girl's name that developed as a short form of longer names, chiefly Honora and Eleanor, and is now used independently.
8,336 in the 1890s
#92
Paul Paul is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," borne by the apostle whose letters shaped Christian doctrine.
8,238 in the 1890s
#93
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
8,138 in the 1890s
#94
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.
7,919 in the 1890s
#95
Rosa Rosa is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "rose."
7,904 in the 1890s
#96
Samuel Samuel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin usually translated as "God has heard," from Shemu'el.
7,873 in the 1890s

What Made a 1890s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1890 and 1899. 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.