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 genuinely 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 our data marks it 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
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
#67
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
#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 6874th 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 our data marks it reviving, ranking 1306th in England and Wales against 1938th 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 in our records, 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 1042nd 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

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.