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

#97
Joe Joe is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," a short form of Joseph that has become the English word for an ordinary person.
7,682 in the 1890s
#98
Richard Richard is a boy's name from Germanic roots meaning strong or brave ruler.
7,616 in the 1890s
#99
Raymond Raymond is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning counsel and protection.
7,589 in the 1890s
#100
Beatrice Beatrice is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "she who brings happiness."
7,516 in the 1890s
#101
Ellen Ellen is a girl's name of Greek origin, a medieval English form of Helen whose meaning has never been settled.
7,457 in the 1890s
#102
Charlie Charlie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "free man."
7,445 in the 1890s
#103
Sadie Sadie is a girl's name that began as a pet form of Sarah, the Hebrew name meaning "princess" or "noblewoman."
7,403 in the 1890s
#104
David David is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved," from Dawid.
7,361 in the 1890s
#105
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.
7,052 in the 1890s
#106
Effie Effie is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "well-spoken."
7,000 in the 1890s
#107
Ralph Ralph is a boy's name of Norse origin meaning "wolf counsel."
6,984 in the 1890s
#108
May May has three separate sources that English cannot tell apart — the month, the hawthorn blossom that opens in it, and a short form of Mary and Margaret.
6,922 in the 1890s
#109
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.
6,797 in the 1890s
#110
Pauline Pauline is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
6,652 in the 1890s
#111
Susie Susie means lily, shortened from Susan, and the Hebrew word was borrowed from Egyptian — where it may have named a lotus rather than a lily, which changes the flower entirely.
6,548 in the 1890s
#112
Nettie Nettie is a suffix that became a name — it is the tail end of Antoinette, Jeanette and Annette, cut loose and used on its own, so it began as the part of a name that carried no meaning at all.
6,543 in the 1890s
#113
Della Della has no single parent — it shortens Adela, Delia and Adelaide alike, and our data marks it reviving, at 563rd in the United States and 1010th in Scotland.
6,420 in the 1890s
#114
Vera Vera is a girl's name with two origins that both work. In Russian it means "faith"; in Latin vera means "true" — and unusually for such a pair, the two senses reinforce rather than contradict each other.
6,383 in the 1890s
#115
Marguerite Marguerite is a girl's name meaning pearl, and it is also the French word for the daisy — so the name carries a flower and a gemstone at once.
6,376 in the 1890s
#116
Daisy Daisy is a girl's name of English origin naming the flower, and its meaning is unusually literal: daisy comes from the Old English dægesege, "day's eye," because the flower opens its petals at dawn and closes them at dusk.
6,266 in the 1890s
#117
Howard Howard is a boy's name whose origin is genuinely contested — high guardian, brave heart and even a keeper of pigs have all been proposed.
5,973 in the 1890s
#118
Lydia Lydia is a girl's name meaning "woman from Lydia," an ancient kingdom in what is now western Turkey.
5,942 in the 1890s
#119
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.
5,875 in the 1890s
#120
Elmer Elmer means noble and famous, and its American popularity is traceable to two brothers — the Ebenezer and Jonathan Elmer who signed early revolutionary documents, after whom patriotic families went on to name sons.
5,741 in the 1890s
#121
Olive Olive is a girl's name of Latin origin taken from the tree, whose name comes from oliva.
5,731 in the 1890s
#122
Andrew Andrew is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "manly" or "brave," from andreios, from aner, a man.
5,729 in the 1890s
#123
Herbert Herbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright army.
5,670 in the 1890s
#124
Kathryn Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
5,660 in the 1890s
#125
Evelyn Evelyn is a girl's name of English and French origin meaning "desired" or "wished for".
5,648 in the 1890s
#126
Oscar Oscar is a boy's name with two competing origins: the Irish os, deer, plus cara, friend, giving "deer lover," or the Old Norse Ásgeirr, meaning "god's spear."
5,629 in the 1890s
#127
Francis Francis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "Frenchman" or "free man."
5,625 in the 1890s
#128
Sallie Sallie means princess, and it reached English through a sound swap — Sarah became Sally the way Mary became Molly, with the r softening to an l in ordinary speech.
5,591 in the 1890s
#129
Lizzie Lizzie means my God is an oath, and the oath is the point — Elisheva names a covenant rather than a feeling, which is why the name belonged to the wife of a priest in Exodus.
5,562 in the 1890s
#130
Jesse Jesse is a name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is debated.
5,522 in the 1890s
#131
Lottie Lottie is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man."
5,504 in the 1890s
#132
Emily Emily is a girl's name of Latin origin, from the Roman family name Aemilius.
5,481 in the 1890s
#133
Georgia Georgia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer" or "worker of the earth," the feminine of George, from ge, earth, and ergon, work.
5,476 in the 1890s
#134
Flora Flora is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "flower," the Roman goddess whose festival was among the least decorous in the calendar.
5,442 in the 1890s
#135
Alfred Alfred is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "elf counsel."
5,386 in the 1890s
#136
Nancy Nancy is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace."
5,346 in the 1890s
#137
Will Will means will-helmet, and the compound is stranger than it looks — the Germanic joins desire to a piece of armor, so the name reads as protection by determination.
5,243 in the 1890s
#138
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
5,200 in the 1890s
#139
Ollie Ollie is a name of Norse origin meaning "ancestor's descendant."
5,190 in the 1890s
#140
Daniel Daniel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge," from Daniyyel.
5,185 in the 1890s
#141
Katie Katie is a girl's name of Greek origin, a diminutive of Katherine whose meaning has never been settled.
5,183 in the 1890s
#142
Lucille Lucille is a girl's name from the Latin for light, given to children born at daybreak.
5,105 in the 1890s
#143
Leona Leona means lioness, and our data marks it reviving across six markets — the United States 429th, France 556th, Scotland 631st, Ireland 705th and England and Wales 716th, all within 290 places.
5,083 in the 1890s
#144
Sam Sam is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has heard," a short form of Samuel.
4,973 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.