1900s Baby Names

5,549 names were given to children in the United States between 1900 and 1909, 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.
162,187 in the 1900s
#2
John John is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is gracious," from Yochanan.
85,070 in the 1900s
#3
Helen Helen is a girl's name from Greek whose meaning is not settled, though torch and shining are the usual readings.
69,675 in the 1900s
#4
William William is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protection," from wil, meaning will or desire, and helm, meaning helmet.
69,646 in the 1900s
#5
James James is a boy's name of Hebrew origin, an English form of Jacob by way of Late Latin Iacomus.
62,527 in the 1900s
#6
Margaret Margaret is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "pearl," from margarites.
58,137 in the 1900s
#7
Anna Anna is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor," the Greek and Latin form of Hannah.
55,099 in the 1900s
#8
Ruth Ruth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin usually given as "companion" or "friend," though the derivation is not secure.
51,177 in the 1900s
#9
George George is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer" or "worker of the earth," from ge, earth, and ergon, work.
43,924 in the 1900s
#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.
41,843 in the 1900s
#11
Dorothy Dorothy is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God."
39,248 in the 1900s
#12
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.
37,227 in the 1900s
#13
Charles Charles is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man," from karl.
36,428 in the 1900s
#14
Florence Florence is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "blossoming" or "flourishing."
36,368 in the 1900s
#15
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.
36,325 in the 1900s
#16
Robert Robert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," from hrod, fame, and beraht, bright.
36,046 in the 1900s
#17
Alice Alice is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble," arrived at by a long contraction of Adelaide.
35,355 in the 1900s
#18
Joseph Joseph is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," from Yosef.
35,346 in the 1900s
#19
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.
35,049 in the 1900s
#20
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.
32,646 in the 1900s
#21
Gladys Gladys is a girl's name from Welsh, usually taken as a form of Claudia — which would give it the meaning lame.
30,417 in the 1900s
#22
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.
30,103 in the 1900s
#23
Edna Edna is a girl's name from a Hebrew word meaning delight, and it shares its root with Eden.
29,957 in the 1900s
#24
Frank Frank is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frank."
29,240 in the 1900s
#25
Frances Frances is a girl's name meaning a Frank, or a free one, and the feminine of Francis.
28,721 in the 1900s
#26
Rose Rose is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the flower, from rosa.
28,263 in the 1900s
#27
Annie Annie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor."
27,894 in the 1900s
#28
Grace Grace is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "favor" or "blessing," from gratia.
27,030 in the 1900s
#29
Edward Edward is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "wealthy guardian."
24,601 in the 1900s
#30
Bertha Bertha is a girl's name from a Germanic word meaning bright, and it was Charlemagne's mother's name.
24,363 in the 1900s
#31
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.
24,268 in the 1900s
#32
Bessie Bessie is a girl's name meaning God is my oath, a pet form of Elizabeth.
24,077 in the 1900s
#33
Clara Clara is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "bright" or "clear," from clarus.
24,013 in the 1900s
#34
Hazel Hazel is a girl's name of English origin naming the hazel tree, from the Old English hæsel.
23,991 in the 1900s
#35
Irene Irene is a girl's name from the Greek word for peace, and the name of the goddess who personified it.
23,752 in the 1900s
#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.
23,683 in the 1900s
#37
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
22,970 in the 1900s
#38
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.
22,056 in the 1900s
#39
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.
21,970 in the 1900s
#40
Thomas Thomas is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," from te'oma.
21,929 in the 1900s
#41
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
21,816 in the 1900s
#42
Mabel Mabel is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "lovable."
21,728 in the 1900s
#43
Pearl Pearl is a girl's name taken from the gem, and it charts in all seven markets we track.
21,270 in the 1900s
#44
Edith Edith is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "prosperous in war."
20,945 in the 1900s
#45
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
20,126 in the 1900s
#46
Esther Esther is a girl's name usually connected to the Persian word for star, and possibly to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
20,097 in the 1900s
#47
Minnie Minnie Mouse did not make Minnie popular.
19,806 in the 1900s
#48
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.
19,755 in the 1900s

What made a 1900s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1900 and 1909, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1900s 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.