1900s Baby Names

1,819 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

#175
Anthony Anthony is a boy's name from the Roman family name Antonius, whose meaning is unknown — it is probably Etruscan rather than Latin.
5,048 in the 1900s
#176
Leonard Leonard is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "lion-strong," and its saint is the patron of prisoners and of women in labor.
5,040 in the 1900s
#182
Cecil Cecil means blind, from a Roman family name, and the saint who made it famous is patron of music on the strength of one ambiguous line in her own account of her wedding day.
4,792 in the 1900s
#184
Jesse Jesse is a name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is debated.
4,699 in the 1900s
#186
Donald Donald is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall, meaning world ruler.
4,632 in the 1900s
#187
Ray Ray is a boy's name that serves as a short form of Raymond and as the English word for a beam of light.
4,630 in the 1900s
#191
Kenneth Kenneth is a boy's name anglicizing two separate Gaelic names, one meaning born of fire and one meaning handsome.
4,591 in the 1900s
#192
Russell Russell is a boy's name from a Norman nickname meaning little red, given to someone red-haired or ruddy.
4,588 in the 1900s
#196
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."
4,535 in the 1900s
#199
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
4,495 in the 1900s
#201
Lester Lester means from Leicester, and the spelling is the honest one — Leicester has been pronounced LES-ter for centuries, so the surname simply wrote down what people had been saying to each other all along.
4,465 in the 1900s
#202
Peter Peter is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "rock."
4,381 in the 1900s
#203
Leroy Leroy is a boy's name that is simply the French for the king, taken as one word.
4,305 in the 1900s
#207
Clifford Clifford is a boy's name from an English place name meaning a ford by a cliff — a river crossing below a steep bank.
4,210 in the 1900s
#208
Stanley Stanley is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "stony clearing."
4,185 in the 1900s
#211
Lewis Lewis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the English form of Louis.
4,060 in the 1900s
#214
Benjamin Benjamin is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son of the right hand," from Binyamin.
4,009 in the 1900s
#218
Edwin Edwin is a boy's name from Old English meaning rich friend, borne by a Northumbrian king whose fortress may have given Edinburgh its name.
3,977 in the 1900s
#222
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
3,905 in the 1900s
#226
Chester Chester is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "fortress" or "walled camp."
3,830 in the 1900s
#227
Claude Claude is a name from a Roman family name meaning lame, one of very few widely used names with an unflattering literal sense.
3,763 in the 1900s
#233
Lloyd Lloyd is a boy's name from the Welsh word for gray, and the double L is a genuine Welsh consonant that English has no letter for.
3,528 in the 1900s
#239
Martin Martin is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "of Mars," borne by Saint Martin of Tours, whose cloak gave Europe the word chapel.
3,363 in the 1900s
#241
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.
3,316 in the 1900s
#242
Tom Tom is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," a short form of Thomas used as a full name across Europe.
3,312 in the 1900s
#243
Bernard Bernard is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning brave as a bear.
3,301 in the 1900s
#245
Norman Norman means a Northman — a Viking.
3,199 in the 1900s
#247
Edgar Edgar is a boy's name meaning wealthy spear, and it is one of very few Old English names still in wide use.
3,154 in the 1900s
#248
Harvey Harvey is a boy's name of Breton origin meaning "battle worthy."
3,104 in the 1900s
#251
Ben Ben is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son," used both as a short form of Benjamin and as a name in its own right.
3,034 in the 1900s
#253
Leon Leon is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "lion."
2,942 in the 1900s
#257
Homer Homer means hostage, which makes it the third pledge name in this group alongside Gage and Giselle — and the ancient tradition that the poet was blind may have been read backward out of a dialect word rather than recorded from life.
2,921 in the 1900s
#262
Melvin Melvin is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, and the gentle chieftain reading usually given for it is an invention — the source is a Norman family who took their name from Malleville in France.
2,873 in the 1900s
#263
Luther Luther means army of the people, and its weight comes from a surname rather than a saint — Martin Luther's family name became a given name across the Protestant world, and then across Black America.
2,871 in the 1900s
#267
Philip Philip is a boy's name from Greek elements meaning lover of horses.
2,823 in the 1900s
#271
Jim Jim is a boy's name meaning supplanter, shortened from James — which is the same name as Jacob, split into two by Latin.
2,751 in the 1900s
#274
Milton Milton means the mill settlement, and there is a second and quite separate source meaning the middle settlement — two entirely different Old English place names that ended up producing exactly the same modern spelling.
2,700 in the 1900s
#280
Everett Everett is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "brave as a wild boar," from eber, boar, and hard, brave or hardy.
2,597 in the 1900s
#281
Allen Allen is a boy's name whose meaning is unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from an unidentified Breton source.
2,590 in the 1900s
#288
Alvin Alvin means elf-friend, from an Old English name that treats elves as beings whose favor was worth having.
2,489 in the 1900s
#290
Victor Victor is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conqueror."
2,452 in the 1900s
#296
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
2,349 in the 1900s
#297
Jimmie Jimmie means supplanter, shortened from James, and about 17 percent of recorded births are female — a much higher share than most nickname-names of this shape, which usually resolve firmly to one side or the other.
2,348 in the 1900s
#303
Virgil Virgil is misspelled and always has been — the poet's name was Vergilius, and medieval scribes changed the e to an i by association with virgo, which is how a Roman family name acquired a meaning it never had.
2,263 in the 1900s
#305
Stephen Stephen is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, borne by the first Christian martyr.
2,247 in the 1900s
#307
Alexander Alexander is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," from alexein, to defend, and aner, man.
2,235 in the 1900s
#308
Glenn Glenn is a boy's name from the Gaelic word for a narrow valley, and like Craig and Dale it is a plain landscape noun.
2,234 in the 1900s
#312
Jacob Jacob is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter" or "holder of the heel," from Ya'aqov.
2,191 in the 1900s

What Made a 1900s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1900 and 1909. 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.