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

#97
Eleanor Eleanor is a girl's name that traces back to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the twelfth-century queen of France and later England, whose own name, Aliénor, is widely explained as "the other Aenor," distinguishing her from her mother, also named Aenor.
10,044 in the 1900s
#98
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.
10,033 in the 1900s
#99
Ann Ann is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning grace or favor, and the spelling without the final e.
9,959 in the 1900s
#100
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
9,951 in the 1900s
#101
Leona Leona means lioness, and it is reviving across six markets — the United States 429th, France 556th, Scotland 631st, Ireland 705th and England and Wales 716th, all within 290 places.
9,879 in the 1900s
#102
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.
9,733 in the 1900s
#103
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.
9,544 in the 1900s
#104
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.
9,387 in the 1900s
#105
Ralph Ralph is a boy's name of Norse origin meaning "wolf counsel."
9,331 in the 1900s
#106
Rosa Rosa is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "rose."
9,318 in the 1900s
#107
Jack Jack is a boy's name of English origin that began as a pet form of John, by way of the medieval nickname Jankin.
9,269 in the 1900s
#108
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.
9,129 in the 1900s
#109
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.
8,715 in the 1900s
#110
David David is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved," from Dawid.
8,661 in the 1900s
#111
Francis Francis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "Frenchman" or "free man."
8,450 in the 1900s
#112
Ellen Ellen is a girl's name of Greek origin, a medieval English form of Helen whose meaning has never been settled.
8,344 in the 1900s
#113
Kathryn Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's unknown meaning.
8,333 in the 1900s
#114
Doris Doris is a girl's name from Greek mythology, where she is a sea nymph and the mother of the fifty Nereids.
8,319 in the 1900s
#115
Maggie Maggie is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "pearl."
8,310 in the 1900s
#116
Charlie Charlie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "free man."
8,275 in the 1900s
#117
Samuel Samuel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin usually translated as "God has heard," from Shemu'el.
8,173 in the 1900s
#118
Howard Howard is a boy's name whose origin is contested — high guardian, brave heart and even a keeper of pigs have all been proposed.
8,061 in the 1900s
#119
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.
8,046 in the 1900s
#120
Betty Betty is a girl's name that began as a short form of Elizabeth and is now used in its own right.
7,951 in the 1900s
#121
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.
7,918 in the 1900s
#122
Violet Violet is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "purple," taken from viola, the Latin word for the purple flower.
7,849 in the 1900s
#123
Lois Lois is a girl's name that appears once in the New Testament, in a letter naming Timothy's grandmother, and its meaning has never been established.
7,805 in the 1900s
#124
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.
7,711 in the 1900s
#125
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
7,631 in the 1900s
#126
Sadie Sadie is a girl's name that began as a pet form of Sarah, the Hebrew name meaning "princess" or "noblewoman."
7,471 in the 1900s
#127
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.
7,338 in the 1900s
#128
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.
7,236 in the 1900s
#129
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.
7,174 in the 1900s
#130
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.
7,154 in the 1900s
#131
Marjorie Marjorie is a girl's name meaning pearl, an English form of Margaret whose modern spelling was pulled toward the herb marjoram by nothing more than a coincidence of sound.
7,033 in the 1900s
#132
Herbert Herbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright army.
6,975 in the 1900s
#133
Lawrence Lawrence is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, an ancient Italian town linked to the laurel.
6,895 in the 1900s
#134
Opal Opal means the gem, and it is the only major stone whose name may come from Sanskrit — upala, a precious stone, reaching Greek and Latin through the trade routes rather than from a European root.
6,856 in the 1900s
#135
Hilda Hilda means battle, and it is the surviving fragment of longer Germanic names — Hildegard, Brunhild and Matilda all contain it, and the element outlived most of the compounds it belonged to.
6,790 in the 1900s
#136
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.
6,674 in the 1900s
#137
Velma Velma is an invented name with no root at all — it appears in nineteenth-century America built on the pattern of Selma and Thelma, and the Germanic derivations offered for it were attached afterwards.
6,589 in the 1900s
#138
Theodore Theodore is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God," formed from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
6,519 in the 1900s
#139
Emily Emily is a girl's name of Latin origin, from the Roman family name Aemilius.
6,423 in the 1900s
#140
Theresa Theresa is a girl's name of uncertain meaning, the German and English spelling of Teresa.
6,406 in the 1900s
#141
Alfred Alfred is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "elf counsel."
6,380 in the 1900s
#142
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.
6,309 in the 1900s
#143
Andrew Andrew is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "manly" or "brave," from andreios, from aner, a man.
6,277 in the 1900s
#144
Sam Sam is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has heard," a short form of Samuel.
6,226 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.