Baby names of the 1880s
The most given names of the 1880s were Mary and John. The names most over-represented in those years are Maude, Minnie, Ida for girls and Harry, Fred, Frank for boys, each given at least 5.9 times as often then as across 1880-2025.
Babies given each name per year; 1880-1889 shaded.
Births 1880-1889: SSA national file, published May 8, 2026; the living figure uses SSA’s cohort life tables. SSA’s notes on the data.
The most given names
| # | Name | Births |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mary | 91,668 |
| 2 | Anna | 38,159 |
| 3 | Emma | 25,404 |
| 4 | Elizabeth | 25,006 |
| 5 | Margaret | 21,799 |
| 6 | Minnie | 21,724 |
| 7 | Ida | 18,283 |
| 8 | Bertha | 18,263 |
| 9 | Clara | 17,717 |
| 10 | Alice | 17,142 |
| 11 | Annie | 17,027 |
| 12 | Florence | 16,699 |
| 13 | Bessie | 15,373 |
| 14 | Grace | 15,227 |
| 15 | Ethel | 14,866 |
| 16 | Sarah | 14,715 |
| 17 | Ella | 13,936 |
| 18 | Martha | 13,911 |
| 19 | Nellie | 13,761 |
| 20 | Mabel | 13,096 |
| 21 | Laura | 12,806 |
| 22 | Carrie | 12,514 |
| 23 | Cora | 11,954 |
| 24 | Helen | 11,496 |
| 25 | Maude | 11,454 |
| # | Name | Births |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John | 89,949 |
| 2 | William | 84,881 |
| 3 | James | 54,055 |
| 4 | George | 47,651 |
| 5 | Charles | 46,656 |
| 6 | Frank | 30,967 |
| 7 | Joseph | 26,292 |
| 8 | Henry | 24,139 |
| 9 | Robert | 24,074 |
| 10 | Thomas | 23,750 |
| 11 | Edward | 23,133 |
| 12 | Harry | 22,649 |
| 13 | Walter | 18,185 |
| 14 | Arthur | 16,180 |
| 15 | Fred | 15,602 |
| 16 | Albert | 14,375 |
| 17 | Samuel | 9,129 |
| 18 | Clarence | 8,760 |
| 19 | Louis | 8,275 |
| 20 | David | 7,569 |
| 21 | Joe | 7,098 |
| 22 | Charlie | 7,091 |
| 23 | Richard | 7,010 |
| 24 | Ernest | 6,700 |
| 25 | Roy | 6,565 |
Most given: births summed over 1880-1889, per sex.
Which names define the 1880s?
A name’s share of births in these years divided by its share across the whole record, for names given to at least 10,000 babies in the span and to one sex at least 90% of the time.
Typical: share in the span over share in 1880-2025.