Most Popular Baby Names Of The 1880s
The top 100 girls’ and boys’ names across 1880–1889. Explore their meanings, histories, and popularity today.
| Save name | Name & meaning | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elf + counsel | 293#840 | Up 59 rank positions in five years | 1928 | ||
Traditionally pure; Kate familiar form, with deeper origin disputed | 447#646 | Down 166 rank positions in five years | 1986 | ||
Light | 6,176#25 | Up 25 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Clearing, meadow; also a familiar form of Leo or Leroy | 366#727 | Up 42 rank positions in five years | 1951 | ||
Army + bright | 49#2,656 | Down 353 rank positions in five years | 1928 | ||
Possibly deer friend or god spear | 1,620#223 | Down 9 rank positions in five years | 2006 | ||
Wealth and guard through Edward; wealth and protection through Edmund | 280#861 | Down 131 rank positions in five years | 1947 | ||
Bright | 30#4,568 | Up 91 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Star in Latin; also pillar through Styliani | 4,136#52 | Down 10 rank positions in five years | 2018 | ||
Counsel and protection, through Raymond; also beam of light | 319#792 | Down 67 rank positions in five years | 1957 | ||
The king | 269#888 | Up 35 rank positions in five years | 1924 | ||
Brave bear | 137#1,362 | Down 112 rank positions in five years | 1924 | ||
Honor or Arabic light; also a short form of Eleanor | 6,380#20 | Up 10 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
My God is an oath, through Elizabeth | 2,236#123 | Up 110 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Ford by a cliff | 139#1,352 | Down 8 rank positions in five years | 1925 | ||
Possibly work in Germanic; Sanskrit refreshment and sacred speech | 209#1,120 | Up 59 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
From Lydia | 2,692#92 | Up 3 rank positions in five years | 2014 | ||
Animal enclosure; also a Norman place name | 1,471#240 | Up 103 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Man; possibly army, through Charles | 2,460#145 | Up 59 rank positions in five years | 1919 | ||
Rose | 441#653 | Down 22 rank positions in five years | 1925 | ||
Spear of strength | 17#6,631 | Down 2,340 rank positions in five years | 1917 | ||
My God is an oath, through Elizabeth | 16#6,887 | Up 83 rank positions in five years | 1916 | ||
God is gracious (Jean); possibly to behold (Jessica), gift or existence (Jesse) | 330#824 | Down 105 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Farmer or worker of the earth, through George | 2,619#99 | Up 78 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Probably nourishing; soul; young woman in Hebrew | 689#449 | Up 111 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Pure or chaste | 246#1,016 | Up 231 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Will and protection, through Wilhelmina | 54#3,060 | Down 597 rank positions in five years | 1916 | ||
Pearl, the gemstone | 350#777 | Steady | 1918 | ||
Lily; also an Elizabeth familiar form | 420#676 | Up 44 rank positions in five years | 1919 | ||
Daisy flower; older word means day eye | 3,206#75 | Up 68 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Wealth or fortune + spear | 617#486 | Down 95 rank positions in five years | 2005 | ||
Maiden; little heart when shortened from Cordula | 2,428#113 | Down 25 rank positions in five years | 2019 | ||
Famous in battle, through Louis | 736#433 | Up 64 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Grey, through Lloyd | 63#2,237 | Down 206 rank positions in five years | 1926 | ||
Traditionally supplanter or heel-holder, through James | 38#3,158 | Down 207 rank positions in five years | 1959 | ||
Possibly torch or moon, through Helen; also an Eleanor familiar form | 567#533 | Up 309 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Lady; princess; noblewoman, through Sarah | 4,168#50 | Up 28 rank positions in five years | 2014 | ||
Possibly torch or moon through Helena; from Magdala through Magdalena | 1,106#279 | Down 8 rank positions in five years | 1917 | ||
Will or desire + helmet or protection, through William | 9#10,866 | new | 1919 | ||
From the River Clyde; possibly the cleansing one | 350#743 | Down 28 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Lovable | 1,522#201 | Up 227 rank positions in five years | 1915 | ||
Twin through Thomas; innocence, simplicity, or the end in Hebrew | 65#2,206 | Up 139 rank positions in five years | 1959 | ||
The myrtle shrub | 8#11,607 | new | 1918 | ||
Army man | 58#2,368 | Up 6 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Strength in battle (Matilda); lady (Martha); gift of Yahweh (Matthew) | 249#1,005 | Up 40 rank positions in five years | 1920 | ||
Violet | 247#1,015 | Up 104 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Noble and famous | 165#1,223 | Up 87 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Iron or battle, with eager or fiery | 1,381#251 | Up 165 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Samuel, Samson, or Samantha short form; fire in Persian | 428#647 | Up 8 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Jane familiar form (Yahweh is gracious) or Jennifer familiar form (white phantom) | 79#2,309 | Up 491 rank positions in five years | 1917 |
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Year by year in the 1880s
This list includes the top 100 girls’ and boys’ names by total use across 1880–1889. Table birth counts and ranks show 2025, and rank movement covers the latest five years. Search, filters, and sorting stay within this decade’s name list.
Counts are based on U.S. births and are tracked separately for girls and boys. Names used fewer than 5 times in a year aren’t published for that year, so totals here are a floor — the shortfall is largest in the sparse early years.