Popular Names of 1889

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1889, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1889
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	11,648	125
2	Anna	5,062	107
3	Elizabeth	3,058	17
4	Margaret	2,917	112
5	Emma	2,884	3
6	Minnie	2,624	3,060
7	Florence	2,465	391
8	Ethel	2,463	4,211
9	Bessie	2,343	6,889
10	Clara	2,319	63
11	Bertha	2,293	4,569
12	Alice	2,145	65
13	Annie	2,123	182
14	Ida	2,122	1,120
15	Grace	2,049	38
16	Mabel	1,947	201
17	Helen	1,909	462
18	Edna	1,815	2,463
19	Nellie	1,752	533
20	Sarah	1,730	90

Table 2. Male names, 1889
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	John	8,548	23
2	William	7,772	9
3	James	5,020	6
4	George	4,430	126
5	Charles	4,199	48
6	Frank	2,975	514
7	Joseph	2,729	29
8	Harry	2,559	775
9	Robert	2,513	92
10	Edward	2,299	224
11	Henry	2,286	5
12	Thomas	2,233	34
13	Walter	1,916	252
14	Arthur	1,668	87
15	Fred	1,554	1,936
16	Albert	1,353	614
17	Clarence	984	1,500
18	Roy	888	525
19	Louis	837	249
20	Samuel	810	18

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As recorded on the Social Security card application. Names given to fewer than five babies of a sex in a year are not published, so the file is a floor.