Popular Names of 1890

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1890, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025. Grace peaked among human females this year, at 13th.

Table 1. Female names, 1890
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	12,078	125
2	Anna	5,233	107
3	Elizabeth	3,112	17
4	Margaret	3,100	112
5	Emma	2,980	3
6	Florence	2,744	391
7	Ethel	2,718	4,211
8	Minnie	2,650	3,060
9	Clara	2,496	63
10	Bertha	2,388	4,569
11	Bessie	2,370	6,889
12	Helen	2,312	462
13	Grace	2,278	38
14	Alice	2,271	65
15	Annie	2,220	182
16	Ida	2,178	1,120
17	Mabel	2,058	201
18	Edna	1,973	2,463
19	Lillian	1,862	57
20	Nellie	1,821	533

Table 2. Male names, 1890
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	John	8,502	23
2	William	7,494	9
3	James	5,097	6
4	George	4,458	126
5	Charles	4,061	48
6	Frank	3,078	514
7	Joseph	2,670	29
8	Robert	2,541	92
9	Henry	2,349	5
10	Harry	2,345	775
11	Edward	2,282	224
12	Thomas	2,200	34
13	Walter	1,905	252
14	Arthur	1,610	87
15	Fred	1,506	1,936
16	Albert	1,417	614
17	Clarence	1,018	1,500
18	Roy	941	525
19	Louis	860	249
20	Samuel	815	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.