Popular Names of 1898

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1898, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1898
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	14,406	125
2	Anna	5,773	107
3	Helen	5,230	462
4	Margaret	4,696	112
5	Ruth	4,249	173
6	Florence	3,790	391
7	Elizabeth	3,659	17
8	Ethel	3,531	4,211
9	Marie	3,435	618
10	Lillian	3,061	57
11	Alice	2,846	65
12	Edna	2,813	2,463
13	Emma	2,788	3
14	Clara	2,731	63
15	Grace	2,726	38
16	Bessie	2,647	6,889
17	Bertha	2,642	4,569
18	Annie	2,470	182
19	Hazel	2,439	21
20	Rose	2,436	114

Table 2. Male names, 1898
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	John	8,159	23
2	William	7,400	9
3	James	5,321	6
4	George	4,853	126
5	Charles	3,557	48
6	Joseph	3,171	29
7	Robert	2,932	92
8	Frank	2,925	514
9	Edward	2,337	224
10	Thomas	2,161	34
11	Henry	2,145	5
12	Harry	2,129	775
13	Walter	2,002	252
14	Arthur	1,619	87
15	Fred	1,447	1,936
16	Albert	1,417	614
17	Clarence	1,326	1,500
18	Willie	1,134	1,322
19	Dewey	1,115	3,870
20	Roy	1,049	525

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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.