babynamepicker

Boy Names of the 1880s

The 100 most common boy names given in the United States during the 1880s, by the number of children recorded with each name across those years.

All 100 names

  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
  26. Will 6,196
  27. Andrew 6,053
  28. Jesse 6,003
  29. Oscar 5,982
  30. Willie 5,906
  31. Daniel 5,679
  32. Benjamin 5,407
  33. Carl 5,227
  34. Sam 5,069
  35. Alfred 4,837
  36. Earl 4,830
  37. Peter 4,656
  38. Elmer 4,627
  39. Frederick 4,603
  40. Howard 4,349
  41. Lewis 4,341
  42. Ralph 4,269
  43. Herbert 4,257
  44. Paul 4,196
  45. Lee 3,945
  46. Tom 3,786
  47. Herman 3,689
  48. Martin 3,595
  49. Jacob 3,566
  50. Michael 3,558
  51. Jim 3,520
  52. Claude 3,504
  53. Ben 3,449
  54. Eugene 3,430
  55. Francis 3,244
  56. Grover 3,184
  57. Raymond 3,135
  58. Harvey 3,123
  59. Clyde 3,034
  60. Edwin 3,011
  61. Edgar 3,006
  62. Ed 2,957
  63. Lawrence 2,919
  64. Bert 2,808
  65. Chester 2,699
  66. Jack 2,684
  67. Otto 2,679
  68. Luther 2,619
  69. Charley 2,550
  70. Guy 2,489
  71. Floyd 2,476
  72. Ira 2,379
  73. Ray 2,371
  74. Hugh 2,355
  75. Isaac 2,311
  76. Oliver 2,287
  77. Patrick 2,285
  78. Homer 2,213
  79. Theodore 2,176
  80. Leonard 2,144
  81. Leo 2,098
  82. Alexander 2,081
  83. August 2,012
  84. Harold 2,001
  85. Allen 1,998
  86. Jessie 1,843
  87. Archie 1,816
  88. Philip 1,741
  89. Stephen 1,684
  90. Horace 1,650
  91. Marion 1,624
  92. Bernard 1,616
  93. Anthony 1,611
  94. Julius 1,605
  95. Warren 1,580
  96. Leroy 1,574
  97. Clifford 1,552
  98. Eddie 1,526
  99. Sidney 1,505
  100. Milton 1,479

How 1880s boy names compare

John was the most common boy name of the 1880s, given to 89,949 boys across those years, with William, James, George and Charles behind it. The hundredth name on the list, Milton, accounts for 1,479. Between them the hundred names cover 866,998 births. John was number one in every one of those ten years.

24 are still in the 2025 top 100 — John, William, James, Charles, Joseph, Henry, Robert and Thomas, among others — and 48 are inside the top 500. One name was not recorded at all in 2025, which in this file means fewer than five children were given it.

Those hundred names cover 79.1% of all boys born in the 1880s — 866,998 of 1,095,401 — and John alone accounts for 8.2% of them. The hundred most common names of 2025 take 38.0% between them, so naming has spread wider since. The file itself starts in 1880, so there is nothing before this decade to measure it against.

Questions about 1880s boy names

What was the most popular boy name of the 1880s?

John, given to 89,949 boys across those years. The next two were William and James.

Are 1880s boy names still used today?

24 of the hundred are in the 2025 top 100: John, William, James, Charles, Joseph, Henry, Robert and Thomas, among others.