babynamepicker

Boy Names of the 1890s

The 100 most common boy names given in the United States during the 1890s, by the number of children recorded with each name across those years.

All 100 names

  1. John 80,664
  2. William 72,244
  3. James 50,723
  4. George 43,358
  5. Charles 36,848
  6. Joseph 29,000
  7. Frank 28,718
  8. Robert 26,147
  9. Edward 22,033
  10. Henry 21,664
  11. Harry 21,330
  12. Thomas 21,115
  13. Walter 19,495
  14. Arthur 16,349
  15. Fred 14,270
  16. Albert 13,753
  17. Clarence 11,901
  18. Willie 9,849
  19. Roy 9,779
  20. Louis 8,442
  21. Earl 8,297
  22. Paul 8,181
  23. Carl 8,047
  24. Ernest 7,877
  25. Samuel 7,857
  26. Raymond 7,572
  27. Richard 7,572
  28. Joe 7,482
  29. David 7,333
  30. Charlie 7,261
  31. Harold 7,018
  32. Ralph 6,951
  33. Howard 5,949
  34. Andrew 5,719
  35. Herbert 5,660
  36. Elmer 5,647
  37. Oscar 5,612
  38. Jesse 5,396
  39. Alfred 5,373
  40. Will 5,210
  41. Daniel 5,185
  42. Sam 4,941
  43. Leo 4,691
  44. Jack 4,635
  45. Lawrence 4,597
  46. Francis 4,535
  47. Benjamin 4,460
  48. Lee 4,384
  49. Eugene 4,303
  50. Herman 4,232
  51. Peter 4,028
  52. Frederick 3,994
  53. Floyd 3,957
  54. Michael 3,926
  55. Ray 3,763
  56. Lewis 3,699
  57. Claude 3,636
  58. Clyde 3,625
  59. Edwin 3,505
  60. Tom 3,335
  61. Martin 3,254
  62. Leonard 3,166
  63. Ben 3,156
  64. Chester 3,021
  65. Edgar 2,982
  66. Jim 2,841
  67. Harvey 2,822
  68. Russell 2,780
  69. Lester 2,702
  70. Clifford 2,701
  71. Luther 2,668
  72. Homer 2,637
  73. Jacob 2,551
  74. Leroy 2,544
  75. Otto 2,543
  76. Guy 2,487
  77. Lloyd 2,480
  78. Anthony 2,453
  79. Jessie 2,424
  80. Hugh 2,405
  81. Ed 2,346
  82. Bernard 2,315
  83. Theodore 2,300
  84. Stanley 2,297
  85. Eddie 2,284
  86. Patrick 2,233
  87. Philip 2,147
  88. Leon 2,103
  89. Archie 2,068
  90. Leslie 2,063
  91. Oliver 2,035
  92. Allen 2,002
  93. Alexander 1,954
  94. Dewey 1,921
  95. Ira 1,916
  96. Everett 1,902
  97. Norman 1,891
  98. Horace 1,814
  99. Victor 1,811
  100. Cecil 1,808

How 1890s boy names compare

John was the most common boy name of the 1890s, given to 80,664 boys across those years, with William, James, George and Charles behind it. The hundredth name on the list, Cecil, accounts for 1,808. Between them the hundred names cover 872,954 births. John was number one in every one of those ten years.

89 of these names were also in the 1880s top 100, and eleven were not. 23 are still in the 2025 top 100 — John, William, James, Charles, Joseph, Robert, Henry and Thomas, among others — and 47 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 76.5% of all boys born in the 1890s — 872,954 of 1,140,947 — and John alone accounts for 7.1% of them. The hundred most common names of 2025 take 38.0% between them, so naming has spread wider since. Every one of the hundred was already in the record before the 1890s began.

Questions about 1890s boy names

What was the most popular boy name of the 1890s?

John, given to 80,664 boys across those years. The next two were William and James.

Are 1890s boy names still used today?

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