Name.Baby Names by year 1880s 1888 Most Popular Baby Names of 1888 Social Security has card records for 319,351 people born in the U.S. in 1888. Mary was the top girl name (11,754 babies) and John the top boy name (9,247).
Top 100 names of 1888 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1888, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 11,754 #125 2 Anna 4,982 #107 3 Elizabeth 3,224 #17 4 Emma 3,087 #3 5 Margaret 2,904 #112 6 Minnie 2,654 #3,028 7 Bertha 2,450 #4,546 8 Florence 2,444 #391 9 Ethel 2,374 #4,172 10 Bessie 2,278 #6,838 11 Clara 2,230 #63 12 Ida 2,229 #1,120 13 Alice 2,202 #65 14 Annie 2,188 #182 15 Grace 2,090 #38 16 Helen 1,847 #461 17 Mabel 1,830 #201 18 Ella 1,774 #29 19 Martha 1,769 #712 20 Sarah 1,755 #90 21 Nellie 1,736 #533 22 Edna 1,687 #2,458 23 Lillian 1,656 #57 24 Carrie 1,647 #2,719 25 Laura 1,624 #379 26 Pearl 1,591 #776 27 Rose 1,590 #114 28 Gertrude 1,468 #6,546 29 Edith 1,453 #499 30 Frances 1,452 #318 31 Cora 1,433 #113 32 Maude 1,396 #3,342 33 Louise 1,334 #514 34 Eva 1,329 #134 35 Myrtle 1,310 #10,917 36 Hattie 1,298 #334 36 Jennie 1,298 #2,298 38 Julia 1,292 #131 39 Mattie 1,268 #1,004 40 Marie 1,258 #617 41 Lillie 1,249 #675 42 Catherine 1,212 #313 43 Jessie 1,200 #823 44 Lula 1,173 #1,927 45 Lena 1,162 #279 46 Ada 1,116 #219 47 Elsie 1,112 #123 48 Agnes 1,046 #1,016 49 Josephine 1,001 #53 50 Fannie 991 #3,342
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1888, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Lucy 964 #24 52 Blanche 942 #6,838 53 Mamie 917 #6,116 54 Dora 898 #2,387 54 Hazel 898 #21 56 Katherine 893 #186 57 Maggie 882 #294 58 Alma 853 #449 59 Ruth 850 #173 60 Mae 836 #500 61 Nora 832 #20 61 Rosa 832 #652 63 May 782 #1,229 64 Stella 775 #52 65 Effie 744 #2,239 66 Irene 722 #651 67 Nettie 692 #5,554 68 Ellen 691 #1,062 68 Sadie 691 #50 70 Sallie 633 #4,265 71 Della 621 #563 71 Susie 621 #1,911 73 Daisy 612 #75 74 Viola 596 #1,013 75 Lizzie 593 #2,139 76 Nancy 582 #965 77 Esther 572 #119 78 Flora 541 #607 79 Willie 522 #10,107 80 Katie 516 #646 81 Lottie 511 #527 82 Etta 500 #928 83 Mildred 499 #1,962 84 Georgia 477 #99 85 Lydia 472 #92 86 Maud 469 – 87 Olive 465 #197 88 Charlotte 464 #2 89 Caroline 458 #96 90 Emily 457 #34 91 Addie 455 #1,272 92 Jane 446 #221 92 Kathryn 446 #729 94 Ruby 445 #64 95 Beulah 426 #5,917 96 Ollie 411 #2,276 97 Amanda 404 #493 98 Pauline 393 #2,957 99 Harriet 389 #1,071 100 Virginia 385 #525
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1888, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 John 9,247 #23 2 William 8,705 #9 3 James 5,562 #6 4 George 4,912 #126 5 Charles 4,591 #48 6 Frank 3,459 #513 7 Joseph 2,993 #29 8 Robert 2,814 #92 9 Harry 2,759 #775 10 Henry 2,596 #5 11 Edward 2,470 #224 12 Thomas 2,449 #34 13 Walter 2,040 #251 14 Arthur 1,710 #87 15 Fred 1,665 #1,932 16 Albert 1,569 #614 17 Clarence 1,022 #1,499 18 Samuel 931 #18 19 Louis 884 #249 20 Roy 856 #525 21 David 801 #35 22 Charlie 796 #145 23 Joe 789 #991 24 Willie 786 #1,315 25 Benjamin 781 #11 26 Richard 772 #234 27 Ernest 766 #1,038 28 Will 707 #1,193 29 Carl 675 #1,132 29 Earl 675 #2,230 31 Oscar 647 #223 32 Jesse 637 #184 33 Andrew 615 #73 34 Sam 607 #647 35 Daniel 566 #22 36 Ralph 547 #1,046 37 Alfred 536 #840 38 Paul 529 #262 39 Elmer 527 #1,222 40 Howard 513 #1,002 41 Peter 498 #187 42 Frederick 496 #435 43 Herbert 485 #2,641 44 Grover 474 #4,249 45 Raymond 469 #394 46 Michael 466 #21 47 Ben 463 #843 48 Lee 430 #725 49 Tom 416 #2,183 50 Lewis 412 #433
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1888, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Herman 403 #2,363 52 Harrison 400 #116 53 Eugene 398 #943 54 Martin 378 #335 55 Claude 374 #3,036 56 Jim 362 #3,128 57 Francis 353 #420 57 Jacob 353 #43 57 Leo 353 #19 60 Clyde 344 #742 61 Lawrence 343 #518 62 Harvey 334 #251 63 Ray 331 #791 64 Jack 329 #15 65 Edgar 321 #486 66 Otto 312 #277 67 Floyd 302 #2,230 68 Ed 301 – 69 Edwin 298 #398 69 Harold 298 #991 71 Guy 297 #1,634 72 Chester 288 #1,585 73 Bert 282 #10,695 74 Luther 275 #1,459 75 Allen 260 #578 76 Homer 256 #4,707 77 Charley 254 #1,826 77 Jessie 254 #1,425 79 Hugh 253 #732 80 Theodore 249 #4 81 Patrick 245 #235 82 Alexander 237 #30 83 Leonard 225 #637 84 Ira 222 #819 85 Isaac 221 #47 86 August 213 #81 87 Bernard 207 #1,362 88 Oliver 206 #3 89 Julius 197 #424 90 Leon 196 #138 90 Philip 196 #527 92 Clifford 194 #1,352 93 Anthony 193 #46 93 Eddie 193 #860 95 Leroy 192 #883 96 Archie 191 #301 97 Lester 189 #1,634 98 Stephen 187 #383 99 Leslie 175 #3,513 99 Lloyd 175 #1,547
Entered the top 100 in 1888
