Baby Named After Chorus Girl Evelyn Nesbit

In early 1907, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Babcock of Kalamazoo, Michigan, couldn’t agree on a baby name. Their story made the New York Times. (Slow news day?)

Mrs. Babcock wanted the baby girl to be called Evelyn Nesbit Babcock after chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit. Why? Because Nesbit’s stepfather’s surname, Holman, also happened to be Mrs. Babcock’s maiden name.

Mr. Babcock objected, noting “the child might be unlucky.” (Nesbit’s husband Harry Kendall Thaw had murdered her ex-lover, Stanford White, in a jealous rage in mid-1906.)

Here’s what happened at the christening:

A whispered conversation between the parents and clergyman apparently won the father’s permission to name the child after the former chorus singer. The minister spoke briefly. He said he trusted the child would make a better record than her namesake, although, he added, the wife of Stanford White’s slayer was a creature of circumstance.

The Babcocks weren’t the only parents influenced by Evelyn Nesbit in 1907:

• 1905 – ranked 46th (1,661 baby girls, or 0.5360%)
• 1906 – ranked 32nd (2,077 baby girls, or 0.6627%)
• 1907 – ranked 18th (3,035 baby girls, or 0.8995%)
• 1908 – ranked 20th (2,857 baby girls, or 0.8060%)
• 1909 – ranked 18th (3,157 baby girls, or 0.8578%)

The name Evelyn was already increasing in popularity at the time, but the murder and subsequent trial (January-April, 1907) gave it an extra boost in ’07.

Source: “Baby Named Evelyn Nesbit.” New York Times 18 Feb. 1907: 18.