The Free Silver Movement gave the baby name Silver a boost during the 1890s, as we saw in yesterday’s post. But the story doesn’t end there.
Some parents got even more specific with their babies’ names, opting for the full phrase “Free Silver”:
- Free Silver Hopkins, born in Oklahoma in 1894
- Free Silver Kasler, born in Oklahoma in 1895
- Free Silver Watts, born in West Virginia in 1895
- Free Silver Waters, born in Georgia in 1898
Then there were the people on the other side of the issue. They supported the gold standard, and a handful of them named their babies accordingly:
- Gold Standard Kirkwood, born in Mississippi in 1890
- Gold Standard Gunn, born in West Virginia in 1897
- Goldstandard T. Rowlett, born in Oklahoma in 1898
- Goldstandard G. Anderson, born in Kansas in 1898
Names from the same decade that included both metals, such as Goldie Freesilver, are harder to interpret. These names could be more about novelty than about politics (i.e., not a nod to bimetallism).
- Silver Gold Kay, born in Arizona in 1893
- Goldie Silvery Budd, in Ohio in 1896
- Golden Silver Colley, born in Kentucky in 1896
- Goldie Freesilver Crawford, born in Oklahoma in 1897
- Goldie Silverada Hoffman, born in Colorado in 1899
Today’s question: If you had to choose either Gold or Silver (or some variant thereof, like Goldie or Silverene) as your baby’s name, which metal would you choose?
Source: FamilySearch.org
Image: The survival of the fittest – LOC
I prefer Silver to Gold, but really both sound too much like horse names to me.
Very interesting historical story!
Haha, horse names. :)
Hi. My name is Richard Rowlett. Freesilver Rowlett was my great aunt and Goldstandard Thomas Rowlett was my grandfather. It’s interesting to see the history behind the names. Thank you so much.
Thank you for the comment, Richard! How fascinating that your great-grandparents decided to use both names. :)
Here are “Free” and “Gold” Rowlett as youngsters on the 1900 U.S. Census: