Where did the baby name Armistice come from in 1918?

Headline "Armistice Is Signed" on the front page of the Carson City Daily Appeal (Nov. 11, 1918)

The word Armistice, which refers to cessation of combat, popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1918:

  • 1920: unlisted
  • 1919: 5 baby boys named Armistice
  • 1918: 5 baby girls named Armistice [debut]
  • 1917: unlisted
  • 1916: unlisted

The influence, of course, was the Armistice declared on November 11, 1918, that signaled the end of World War I. From that point forward, November 11 became known as Armistice Day*.

Newspaper headlines across the nation highlighted the word. Here’s another example:

Headline "Armistice Is Signed" on the front page of the Evening Missourian (Nov. 11, 1918)

And another:

Headline "Armistice Signed - War Over" on the front page of the Brattleboro Daily Reformer (Nov. 11, 1918)

A few of the babies named Armistice even got “Day” as a middle name. And at least one of these “Armistice Day” babies, born in Connecticut in 1927, managed to make it into the papers:

Bridgeport, it has developed, is to have an Armistice Day the year round. Born on Nov. 11 last, the infant daughter of a local family is believed to be the first child in the country named in honor of the world holiday. Her official name is “Armistice Day Guiseppina [sic] Olympia Bredice.” Her father is an employee of a local sewing machine factory.

What do you think of Armistice as a first name?

*It was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

Source: “Baby named “Armistice Day”.” Reading Eagle 23 Nov. 1927: 4.
Images: LOC

P.S. More WWI baby names: Foch, Marne, Allenby, Joffre, Pershing, Tasker, and Liberty.

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