How popular is the baby name Dollar in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Dollar.

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Popularity of the baby name Dollar


Posts that mention the name Dollar

What turned Silver into a baby name in 1896?

“Silver Lunatics”

The name Silver — which regularly appears in the U.S. baby name data these days — first popped up way back in the 1890s, when it suddenly debuted with an impressive 10 baby boys:

  • 1898: unlisted
  • 1897: unlisted
  • 1896: 10 baby boys named Silver [debut]
  • 1895: unlisted
  • 1894: unlisted

If we look at the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) data, we see a similar spike in the number of people named Silver in 1896:

  • 1898: 8 people named Silver
  • 1897: 6 people named Silver
  • 1896: 18 people named Silver
  • 1895: 6 people named Silver
  • 1894: 8 people named Silver

Can you guess the cause?

I’ll give you two hints. First, look what happens to the name Bryan that year:

  • 1898: 57 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1897: 97 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1896: 157 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1895: 27 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1894: 9 baby boys named Bryan

Now check out how the name Jennings peaks a year later:

  • 1898: 28 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1897: 50 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1896: 40 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1895: 9 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1894: 5 baby boys named Jennings

No doubt you’ve pieced it together: 1896 was the year William Jennings Bryan ran for president, and the central issue for Democrats that year was Free Silver.

The U.S. was in the middle of a depression, and Free Silver supporters (the “Silverites”) thought the depression could be alleviated via the coinage of silver.

“For true believers,” the Encyclopedia Britannica states, “silver became the symbol of economic justice for the mass of the American people.”

And those “true believers” were very likely the ones naming their kids Silver back in 1896.

But Bryan’s opponent, William McKinley, was able to convince voters that Free Silver was a bad thing — that the resultant inflation would harm the economy — and won the election.

What do you think of the baby name Silver?

Sources: William Jennings Bryan – Wikipedia, Free Silver – Wikipedia, Free Silver Movement – Britannica.com, SSA
Image: A down-hill movement – LOC

P.S. Want to see other money-inspired monikers? Try Legal Tender, Silver Dollar, Free Silver, Gold Standard, and Depression.

Baby born to silver mine owner, named Silver Dollar

Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor (1889-1925)
Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor

Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor, known simply as “Silver,” was born in 1889.

She was the second daughter of “Silver King” Horace Tabor — whose silver mines had made him one of the wealthiest men in Colorado — and Elizabeth “Baby Doe” McCourt, his second wife.

On the back of the photo above, a friend of Silver’s wrote this about Silver’s name:

‘Rosemary’ given by her mother after the saint and ‘Echo’ given by her mother because she loved the echoes in the mts around Leadville. ‘Silver Dollar’ given by her father because it was the Silver ore that made him his millions. This picture was given to me in Leadville, Colo. 1903 by Silver.

Other sources say the “Silver Dollar” part was suggested by none other than William Jennings Bryan, a family friend.

Unfortunately the Tabors lost their fortune in the early 1890s, thanks in large part to the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor (1854-1935)
“Baby Doe” Tabor (Silver’s mother)

The family’s riches-to-rags story was made into both a film (Silver Dollar, 1932) and an opera (The Ballad of Baby Doe, 1956). Sadly, Silver didn’t live to see either; she died in 1925 at just 36 years old.

Images: Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor & Baby Doe Tabor, Denver Public Library Digital Collections