Last month we looked at the top Providence names of 1867, so today let’s check out the rankings from the year before — 1866.
First, some stats:
- 1,633 babies were babies were born in Providence in 1866, by my count. (The number given by the author of the document is 1,632.)
- 1,457 of these babies (707 girls and 750 boys) had names that were registered with the government at the time of publication. The other 176 babies got blank spaces.
- 234 unique names (123 girl names and 108 boy names) were shared among these 1,457 babies.
And here’s some extra information I forgot to mention in the last post: In 1860, the city of Providence was home to 29.0% of Rhode Island’s population. In 1870, it was home to 31.7% of the population. So each of these 3 sets of rankings (1866, 1867, 1868) ought to account for roughly 30% of the residents of the state.
Now, on to the names…
Top 5
The top 5 girl names and boy names of 1866 were, unsurprisingly, very similar to the top names of 1867.
| Top baby girl names | Top baby boy names |
| 1. Mary 2. Catherine 3. Ellen 4. Margaret 5. Sarah | 1. John 2. William 3. James 4. George 5. Thomas |
The girls’ top 5 is identical, while the boys’ top 5 includes Thomas instead of George.
All Girl Names
As expected, Mary was the front-runner by a huge margin. And, while there were dozens of Catherines, and a single Catharine, there weren’t any Katherines.
- Mary, 149 baby girls
- Catherine, 43
- Ellen, 40
- Margaret, 37
- Sarah, 36
- Elizabeth, 32
- Alice, 18
- Annie, 15
- Anna & Eliza, 14 each (2-way tie)
- Clara, 13
- Ann, 11
- Carrie, Emma, Jane & Susan, 10 each (4-way tie)
- Grace & Ida, 9 each (2-way tie)
- Esther, Martha & Minnie, 7 each (3-way tie)
- Anne & Julia, 6 each (2-way tie)
- Agnes, Charlotte, Cora, Harriet, Jennie, Joanna, Maria & Rosanna, 5 each (8-way tie)
- Amelia, Bridget, Ella, Frances, Hattie, Lydia, Nellie & Theresa, 4 each (8-way tie)
- Abby, Emily, Florence, Josephine, Laura, Lillian, Lizzie, Louise & Marion, 3 each (9-way tie)
- Ada, Amy, Augusta, Deborah, Edith, Etta, Eva, Fannie, Georgianna, Hannah, Henrietta, Honora, Isabel, Isabella, Lottie, Lucy, Mabel, Marietta, Maud & Teresa, 2 each (20-way tie)
- Almira, Annette, Bertha, Catharine, Cedelia, Celia, Christina, Delia, Diana, Dora, Dorcas, Eldora, Eleanor, Elsie, Emeline, Etherine, Eugenie, Evangeline, Fanny, Flora, Geneva, Georgia, Gracie, Helen, Helena, Imogene, Janette, Jessie, Kate, Lena, Louisa, Lucia, Lucinda, Madelina, Marian, Marsalin, May, Millie, Mina, Mini, Minna, Neatah, Nettie, Phebe, Rebecca, Rosa, Roselia, Rosetta, Ruth, Sophia, Stella, Susanna, Susannah, Tillie & Winnifred, 1 each (55-way tie)
All Boy Names
John had an even more commanding lead in 1866 than in 1867.
- John, 109 baby boys
- William, 78
- James, 62
- George, 44
- Thomas, 41
- Charles, 36
- Edward, 28
- Joseph, 27
- Frederick, 20
- Henry, 18
- Frank, 17
- Michael, 15
- Francis, 14
- Daniel, 13
- Albert, Patrick & Robert, 12 each (3-way tie)
- Walter, 11
- Arthur, Peter & Samuel, 8 each (3-way tie)
- Alfred, Harry, Louis & Stephen, 7 each (4-way tie)
- Martin, 6
- Matthew, 5
- Christopher, Clarence, Herbert, Howard & Hugh, 4 each (5-way tie)
- Benjamin, Eugene, Ira & Jeremiah, 3 each (4-way tie)
- Aaron, Alvin, Arnold, Earl, Edgar, Elisha, Freddie, Harrison, Lewis, Marcus, Nicholas, Philip, Richard & Timothy, 2 each (14-way tie)
- Abner, Adam, Adolph, Alanson, Alden, Ambrose, Antonio, August, Augustavus*, Augustus, Bartholomew, Bernard, Bradford, Byron, Chauncey, Clinton, David, Duncan, Eben, Ebenezer, Edwin, Elias, Elliott, Ethan, Everett, Ezra, Ferdinand, Frederic, Fullerton, Gilbert, Gwynn, Harold, Herman, Isaac, Jesse, Josiah, Lauriston, Luther, Manuel, Marks, Maurice, Miles, Mortimer, Oliver, Olney, Oscar, Otto, Rana, Rectol, Salisbury, Shamball, Simon, Terence, Theodore, Victor, Willard, Willie & Wilton, 1 each (58-way tie)
(I didn’t combine any variant spellings, but I did lump the abbreviated names Chas., Benj., and Fred’k in with Charles, Benjamin and Frederick.)
*Does Augustavus = Augustus + Gustav?
Twins
I counted 19 pairs of twins born in Providence in 1866. I didn’t notice any triplets this year. (All of these names have already been accounted for above.)
| Girl-girl twins | Girl-boy twins | Boy-boy twins |
| Agnes & Anna Eldora & Ellen Eliza & Mary Elizabeth & Julia Frances & Mary Josephine & Mary Mary & Sarah Theresa & (blank) | Alice & Frederick Alice & John Annie & Stephen Catherine & (blank) Sarah & Samuel | Edgar & Oscar Edward & James Francis & James James & John John & Thomas (blank) & (blank) |
I’ll try to finish/post the final set of rankings before the end of the year.
Source: Snow, Edwin M. Alphabetical Lists of Persons Deceased, Born and Married in the City of Providence During the Year 1866. Providence: Hammond, Angell & Co., 1867.
