How popular is the baby name Gold 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 Gold.

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Popularity of the baby name Gold


Posts that mention the name Gold

Babies named “Free Silver” and “Gold Standard”

"Gold Standard" and "Silver Standard" as gladiators, illustration from Puck magazine (Mar. 1900)
“Gold Standard” vs. “Silver Standard”

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

“American Gladiator” names vs. Real-life baby names

american gladiators trading card
I had no idea American Gladiators trading cards existed before I wrote this post.

Ready for a game?

The original American Gladiators TV show (1989-1996) featured 32 American Gladiators and 31 mostly-tough-sounding Gladiator names. (Why 31? Because “Lace” was used twice.) Here are the 31 names:

  1. Atlas
  2. Blaze
  3. Bronco
  4. Cyclone
  5. Dallas
  6. Diamond
  7. Elektra
  8. Gemini
  9. Gold
  10. Havoc
  11. Hawk
  12. Ice
  13. Jade
  14. Jazz
  15. Lace
  16. Laser
  17. Malibu
  18. Nitro
  19. Rebel
  20. Sabre
  21. Siren
  22. Sky
  23. Storm
  24. Sunny
  25. Tank
  26. Thunder
  27. Titan
  28. Tower
  29. Turbo
  30. Viper
  31. Zap

The short-lived American Gladiators remake (2008) featured 20 new gladiators and 18 new tough-sounding gladiator names. (Why 18? Because Siren and Titan were recycled from the original.) Here are the 18 new names:

  1. Beast
  2. Crush
  3. Fury
  4. Hellga
  5. Hurricane
  6. Jet
  7. Justice
  8. Mayhem
  9. Militia
  10. Panther
  11. Phoenix
  12. Rocket
  13. Stealth
  14. Steel
  15. Toa
  16. Venom
  17. Wolf
  18. Zen

So here’s the game: Try to guess what percentage of the 31 original Gladiator names and what percentage of the 18 new Gladiator names have appeared on at least one of the SSA’s annual baby name lists. (To appear on a list, a name has to be given to at least 5 U.S. babies in a single year.)

Come up with your guesses before reading on!

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Ok, here are the answers.

Of the 31 original American Gladiator names, 23 have appeared on an SSA list: Atlas, Blaze, Bronco, Dallas, Diamond, Elektra, Gemini, Gold, Havoc, Hawk, Jade, Jazz, Lace, Malibu, Rebel, Sabre, Siren, Sky, Storm, Sunny, Tank, Thunder and Titan. That’s 74%.

Of the 18 remake American Gladiator names, 9 have appeared on an SSA list: Fury, Jet, Justice, Phoenix, Rocket, Steel, Toa, Wolf and Zen. That’s exactly 50%.

How close did you get to 74% and 50%?

41 Pun-names for April Fools’ Day (4/1)

I can’t play a prank on you for April Fools’ Day, but I can give you a list of personal names that seem like pranks.

Except, they’re not.

All of the below are legit first & last names that belonged to real people — often multiple people. (In parentheses I’ve added rough estimates of how many instances I’ve come across so far.)

  1. Alma Mater (several)
  2. April Showers (dozens)
  3. Bear Trapp (one)
  4. Candy Cane (several)
  5. Cliff Hanger (several)
  6. Constant Agony (two)
  7. Constant Craps (one)
  8. Crystal Ball (dozens)
    • There’s also Krystal Ball, who ran for office in Virginia a few years back.
  9. Death Knox (one)
  10. Drew Peacock (dozens)
  11. Gettysburg Battle (one)
  12. Gold Mine (two)
  13. Green Bean (several)
  14. Hazel Nut/Nutt (dozens)
  15. Ima Hogg (one)
  16. Jed I Knight (one)
  17. London England (dozens)
  18. Mud Brown (three)
  19. Never Fail (two) — father and son
    • The son’s headstone offers context for the name by referencing 1 Corinthians 13: “Love never fails.”
  20. Norman Conquest (two)
  21. North West (hundreds)
  22. Nude Mann (one)
  23. Orbit Moon (one)
  24. Orchestra Harp (one)
  25. Paris France (several)
  26. Preserved Fish (several)
  27. Pullman Carr (several), one with the middle name Palace, as in the Pullman Palace Car Company.
  28. Rainy Day (one)
  29. River Bottom (one)
  30. Rocky Mountain (dozens)
  31. Sandy Beach (dozens)
  32. Sea Shore (several)
  33. Seymour Butts (two) — not just a Bart Simpson prank call!
  34. Silence Bellows (one)
  35. Soda Popp (one)
  36. Strong Beer (one)
  37. Tell No Lyes (several)
  38. Ten Million (one), who had a daughter named Decillian Million.
  39. Timber Wood (one), who has a sister named Drift Wood.
  40. Truly Wright (several)
  41. Tu Morrow (one)

Which one do you think is the best? Or should I say, the worst?

Source: Find A Grave

Babies named for the Klondike Gold Rush

Klondikers ascending to the summit of Chilkoot Pass in Alaska in 1898.
Klondikers on Chilkoot Pass

Did you know that many dozens of U.S. babies were given names inspired by the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899)?

Though the baby name Klondike has never appeared in the U.S. baby name data, it certainly would have (in both 1897 and 1898) had complete sets of data been collected during those years.

Here’s a list of many of the Klondikes (and Klondykes) I was able to find in the records. Most of the below were born in the U.S., but I threw in a couple of Canadians as well. :)

  • Klondyke A. Applegate, b. 1897 in Kansas
  • Klondike D. Ator, b. 1898 in Texas
  • Lorenson Klondike Bandy, b. 1898 in Illinois
  • Walter Klondike Boehm, b. 1897 in Missouri
  • Klondike Earl Bogardeus, b. 1897 in Ohio
  • Klondyke Gold Brown, b. 1897 in Ontario
  • Klondyke Buckles, b. 1897 in Oklahoma
  • Walter Klondike Carter, b. 1897 in Maine
  • Goda Klondike Clark, b. 1897 in Missouri
  • Clyde Klondike Counsell, b. 1897 in Utah
  • Klondike T. Crowley, b. 1897 in Yukon
  • Joseph Klondike Dawson, b. 1898 in Tennessee
  • Rufus Klondyke Derry, b. 1897 in Iowa
  • Klondike J. Dodd, b. 1898 in Texas
  • Mabel Klondike Elkins, b. 1897 in West Virginia
  • Goldy Klondike Fletcher, b. 1897 in Nebraska
  • Klondike P. Flint, b. 1897 in Ohio
  • Klondike Gray, b. 1896 in North Carolina
  • John Klondike Griffith, b. 1898 in Massachusetts
  • Klondyke Hardin, b. 1897 in Ohio
  • Harold Klondike Hathaway, b. 1897 in Massachusetts
  • Harry Klondike Hayes, b. 1897 in Washington
  • Kittie Klondike Hughes, b. 1898 in Texas
  • Klondike Goldy Kelly, b. 1897 in Ohio
  • Earl Klondike Kinahan, b. 1898 in Illinois
  • Klondyke Kirkendall, b. 1898 in West Virginia
  • Pearl Klondike Lincoln, b. 1897 in Pennsylvania
  • Chester Klondike Lindsay, b. 1897 in Missouri
  • Dewey Klondike Livingston, b. 1898 in Oklahoma
  • George Klondike Lynch, b. 1897 in Texas
  • Klondyke Moore, b. 1897 in California
  • Loren Klondike Philleo, b. 1898 in Washington
  • Klondike Schneider, b. 1897 in Illinois
  • Klondike Dewey Sengelmann, b. 1898 in Texas
  • Jack Klondyke Shriver, b. 1897 in Kansas
  • Klondyke Alaska Slaughter, b. 1897 in Kentucky
  • Klondike McKinley Smith, b. 1897 in Oregon
  • Vannie Klondyke Smith, b. 1898 in West Virginia
  • Roy Klondike Temple, b. 1898 in Oregon
  • Klondike McKinley Thomas, b. 1897 in Vermont
  • Klondike DeMoss Tucker, b. 1897 in Indiana
  • Klondike Van Horn, b. 1897 in Arkansas
  • Klondike B. Winter, b. 1897 in Michigan
  • Klondike Wymore, b. 1897 in Nebraska

I love how some parents took the theme even further with additional given names like “Goldy” and “Alaska.” Others decided to commemorate war hero George Dewey or U.S. President William McKinley.

The alternative spelling, Klondyke, was almost as prevalent in the records as the standard spelling. No doubt the newspapers — which regularly spelled the word with a “y” for some reason — were an influence here.

"Klondyke" headlines from the San Francisco Call (Aug. 1897) and the Los Angeles Herald (Jul. 1898).
Pair of “Klondyke” newspaper headlines (late 1890s)

So, how did the Klondike River — after which Klondike Gold Rush is named — come to be called “Klondike”?

The word is derived from the river’s original name: Tr’ondëk in the Hän language. Tr’ondëk means “hammerstone,” which refers to the large stones used to hammer stakes into the riverbed to create fishing weirs (which trapped fish such as salmon).

What are your thoughts on the name Klondike?

Sources: The Dawson City Museum – South Gallery, SSA, FamilySearch.org

Image: Klondikers ascending to the summit of Chilkoot Pass, Alaska, 1898 (public domain) by Eric A. Hegg