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.
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)
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, I wonder?
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.)
| Twins (b/b) | Twins (b/g) | Twins (g/g) |
|---|---|---|
|
Edgar & Oscar Edward & James Francis & James James & John John & Thomas (blank) & (blank) |
Frederick & Alice John & Alice Samuel & Sarah Stephen & Annie (blank) & Catherine |
Agnes & Anna Eldora & Ellen Eliza & Mary Elizabeth & Julia Frances & Mary Josephine & Mary Mary & Sarah Theresa & (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.
The registrar of Providence, Rhode Island, published a series of documents listing all “of the names of persons deceased, born and married in the city of Providence” during years 1866, 1867 and 1868. The series may have been longer, but these are the only documents I could find online.
