In 1910, the Boston-based publisher H. M. Caldwell Co. ran the following ad for its “My Own Name” series of books in American Motherhood magazine.
It is the purpose of these charming little books to tell girls all about their names, information about the name, its origin, the name in history, the name in poetry, fiction and romance is given, also notable namesakes past and present.
It wasn’t much of a series, though, as there were only 25 names to choose from:
- Alice (ranked 10th nationally in 1910)
- Annie (19th)
- Bertha (33rd)
- Charlotte (99th)
- Dorothy (4th)
- Edith (35th)
- Eleanor (55th)
- Elizabeth (7th)
- Fanny (391st)
- Gertrude (26th)
- Gladys (15th)
- Helen (2nd)
- Isabel (176th)
- Jane (116th)
- Katherine (57th)
- Lucy (75th)
- Margaret (3rd)
- Marion (59th)
- Marjorie (68th)
- Mary (1st)
- Mildred (8th)
- Nellie (51st)
- Ruth (5th)
- Sarah (40th)
- Winifred (185th)
Clearly three more names could have fit on that last line (next to Winifred), so let’s turn this into a game. Which three girl names would you add to this list? That is, give us three names you like that would also be logical additions to this list, given the time period. For instance, I think I’d add Iola, Della, and Bonnie. How about you?
(If you want to access the national rankings for 1910, click over to the SSA’s site and scroll down to “Popular Names by Birth Year.”)
The list is entirely lacking in jewel-names. How about Opal, Pearl, and Ruby?
Beulah
Florence
Thelma
Lillian, Evelyn, and Irene
Grace (19th), Josephine (37th) and Evelyn (46th).
… Those numbers are wrong because I was looking at the 1905 listings. Oops.
Agnes
Inez
Veronica
Lillian, Esther, Clara
Julia, Emmeline, Cora
Annabelle
Esther
Vivianne
Martha, Hattie and Gwyneth
Hilda, Martha and Ellen (I’m playing this like Five Name Friday and haven’t read the other comments yet)
Without looking at other comments:
Harriet
Nancy
Susan
Emma
Eva
Louise
Lucille
Hazel
Nancy
Laura
Hazel
Irene