Below is a collection of historically significant baby names that saw increased usage in the U.S. at some point prior to the year 1880. They’re sorted by the earliest usage that I could track down.
- Captivity (1670s)
- Flavilla (1760s)
- Elbridge Gerry (1780s)
- Aaron Burr (1790s)
- Dorcasina (1810s)
- Castara (1820s)
- States Rights (1830s)
- Theodosia Burr (1830s)
- Telegraph (1840s)
- Zachary Taylor, Old Rough and Ready (1840s)
- Omoo (1840s)
- Frederick Douglass (1850s)
- Sterling Price (1850s)
- Hally (1850s)
- Capitola (1850s)
- Denver (1859)
- Malaeksa (1860s)
- Elmer Ellsworth (1860s)
- Ambrose Burnside (1860s)
- Antietam (1860s)
- Fort Sumter (1860s)
- Gettysburg (1860s)
- George B. McClellan (1860s)
- William Tecumseh Sherman (1860s)
- Malvern Hill (1860s)
- Ulysses S. Grant (1860s)
- Horatio Alger (1870s)
Note that most of the names from the 1860s were influenced by people and places associated with the American Civil War.
You might also be interested in checking out posts about individual babies named Emancipation Proclamation, Oregon Territory, Annexation, Federal Constitution, Independence & Liberty (twins), Providence, Colorado, and Virginia.
If you want to check out other years on the timeline, here’s the baby name timeline main page.