How popular is the baby name Abraham 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 Abraham.

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Popularity of the baby name Abraham


Posts that mention the name Abraham

Politicians who were named after other politicians

I was just reading The Political Graveyard’s cool list of Politicians Named for Other Politicians. Many of the politicians on the list were named for U.S. presidents, but others were named for figures who aren’t as well-known today. Some examples:

  • 67 politicians were named after Henry Clay (1777-1852).
  • 48 politicians were named after DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828).
  • 43 politicians were named after Winfield Scott* (1786-1866).
  • 21 politicians were named after Abraham Gallatin (1761-1849).
  • 18 politicians were named after Francis Marion (1732-1795).
  • 17 politicians were named after John Jay (1745-1829).
  • 17 politicians were named after John Marshall (1755-1835).
  • 16 politicians were named after Patrick Henry (1736-1799).
  • 14 politicians (and the term “gerrymander”) were named after Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814).
  • 13 politicians were named after Edward Everett (1794-1865).
  • 7 politicians were named after John Calhoun (1782-1850).

Some of those numbers are impressive. Makes me wonder how many baby boys nationwide were named after these men.

*Winfield Scott lost to Franklin Pierce in the 1852 presidential election. One of his namesakes, Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886), lost to James Garfield in the 1880 presidential election. Not a lucky name for White House hopefuls, I’d say.

[Latest update: June 2023]

Popular baby names in 17th- and 18th-century New England

Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary (early 1670s)

Caitlin GD Hopkins posted lists of historically popular baby names in Boston, MA, and Windsor, CT, at her blog Vast Public Indifference earlier today.

Using a book of birth records for Boston, she came up with the top male and female names given to babies born in Boston in 1710:

Girl names (Boston, 1710)Boy names (Boston, 1710)
1. Mary
2. Elizabeth
3. Sarah
4. Abigail
5. Susanna
6. Hannah
7. Ann/Anna
8. Rebecca, Lydia (2-way tie)
9. Jane, Martha (2-way tie)
10. Johanna, Katherine, Lucy, Margaret, Mercy, Ruth (6-way tie)		1. John
2. William
3. Thomas
4. James
5. Samuel, Joseph (2-way tie)
6. Nathaniel
7. Jonathan
8. Richard, Henry, Daniel (3-way tie)
9. Abraham, Benjamin, Ebenezer, Edward, Francis, Josiah, Robert (7-way tie)

Then she used church records from 1635 to 1680 to come up with a similar list for Windsor, CT (which is about 100 miles southwest of Boston):

Girl names (Windsor, 1600s)Boy names (Windsor, 1600s)
1. Mary
2. Sarah
3. Elizabeth
4. Abigail
5. Hanna
6. Rebecca
7. Ann/Anna, Deborah (2-way tie)
8. Joanna, Martha (2-way tie)
9. Esther/Hester, Mindwell (2-way tie)
10. Hepzibah		1. John
2. Samuel
3. Thomas
4. Nathaniel
5. Joseph
6. Josiah
7. Benjamin
8. Jonathan
9. Isaac
10. Daniel, William (2-way tie)
11. Timothy
12. James

Caitlin noted an interesting “secular/Biblical divide” between baby names chosen at the two locations.

Update: Hopkins just posted a follow-up post with more interesting name commentary.

Reduplicated names: Asher Asher, Owen Owen

oystercatcher birds

I find it interesting that some people are given forenames that exactly match their surnames. A few historically significant examples include:

(Ford Madox Ford and Horst P. Horst don’t count. They were born Ford Hermann Hueffer and Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann.)

There are also many forename/surname sets out there that are partially reduplicated, such as:

  • Alastair McAllister, Australian harpsichord builder
  • Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Soviet cosmonaut
  • Anders Andersen, Norwegian politician
  • Antonis Antoniadis, Greek soccer player
  • Damiano Damiani, Italian film director
  • David Davidson, Canadian baseball player
  • Donagh MacDonagh, Irish writer
  • Donald MacDonald, Canadian politician
  • Dru Drury, British entomologist
  • Filip Filipovic (several people)
  • Fiodar Fiodarau, Soviet physicist
  • Friðrik Friðriksson, Icelandic film director

Have you ever met someone whose first name and last name were identical (or nearly so)? Do you like these sorts of names?

P.S. The name Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan (which belonged to a guy who served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior for a few weeks in 1850) is as close to a double double as I’ve ever seen!

Image: Adapted from Two Variable Oystercatchers standing close to each other (public domain)

[Last update: October 2024]