How popular is the baby name Ada in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, check out all the blog posts that mention the name Ada.
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Years ago, I discovered three documents with relatively complete lists of births for the city of Providence, Rhode Island, for the years 1866, 1867, and 1868. I’ve already created Providence’s baby name rankings for 1866 and 1867 using the first two documents, and today (finally!) I’ve got the third set of rankings for you.
Let’s start with some stats:
1,762 babies were born in Providence in 1868, by my count. According to the introduction of the document I’m using a source, however, the total number is 1,866. I don’t know how to account for this discrepancy.
1,617 of these babies (791 girls and 826 boys) had names that were known at the time of publication. The other 145 babies got blank spaces. Either their names hadn’t been registered yet, or they hadn’t been named yet, or perhaps these babies died young and never received a name.
284 unique names (143 girl names and 141 boy names) were shared among these 1,617 babies.
And now, on to the names!
Top 5
A quick look at the top 5 girl names and boy names in Providence in 1868:
Top baby girl names
Top baby boy names
1. Mary 2. Catherine 3. Sarah 4. Ellen 5. Margaret
1. John 2. William 3. James 4. Charles 5. George
All Girl Names
Mary, 149 baby girls
Catherine, 39
Sarah, 38
Ellen, 31
Margaret, 28
Elizabeth, 25
Alice, 24
Anna, 20
Ann, 16
Emma, 14
Eliza, 13
Clara & Martha, 11 each (tie)
Hannah & Lucy, 10 each (tie)
Bridget, Grace, Jennie, Julia & Maria, 9 each (5-way tie)
Annie, Florence, Jane, Minnie & Susan, 8 each (5-way tie)
Agnes, Caroline, Cora, Ella & Harriet, 7 each (5-way tie)
Back when sea voyages were the only way to reach distant lands, many babies ended up being born aboard ships. And many of these ship-born babies were given names that reflected the circumstances of their birth. A good portion of them, for instance, were named after the ships upon which they were born.
I’ve gathered hundreds of these ship-inspired baby names over the years, and I think it’s finally time to post what I’ve found…
A
Abergeldie:
Emma Abergeldie Walsh, born in 1884
Abernyte:
Eva Abernyte Congdon, born in 1875
Abington:
Herbert Bealie Abington Tait, born in 1884
Abyssinia:
Abyssinia Louise Juhansen, born in 1870
Abyssinia Elfkin, born in 1872
Louise Abyssinia Bellanger, born in 1874
Achilles:
John Achilles Denchey, born in 1871
Actoea:
U. Actoea Jones, born in 1868
Adriatic:
John Adriatic Gateley Collins, born in 1879
Adriatic O’Loghlin Gould, born in 1880
Agnes Adriatic Cook, born in 1880
Agamemnon:
Frederick Agamemnon Dingly, born in 1876
Alaska:
Mary Alaska Magee, born in 1884
Alcester:
Gertrude Alcester Dart, born in 1884
Alcinous:
Mary Duncan Alcinosa Greenwood, born in 1887
Aldergrove:
Aldergrove Andrew Fullarton Feathers, born in 1875
Ethel Aldergrove Winning, born in 1883
Aleppo:
Rosalia Aleppo Rosenthal, born in 1866
Aleppo Atalanta Boardsen, born in 1883
Alexandrina:
Caroline Alexandrina Phillips, born in 1873
Mary Alexandrina Hedges, born in 1874
Alexandrina Horsnell, born in 1874
Algeria:
Louis Algeria Noizet, born in 1872
Aliquin:
Edward Aliquin Poley, born in 1860
Allanshaw:
Joseph Allanshaw Moss, born in 1883
Frederick Allanshaw Shields, born in 1883
Almora:
Almora May Leech, born in 1856
Emily Almora Hamper, born in 1883
Joseph Henry Almora Alford, born in 1883
Mary Almora Clothier, born in 1887
Almora Merten, born in 1887
Alnwick Castle:
William Alnwick Bull, born in 1861
Alpheta:
Mary Alpheta Stone, born in 1877
Alsatia:
Alsatia Campbell Carnalian, born in 1877
Altmore:
Eliza Altmore Harris, born in 1883
Alumbagh:
Alumbagh Eleanor Bright, born in 1868
Sarah Louise Alumbagh Hancock, born in 1868
Alvington:
Alvington Oak Silvester, born in 1879
Amoor:
William Amoor Walker, born in 1864
Anchoria:
Anchoria Adelaide Williams, born in 1890
Angerona:
Mary Angerona Harwood, born in 1875
Anglesey:
Clara Anglesey Oakley, born in 1859
Emma Jane Anglesey Conbrough, born in 1874
Anglia:
James Craig Anglia Watt, born in 1871
Emma Anglia Hewitt, born in 1873
Margaret Anglia Smith Mulholland, born in 1874
Anglo Saxon:
Mary Saxon Copeland, born in 1860
Antiope:
Lilias Antiope Carrick, born in 1884
Aorangi:
Arthur Aorangi Burrow, born in 1884
Aorangi Millar, born in 1885
Ellen Corbet Aorangi Browne, born in 1891
Aorangi Townsend, born in 1934
Arabic:
Isabella Arabic East, born in 1887
Arcadia:
Arcadia Herbert, born in 1877
Archer:
Archer Grainger Bryans, born in 1883
Beatrice Archer Shambers, born in 1885
Argo:
Sigri Argo Larsen, born in 1877
Arica:
Aricania Pereg, born in 1883
Arizona:
Helen Arizona Erickson, born in 1881
Sarah Arizona Duggan, born in 1881
Ole Arizona Melting, born in 1881
Agnes Arizona Kane, born in 1884
Elenor Arizona Poulteny, born in 1884
Elizabeth Arizona Harvey, born in 1887
Marie Arizona Malm, born in 1887
Arundel Castle:
Arundal Sheal Davis, born in 1870
Leopold Arundel Hofmeyer, born in 1876
George Arundel Baylis, born in 1876
Charles Arundel Holden, born in 1876
Arvonia:
Herbert John Arvon Hughes, born in 1881
Ashmore:
James Alfred George Henry Ashmore Curtis, born in 1882
He in turn gave his name to Medford, Minnesota, in the 1850s. His father, Englishman William K. Colling, was an early Minnesota settler who “said that he had a son who was born on board the ship Medford, and was named Medford, in honor of the ship, and proposed that the town should be named Medford in honor of the boy.”
Charles and Effie Dickey of Maine married in 1881 and went on to welcome 22 children — 14 girls, 8 boys — from the 1880s until the 1910s.
Here are the names of all the kids:
Emma Mae (b. 1882)
Ada Alice (b. 1883)
Arthur Earness (b. 1884)
Everlena Maude (b. 1885)
Fannie Blossom (b. 1886)
Nina Eudora (b. 1887)
George Elwin (b. 1888)
Fay Edna (b. 1889)
Everett Onward (b. 1890)
Merritt Carnot (b. 1891)
Lema Inez (b. 1894)
Margaret Ellen (b. 1896)
Charles Loring (b. 1897)
Effie Etta (b. 1898)
Mildred Hortense (b. 1900)
Ivan Thomas Nye (b. 1901)
Floyd Merton (b. 1903)
Arline Beatrice (b. 1904)
Theodore Rayden (b. 1906)
Jessie Alberta (b. 1908)
Ila Pearl (b. 1909)
Hilda Bernice (b. 1911)
I think it’s funny that they decided to name two of the children after themselves only after already having a dozen. Maybe they were running out of ideas at that point. :)
Which of the above is your favorite? (I’d have to go with #8’s middle, “Onward.” What an interesting choice.)
The rare name Zorita has only ever popped up in the U.S. baby name data twice. The first time it appeared was 1950:
1952: unlisted
1951: unlisted
1950: 5 baby girls named Zorita [debut]
1949: unlisted
1948: unlisted
Why?
My guess is an American burlesque dancer named Zorita, who was famous for dancing with a snake during her routines.
She performed from the 1930s to the 1950s, but did two things circa 1950 that would have garnered more attention than usual.
Starting in late 1949, she could be seen in the sexploitation film I Married a Savage. The trailer tempted viewers to watch “the beautiful Zorita do the secret sacred snake dance!”
In mid-1950, Zorita became the featured performer in the “girl show” section of a traveling carnival called World of Mirth. “The show consisted of Zorita dancing with a snake and clips from her movie. It grossed $82,000.”
I don’t think expectant parents were necessarily lining up to see the movie or the carnival act. But I do think that marketing for the film (and perhaps for the carnival) gave the name “Zorita” extra exposure, and that this exposure increased the usage of name just enough for it to debut in the baby name data.
The Miami Herald asked Zorita’s daughter Tawny about her mother’s stage name in 2001. Tawny said, “She told me a lot of stories, but she never told me that one. She liked to sound exotic. All I know is it had a ‘Z’ in it, and you could make it into a snake.” Sure enough, when Zorita signed her name, to the “Z” she added a loop (like the head of a snake) and an extra line (as a tongue).
There’s disagreement over Zorita’s birth name, but many sources from the late ’30s and early ’40s mention that her legal name (at that time) was Ada Brockett.
Do you like the name Zorita? (Do you like it more or less than the similar name Zorina?)
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