How popular is the baby name Dollar 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 Dollar.

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Popularity of the baby name Dollar


Posts that mention the name Dollar

Popular baby names in Colorado, 1997

Flag of Colorado
Flag of Colorado

Back in 1997, the western U.S. state of Colorado welcomed 56,505 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Hannah and Jacob, according to data from the Health Statistics Section of Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment.

The state also revealed the top names within each of its three largest racial/ethnic groups, which it defined as “White/non-Hispanic,” “White/Hispanic,” and “Black.”

Number of babiesTop girl nameTop boy name
White/non-Hispanic38,729 (69%)HannahJacob
White/Hispanic12,951 (23%)JessicaJose
Black2,582 (5%)JasmineIsaiah

Here are Colorado’s top 50 girl names (overall) and top 50 boy names (overall) of 1997:

Girl names

  1. Hannah
  2. Emily
  3. Jessica
  4. Sarah
  5. Madison
  6. Samantha
  7. Taylor
  8. Alexandra
  9. Ashley
  10. Megan
  11. Elizabeth
  12. Rachel
  13. Alyssa
  14. Alexis
  15. Lauren
  16. Emma
  17. Kayla
  18. Morgan
  19. Amanda
  20. Brianna
  21. Jennifer
  22. Jordan
  23. Abigail
  24. Victoria
  25. Nicole
  26. Brittany
  27. Rebecca
  28. Danielle
  29. Katherine
  30. Sierra
  31. Anna
  32. Mariah
  33. Olivia
  34. Amber
  35. Sydney
  36. Stephanie
  37. Jasmine
  38. Brooke
  39. Haley
  40. Maria
  41. Kaitlyn
  42. Gabrielle
  43. Savannah
  44. Allison
  45. Marissa
  46. Bailey
  47. Courtney
  48. Sara
  49. Erin
  50. Mackenzie

Boy names

  1. Jacob
  2. Michael
  3. Matthew
  4. Joshua
  5. Austin
  6. Tyler
  7. Andrew
  8. Christopher
  9. Nicholas
  10. Brandon
  11. Daniel
  12. Ryan
  13. Joseph
  14. Zachary
  15. David
  16. Alexander
  17. Anthony
  18. John
  19. James
  20. Benjamin
  21. Kyle
  22. Samuel
  23. William
  24. Justin
  25. Jonathan
  26. Dylan
  27. Christian
  28. Jordan
  29. Cody
  30. Robert
  31. Nathan
  32. Aaron
  33. Thomas
  34. Eric
  35. Connor
  36. Cameron
  37. Jose
  38. Noah
  39. Adam
  40. Logan
  41. Isaiah
  42. Sean
  43. Gabriel
  44. Caleb
  45. Jack
  46. Cole
  47. Kevin
  48. Trevor
  49. Ethan
  50. Ian

How do these rankings stack up against the U.S. Social Security Administration’s 1997 rankings for Colorado?

The boy names look similar, but there are two significant discrepancies among the girl names: Alexandra ranked 11 spots lower (19th vs. 8th) and Gabrielle ranked 33 spots lower (75th vs. 42nd) on the federal government’s list.

Other names bestowed in Colorado in 1997 included “Elway, Jamaica, and Mars for baby boys, and October, November, Paradise, and Rejoice for baby girls.”

Elway was no doubt inspired by John Elway, the longtime Denver Broncos quarterback who was about to lead the team to its first Super Bowl victory (in January of 1998).

Speaking of Colorado baby names with historical significance…here are posts about Denver (b. 1859), Colorado (b. 1859), Salida (b. 1881), and Silver Dollar (b. 1889).

Source: Birth Statistics Summary 1997 – Colorado Health and Environmental Data (pdf)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Colorado (public domain)

What turned Silver into a baby name in 1896?

“Silver Lunatics”

The name Silver — which regularly appears in the U.S. baby name data these days — first popped up way back in the 1890s, when it suddenly debuted with an impressive 10 baby boys:

  • 1898: unlisted
  • 1897: unlisted
  • 1896: 10 baby boys named Silver [debut]
  • 1895: unlisted
  • 1894: unlisted

If we look at the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) data, we see a similar spike in the number of people named Silver in 1896:

  • 1898: 8 people named Silver
  • 1897: 6 people named Silver
  • 1896: 18 people named Silver
  • 1895: 6 people named Silver
  • 1894: 8 people named Silver

Can you guess the cause?

I’ll give you two hints. First, look what happens to the name Bryan that year:

  • 1898: 57 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1897: 97 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1896: 157 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1895: 27 baby boys named Bryan
  • 1894: 9 baby boys named Bryan

Now check out how the name Jennings peaks a year later:

  • 1898: 28 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1897: 50 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1896: 40 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1895: 9 baby boys named Jennings
  • 1894: 5 baby boys named Jennings

No doubt you’ve pieced it together: 1896 was the year William Jennings Bryan ran for president, and the central issue for Democrats that year was Free Silver.

The U.S. was in the middle of a depression, and Free Silver supporters (the “Silverites”) thought the depression could be alleviated via the coinage of silver.

“For true believers,” the Encyclopedia Britannica states, “silver became the symbol of economic justice for the mass of the American people.”

And those “true believers” were very likely the ones naming their kids Silver back in 1896.

But Bryan’s opponent, William McKinley, was able to convince voters that Free Silver was a bad thing — that the resultant inflation would harm the economy — and won the election.

What do you think of the baby name Silver?

P.S. Want to see other money-inspired monikers? Try Legal Tender, Silver Dollar, Free Silver, Gold Standard, and Depression.

Sources: William Jennings Bryan – Wikipedia, Free Silver – Wikipedia, Free Silver Movement – Britannica.com, SSA

Image: A down-hill movement – LOC

Baby born to silver-mine millionaire, named Silver Dollar

Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor (1889-1925)
Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor (in 1890)

Horace A. W. Tabor, originally from New England, moved to Denver with his wife Augusta and their baby son in 1859 during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush.

While Tabor prospected, the couple survived by operating a general store and taking in boarders (among other things).

Almost twenty years later, in mid-1878, silver lodes were found in a Leadville mine that Horace had invested in. The discovery kicked off the Colorado Silver Boom.

Tabor used his profits to invest in other silver mines, and, by 1879, he’d become one of the wealthiest men in Colorado.

Soon after, the “Silver King” began an affair with Elizabeth Doe (known as “Baby Doe”). After the scandal was made public, Tabor divorced Augusta and married Baby Doe.

The wealthy couple, while living lavishly in Denver, welcomed two daughters: Elizabeth (called “Lily”) in 1884 and Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar (called “Silver”) in 1889.

Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor (1889-1925)
Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor (in 1903)

On the back of the photo above, a friend of Silver’s wrote this about Silver’s full name:

‘Rosemary’ given by her mother after the saint and ‘Echo’ given by her mother because she loved the echoes in the mts around Leadville. ‘Silver Dollar’ given by her father because it was the Silver ore that made him his millions. This picture was given to me in Leadville, Colo. 1903 by Silver.

Other sources say the “Silver Dollar” part was suggested by none other than politician William Jennings Bryan, a family friend (and free silver advocate).

Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor (1854-1935)
Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor (Silver’s mother)

Unfortunately, the Tabors lost their fortune when the value of silver plummeted following the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in mid-1893.

Horace died in 1899. Baby Doe spent the remaining years of her life futilely hanging on to the derelict Matchless Mine in Leadville, where she passed away during the winter of 1935. She’d outlived her daughter Silver — who’d died under suspicious circumstances in Chicago in 1925 — by a nearly decade.

The family’s rages-to-riches-to-rags story was made into a film called Silver Dollar in 1932 and an opera called The Ballad of Baby Doe in 1956.

Sources:

Images: Adapted from photographs of Silver Dollar Tabor (1890), Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar Tabor (1903), and Baby Doe Tabor (1880s) (via Denver Public Library Digital Collections)

[Latest update: Jan. 2025]