The Eiffel Tower was created by civil engineer Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exposition of 1889, which marked the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. It took more than two years to construct and was the tallest man-made structure in the world until 1930.
The name Eiffel has never been common enough in the U.S. to appear in the SSA’s baby name data, but I’ve found U.S. babies named Eiffel born as early as 1887 (the year that construction began*) by searching through vital records and the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).
Here are the best-documented, U.S.-born Eiffels I came across from the last years of the 1880s and the first years of the 1890s. Two-thirds of them are female.
- Eiffel Mae Checketts (née Napper), born in Utah in September of 1887
- Mamie Eiffel Field (née Burk), born in California in October of 1887
- Eiffel May Orcutt (née Stevenson), born in Missouri in June of 1888
- Bayard Eiffel Mccanon, born in Iowa in March of 1889
- Eiffel Dahl (née Plasket), born in Maryland in July of 1889
- Eiffeline Blount (née Van Winkle) born in Iowa in July of 1889
- Eiffel E. Larimer, born in July of 1889 in Kansas
- Mary Eiffel Bessonett (née Kellogg), born in California in August of 1889
- Tessie Eiffel Plummer (née Cahail), born in Iowa in August of 1889
- Marcel Eiffel Taller, born in New York in September of 1889
- Eiffel A. Perras, born in New York in September of 1889
- Eiffel L. Hansen (née Klock), born in Illinois in Jan of 1890
- Eiffel Warren, born in Tennessee in January of 1890
- Eiffel Richison, born in Indiana in February of 1890
- Eiffel B. Gale, born in New York in May of 1890
- Eiffel Gochoel (née Palmer), born in Ohio in June of 1890
- Mon Eiffel Anderson, born in Arkansas in June of 1891
- Eiffel Eliza Raudio (née Henderson), born in California in August of 1891
- Eiffel Beck (née Creer), born in Utah in February of 1892
- Eiffel Crary (née Moats), born in Wisconsin in February of 1892
- Eiffel Dantin (née Marionneaux), born in Louisiana in March of 1892
- Eiffel T. Mateer, born in Virginia in April of 1892
- Eiffel B. Hitchcock, born in Ohio in July of 1892
- Eiffel Alfred Holm, born in Minnesota in October of 1892
- Eiffel Tower Sutherland (née Collins), born in Indiana in January of 1894
- In 1952, she was mentioned in a single-sentence news item: “Danville, Ind. — When Betty Jean Weesney, home from a recent European trip, brought back a souvenir replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it was the logical gift for just one friend — Eiffel Tower Sutherland.”
By the way, did you know that Gustave Eiffel’s surname at birth was actually Bönickhausen?
In the early 1700s, Gustave’s ancestor Jean-Rene Bönickhausen relocated from a town in the mountainous Eifel region of Germany to the capital of France and began going by Eiffel (perhaps because it was easier to pronounce than Bönickhausen). So the official surname of this branch of the family tree became “Bönickhausen, dit Eiffel.” Gustave didn’t legally shorten it to Eiffel until 1879.
The word “Eifel” can be traced back to the Early Middle Ages, but the etymology is unknown.
What are your thoughts on Eiffel as a first name? Would you use it?
*The Eiffel Tower was being mentioned in the newspapers was early as mid-1886, but the name wasn’t set yet; it was being called things like “the Great Tower,” “the Tower of Paris,” and “the Eiffel Tall Tower.”
Sources:
- Eiffel Tower – Wikipedia
- Gustave Eiffel – Wikipedia
- History & Construction of the Eiffel Tower
- Loyrette, Henri. Gustave Eiffel. New York: Rizzoli, 1985.
- Who was Gustave Eiffel? – Eiffel Tower
- “Appropriate Gift.” Miami Daily News 10 Oct. 1952: 2-A.
