How popular is the baby name Eleanor 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 Eleanor.
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The Irish surname McAdoo emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 1917:
1919: 12 baby boys named Mcadoo
1918: 26 baby boys named Mcadoo
1917: 11 baby boys named Mcadoo [debut]
1916: unlisted
1915: unlisted
The SSA data from that far back isn’t terribly reliable, though, so here’s data from the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for the same time period:
1919: 11 people with the first name Mcadoo
1918: 24 people with the first name Mcadoo
1917: 6 people with the first name Mcadoo
1916: no people with the first name Mcadoo
1915: 2 people with the first name Mcadoo
What was drawing expectant parents’ attention to the surname McAdoo during the late 1910s?
Businessman and politician William Gibbs McAdoo (1863-1941), who served as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1913 to 1918 under his father-in-law, Woodrow Wilson. (McAdoo was married to Wilson’s youngest daughter, Eleanor.)
William G. McAdoo became relatively famous during WWI:
[A]s chair of the War Finance Corporation, he basically set up the policy for how to fund World War I by raising taxes and instituting gold savings bonds called “Liberty Loans,” a money-raising and propaganda tool. When German submarine attacks made transatlantic trade dangerous and expensive, he created the U.S. Shipping Board in 1916. And he served as director general of U.S. railroads when the government started controlling the railroads to make sure military supplies and personnel got transported in a timely manner.
People were so impressed with McAdoo’s achievements that they “equated him to Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury.”
In 1918 — the year that the baby name McAdoo saw peak usage on birth certificates — various U.S. newspapers published the following McAdoo-inspired poem:
Poor Mr. McAdoo! Think of the jobs he’s hitched up to do!– The Treasury, the Railroad crew, The Income Tax and then a few. Each week they hand him something new To tax his time and temper too. He has to know when loans are due, What source to get his billions through, What fund to pass each dollar to, Which tax is what, and who is who; What bonds to sell and what renew, Which “trust” to coax and which to sue. He stretches out each day to two, To do the things he has to do. The job would flounder me or you– But it’s a cinch for McAdoo!
The same year, sheet music for a McAdoo-inspired song was published:
“Mister McAdoo” (1918 song)
William G. McAdoo campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination twice, in 1920 and 1924, but lost both times. (The surname’s final appearance in the baby name data was 1924, in fact.)
Here are several interesting examples of “McAdoo” being used as either a first or a middle name:
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. You’ll find the first half of the list below. (Here’s the second half.)
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
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