How popular is the baby name Emancipation 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 Emancipation.

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Popularity of the baby name Emancipation


Posts that mention the name Emancipation

Babies named for Horatio Alger

American author Horatio Alger (1832-1899)
Horatio Alger

During the last three decades of the 19th century, American author Horatio Alger (1832-1899) wrote dozens of young adult novels. All of them were about boys who overcame poverty — through honesty, hard work, “cheerful perseverance,” and a bit of luck — to attain wealth and respectability.

Alger’s most successful rags-to-riches tale was Ragged Dick (1868), about a quick-witted bootblack named Dick (who began to go by “Richard” after his position in society had improved).

His subsequent novels featured similar plots and protagonists. They had titles like Mark, the Match Boy (1869); Ben, The Luggage Boy (1870); and Dan, the Newsboy (1893). These stories “influenced several generations of young readers, future achievers, and memoir-writers, from Andrew Carnegie to Malcolm X.”

No doubt many baby boys in the U.S. were named after Alger’s various main characters, but I’ve also found a handful named after Alger himself. Some examples…

Several others were born conspicuously early:

The first one — just seven years younger than Alger, and born in the same town — must have been named in honor the author’s father, Unitarian minister Horatio Alger, Sr.

The next three may not have been named until they were several years old (à la Emancipation Proclamation). Or perhaps they were named as babies, but their parents were inspired by Alger’s earlier work. His poem “Gone to the War” appeared on the front page of a Minnesota newspaper in 1861, for instance, and his short story “Edward’s Temptation” ran in its entirety on the front page of an Ohio paper in 1864.

Interestingly, Charles Alger Hiss, whose father was “a great admirer of Horatio Alger,” was, in turn, the father of Alger Hiss — the U.S. State Department official accused of being a Soviet spy in the late 1940s. The Hiss case helped advance the careers of noted anti-communists Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy.

Sources:

Image: Horatio Alger Jr.

Unusual political names in Connecticut

James A. Bill (1817-1900) of Lyme, Connecticut, served in the Connecticut state senate in 1852 and 1853 and in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1849 and 1867. He also happened to be a rare pro-slavery Northerner in the years before and during the Civil War. This fact is reflected in the names of the last three children:

  1. Elizabeth
  2. Phoebe
  3. Mary
  4. Rebecca
  5. Lodowick
  6. James
  7. Kansas Nebraska (born in July, 1855)
  8. Lecompton Constitution (b. October, 1857)
  9. Jefferson Davis (b. February, 1862)

Kansas Nebraska Bill was named after the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), which created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, but also allowed the territories to decide for themselves whether or not they would permit slavery (the “popular sovereignty” principle).

Lecompton Constitution Bill was named after the Lecompton Constitution (1857), a proposed pro-slavery constitution for the state of Kansas that was defeated early the next year.

And Jefferson Davis Bill was, of course, named after Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy throughout the Civil War.

Their older brother, Lodowick, inherited his interesting first name from James’s father. The name Lodowick — like Louis, Ludwig, and Luigi — can be traced back to the Germanic name Chlodovech, which consists of the elements hlud, meaning “famous, loud” and wig, meaning “war, battle.”

[Other notable Civil War-era baby names include Emancipation Proclamation (“Prockie”), Gettysburg (“Gettie”), Kenesaw Mountain, and Elmer Ellsworth.]

Sources:

Baby name story: Laxative Bromo Quinine

E. W. Grove Laxative Bromo Quinine
Laxative Bromo Quinine

A baby named Laxative? Could it be legit?

Yes, amazingly.

What’s the story?

On October 3, 1903, a baby boy was born to Taylor and Lizzie Crim of Lubbock, Texas.

When the baby was a couple of years old, he became seriously ill. His parents tried all the remedies they knew of. Nothing worked.

In an effort to save his son’s life, Taylor Crim trekked from his farm in the countryside to the nearest general store.

After Taylor explained his plight to the storekeeper, a traveling salesman who’d overheard the conversation mentioned that he sold a line of drugs that might help.

So Taylor Crim brought the salesman back to his farm. The salesman stayed the night, periodically giving the baby doses of Bromo Quinine.

(Bromo Quinine tablets, made by the Paris Medicine Company, were marketed as “the world’s first cold tablets” in the late 1800s and early 1900s.)

The baby seemed to get better; he was able to sleep.

Before leaving the next day, the salesman gave the Crims his Bromo Quinine and told them how to use it.

The baby’s health continued to improve. Eventually, he made a full recovery.

A grateful Lizzie decided to name her baby “Laxative Bromo Quinine Crim” after the medicine that she believed saved his life.

She wrote to the Paris Medicine Company, and the company was so impressed with her story that they added her letter and a photo of Bromo (as he came to be known) to their packaging. They also said they’d pay Bromo’s college tuition and hire him as an employee.

Bromo didn’t end up going to college or working for the Paris Medicine Company, though. Instead, he went into the grocery business. He married a woman named Ethel and had several children.

Sadly, he didn’t live long. Laxative Bromo Quinine Crim passed away in 1928 while still in his mid-20s.

What are your thoughts on the name Laxative?

Sources:

  • Ensor, Dennis Kelso. Texas Pioneer Chronicles: The Life And Times Of The Ensor, Kelso & Crim Families Since 1856. Self-published. Charleston: CreateSpace, 2009.
  • McAlavy, Don. “Some baby names don’t come from books.” Clovis News Journal 17 Nov. 2006.

Image: E. W. Grove Laxative Bromo Quinine | National Museum of American History

P.S. As this story implies, babies born in earlier times weren’t always named at birth. Another example of this is Emancipation Proclamation Coggeshall.

Babies named for the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg (1863)
Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg, which lasted from July 1 to July 3, 1863, was a Civil War battle fought in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Were any babies named after the battle?

Yes, several.

In fact, the earliest two I know of represent the two sides of the conflict — north & south.

First, there’s Anne Gettysburg Veazey, born on July 7, 1863, in Vermont. She was the daughter of Col. Wheelock G. Veazey, who led the 16th Vermont Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Colonel Veazey’s return to his beloved Julia must have been especially joyous, since their first child, a daughter, had been born just four days after the guns fell silent at Gettysburg. They christened the little girl Anne Gettysburg Veazey.

Second, there’s Gettysburg Lee McCarter, born on July 19, 1863, in South Carolina. She went by the nickname Gettie (similar to the way Emancipation Proclamation went by the nickname Prockie). Gettie’s gravestone is below.

Gettysburg "Gettie" McCarter Cook

I’ve also found records for about 8 other babies named Gettysburg, including a female born into the Battle family of Alabama in 1878 and named “Gettysburg Battle.”

Source: Coffin, Howard. Nine Months to Gettysburg. Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press, 1997.
Image: Gettie McCarter Cook by Chris Smith