How popular is the baby name Francis 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 Francis.
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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.”
Did you know that New York City’s website hosts vital statistics reports (PDFs) going all the way back to the 1960s? And that, from 1991 onward, these annual reports include baby name rankings for NYC?
I don’t want you to have to comb through a whole bunch of PDFs to find the city’s historical top-ten lists, though, so I gathered all the lists into a single blog post.
The name tables in the reports also incorporate several older sets rankings (from 1990, 1985, 1980, 1948, 1928, and 1898 specifically) for comparison, and those are here well — just scroll to the bottom.
2019
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2019. (Here’s my post about the 2019 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2019)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2019)
1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Sophia 4. Mia 5. Isabella 6. Leah 7. Ava 8. Chloe 9. Amelia 10. Charlotte
1. Liam 2. Noah 3. Ethan 4. Jacob 5. Lucas 6. Aiden 7. Daniel 8. Michael 9. David 10. Matthew
2018
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2018. (Here’s my post about the 2018 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2018)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2018)
1. Emma 2. Isabella 3. Sophia 4. Mia 5. Olivia 6. Ava 7. Leah 8. Sarah 9. Amelia 10. Chloe
1. Liam 2. Noah 3. Ethan 4. Jacob 5. Aiden 6. David 7. Lucas 8. Matthew 9. Daniel 10. Alexander
2017
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2017. (Here’s my post about the 2017 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2017)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2017)
1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Mia 4. Sophia 5. Isabella 6. Ava 7. Leah 8. Emily 9. Sarah 10. Abigail
1. Liam 2. Noah 3. Jacob 4. Ethan 5. David 6. Lucas 7. Matthew 8. Jayden 9. Aiden 10. Daniel
2016
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2016. (Here’s my post about the 2016 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2016)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2016)
1. Olivia 2. Sophia 3. Emma 4. Isabella 5. Mia 6. Ava 7. Emily 8. Leah 9. Sarah 10. Madison
1. Liam 2. Jacob 3. Ethan 4. Noah 5. Aiden 6. Matthew 7. Daniel 8. Lucas 9. Michael 10. Dylan
2015
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2015. (Here’s my post about the 2015 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2015)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2015)
1. Olivia 2. Sophia 3. Emma (tie) 4. Mia (tie) 5. Isabella 6. Leah 7. Emily 8. Ava 9. Chloe 10. Madison
1. Ethan 2. Liam 3. Noah 4. Jacob 5. Jayden 6. Matthew 7. David 8. Daniel (tie) 9. Dylan (tie) 10. Aiden
2014
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2014. (Here’s my post about the 2014 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2014)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2014)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Olivia 4. Mia 5. Emma 6. Emily 7. Leah 8. Ava 9. Sofia 10. Chloe
1. Ethan 2. Jacob 3. Liam 4. Jayden 5. Noah 6. Daniel 7. Michael 8. Alexander 9. David 10. Matthew
2013
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2013.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2013)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2013)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Emma 4. Olivia 5. Mia 6. Emily 7. Leah 8. Sofia 9. Madison 10. Chloe
1. Jayden 2. Ethan 3. Jacob 4. Daniel 5. David 6. Noah 7. Michael 8. Matthew 9. Alexander 10. Liam
2012
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2012.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2012)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2012)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Emma 4. Olivia 5. Emily 6. Mia 7. Chloe 8. Madison 9. Leah 10. Ava
1. Jayden 2. Ethan 3. Jacob 4. Daniel 5. Matthew 6. Michael 7. Aiden 8. David 9. Ryan 10. Alexander
2011
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2011. (Here’s my post about the 2011 NYC rankings.)
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2011)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2011)
1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Olivia 4. Emma 5. Mia 6. Emily 7. Madison 8. Leah 9. Chloe 10. Sofia
1. Jayden 2. Jacob 3. Ethan 4. Daniel 5. Michael 6. Matthew 7. Justin 8. David 9. Aiden 10. Alexander
2010
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2010.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2010)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2010)
1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Olivia 4. Emily 5. Madison 6. Mia 7. Emma 8. Leah 9. Sarah 10. Chloe
1. Jayden 2. Ethan 3. Daniel 4. Jacob 5. David 6. Justin 7. Michael 8. Matthew 9. Joseph 10. Joshua
2009
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2009.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2009)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2009)
1. Isabella 2. Sophia 3. Mia 4. Emily 5. Olivia 6. Madison 7. Sarah 8. Ashley 9. Leah 10. Emma
1. Jayden 2. Daniel 3. Ethan 4. Michael 5. David 6. Justin 7. Matthew 8. Joshua 9. Alexander 10. Christopher
2008
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2008.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 2008)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 2008)
1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Emily 4. Olivia 5. Sarah 6. Madison 7. Ashley 8. Mia 9. Samantha 10. Emma
1. Jayden 2. Daniel 3. Michael 4. Matthew 5. David 6. Joshua 7. Justin 8. Anthony 9. Christopher 10. Ethan/Ryan (tied for 10th)
2007
The most popular baby names in New York City in 2007. (Here’s my post about the 2007 NYC rankings.)
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Kevin 4. Daniel 5. Jonathan 6. Joseph 7. Anthony 8. Matthew 9. David 10. Justin
*The name was spelled “Sara” (without the h) in the 1995 annual report, but “Sarah” (with the h) on all the other reports. So, assuming that “Sara” was a typo, I’ve spelled it with the h here.
1994
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1994.
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Kevin 4. Anthony 5. Jonathan 6. Daniel 7. Joseph 8. Matthew 9. David 10. Brandon
1993
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1993.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1993)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1993)
1. Ashley 2. Stephanie 3. Jessica 4. Amanda 5. Samantha 6. Nicole 7. Jennifer 8. Michelle 9. Melissa 10. Christina
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Kevin 4. Jonathan 5. Anthony 6. Daniel 7. Joseph 8. David 9. Matthew 10. John
1992
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1992.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1992)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1992)
1. Ashley 2. Stephanie 3. Jessica 4. Amanda 5. Samantha 6. Jennifer 7. Nicole 8. Michelle 9. Melissa 10. Christina
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Jonathan 4. Anthony 5. Joseph 6. Daniel 7. David 8. Kevin 9. Matthew 10. John
1991
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1991.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1991)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1991)
1. Stephanie 2. Ashley 3. Jessica 4. Amanda 5. Samantha 6. Jennifer 7. Nicole 8. Michelle 9. Melissa 10. Christina
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Jonathan 4. Anthony 5. Joseph 6. Daniel 7. David 8. Matthew 9. Kevin 10. John
1990
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1990.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1990)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1990)
1. Stephanie 2. Jessica 3. Ashley 4. Jennifer 5. Amanda 6. Samantha 7. Nicole 8. Christina 9. Melissa 10. Michelle
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Jonathan 4. Anthony 5. David 6. Daniel 7. Joseph 8. Matthew 9. John 10. Andrew
1985
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1985.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1985)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1985)
1. Jennifer 2. Jessica 3. Christina 4. Stephanie 5. Melissa 6. Nicole 7. Elizabeth 8. Amanda 9. Danielle 10. Lauren
1. Michael 2. Christopher 3. Daniel 4. David 5. Anthony 6. Joseph 7. Jonathan 8. Jason 9. John 10. Robert
1980
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1980.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1980)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1980)
1. Jennifer 2. Jessica 3. Melissa 4. Nicole 5. Michelle 6. Elizabeth 7. Lisa 8. Christina 9. Tiffany 10. Maria
1. Michael 2. David 3. Jason 4. Joseph 5. Christopher 6. Anthony 7. John 8. Daniel 9. Robert 10. James
1948
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1948.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1948)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1948)
1. Linda 2. Mary 3. Barbara 4. Patricia 5. Susan 6. Kathleen 7. Carol 8. Nancy 9. Margaret 10. Diane
1. Robert 2. John 3. James 4. Michael 5. William 6. Richard 7. Joseph 8. Thomas 9. Stephen 10. David
1928
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1928.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1928)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1928)
1. Mary 2. Marie 3. Annie 4. Margaret 5. Catherine 6. Gloria 7. Helen 8. Teresa 9. Joan 10. Barbara
1. John 2. William 3. Joseph 4. James 5. Richard 6. Edward 7. Robert 8. Thomas 9. George 10. Louis
1898
The most popular baby names in New York City in 1898.
Top Girl Names (NYC, 1898)
Top Boy Names (NYC, 1898)
1. Mary 2. Catherine 3. Margaret 4. Annie 5. Rose 6. Marie 7. Esther 8. Sarah 9. Frances 10. Ida
1. John 2. William 3. Charles 4. George 5. Joseph 6. Edward 7. James 8. Louis 9. Francis 10. Samuel
NYC typically waits until the following December to release their baby name rankings, so I don’t expect the 2020 rankings to be available until the end of this year.
In 1960, the name Nedenia showed up in the U.S. baby name data for the first and only time:
1962: unlisted
1961: unlisted
1960: 9 baby girls named Nedenia [debut]
1959: unlisted
1958: unlisted
Where did it come from?
Actress and socialite Dina Merrill, whose real name was Nedenia Hutton.
Often compared to Grace Kelly. Merrill was most famous in the late ’50s and early ’60s. In 1960 specifically, she could be seen in the movies The Sundowners and BUtterfield 8. (When Merrill appeared on the game show What’s My Line? in August of 1960, one of the panelists remarked: “I must say that Miss Merrill has had more publicity than I think any actress in America in the course of the last year.”)
I think a more precise explanation, though, is “She Has Too Much Money” — an article with an eye-catching title that ran in Parade (the nationally distributed Sunday newspaper magazine) in March of 1959. It primarily focused on Dina’s wealth, but divulged Dina’s full legal name at the time, Nedenia Hutton Rumbough, in the second paragraph.
Nedenia Hutton was born in 1923 to Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and stockbroker Edward Francis Hutton. Her birth name was an elaboration of her father’s nickname, Ned. (Her stage surname, Merrill, was borrowed from another well-known stockbroker: Charles E. Merrill.)
The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, which commemorated the Louisiana Purchase, included “anthropological exhibits” — essentially, various groups of indigenous people put on display. These exhibits included Apaches, “Eskimos” (Tlingits), African Pygmies, and the Ainu of Japan.
One particularly popular exhibit was the 47-acre Philippine Exposition, which featured over 1,000 Filipinos from at least 10 different ethnic groups. (The fair was held soon after the Philippines had become an unincorporated territory of the U.S. following the Philippine-American War* (1899-1902), which itself followed the Spanish-American War.)
On July 6, a Filipino baby boy was born at the Philippine Exposition. When he was christened several weeks later, David R. Francis — the president of the fair (and the former governor of Missouri) — acted as godfather.
The boy’s full name? Louis Francis Silva, first and middle names “in honor of St. Louis and President Francis,” respectively.
*The military governor of the Philippines from from 1901 to 1902 was Adna Romanza Chaffee, Sr. — the father of Adna Romanza Chaffee, Jr., after whom Fort Chaffee was named.
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