In 1910, the Boston-based publisher H. M. Caldwell Co. ran the following ad for its “My Own Name” series of books in American Motherhood magazine.
It is the purpose of these charming little books to tell girls all about their names, information about the name, its origin, the name in history, the name in poetry, fiction and romance is given, also notable namesakes past and present.
It wasn’t much of a series, though, as there were only 25 names to choose from:
- Alice (ranked 10th nationally in 1910)
- Annie (19th)
- Bertha (33rd)
- Charlotte (99th)
- Dorothy (4th)
- Edith (35th)
- Eleanor (55th)
- Elizabeth (7th)
- Fanny (391st)
- Gertrude (26th)
- Gladys (15th)
- Helen (2nd)
- Isabel (176th)
- Jane (116th)
- Katherine (57th)
- Lucy (75th)
- Margaret (3rd)
- Marion (59th)
- Marjorie (68th)
- Mary (1st)
- Mildred (8th)
- Nellie (51st)
- Ruth (5th)
- Sarah (40th)
- Winifred (185th)
Clearly three more names could have fit on that last line (next to Winifred), so let’s turn this into a game. Which three girl names would you add to this list? That is, give us three names you like that would also be logical additions to this list, given the time period. For instance, I think I’d add Iola, Della, and Bonnie. How about you?
(If you want to access the national rankings for 1910, click over to the SSA’s site and scroll down to “Popular Names by Birth Year.”)