How popular is the baby name Marian 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 Marian.

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Popularity of the baby name Marian


Posts that mention the name Marian

Where did the baby name Ortrude come from in 1916?

Ortrude is one of the many girl names tied for top one-hit wonder of 1916.

  • 1918: unlisted
  • 1917: unlisted
  • 1916: 6 baby girls named Ortrude [debut]
  • 1915: unlisted
  • 1914: unlisted

Where did it come from?

A serialized story called Marrying for Money by Mrs. Eva Leonard. It ran in various U.S. newspapers during the first half of 1916.

In the story, Ortrude was a self-centered woman who married a wealthy older man with two adolescent children (Marian and Dudley). Ortrude’s bad behavior did not endear her to anyone in her new family, husband included. By the end of the tale, she’d had an epiphany and changed her ways.

Do you like the name Ortrude? Do you like it more or less than the similar name Gertrude?

The baby names Jubilee and Marian

Jubilee, 1975

The baby name Jubilee has been seeing a good amount of usage lately. In fact, the name may enter the girls’ top 1,000 within the next few years:

  • 2015: 229 baby girls named Jubilee [rank: 1,117th]
  • 2014: 167 baby girls named Jubilee [rank: 1,382nd]
  • 2013: 156 baby girls named Jubilee [rank: 1,440th]
  • 2012: 160 baby girls named Jubilee [rank: 1,424th]
  • 2011: 104 baby girls named Jubilee [rank: 1,918th]
  • 2010: 94 baby girls named Jubilee [rank: 2,101st]

(That increase in 2012 was thanks to Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. Thank you, Fiona, for reminding me to mention it!)

The name first popped up in the U.S. baby name data in 1975:

  • 1977: 6 baby girls named Jubilee
  • 1976: 8 baby girls named Jubilee
  • 1975: 9 baby girls named Jubilee [debut]
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: unlisted

Why? Very likely because 1975 was one of the Roman Catholic Church’s more recent jubilee years.

Speaking of special Roman Catholic years…the church has also celebrated a total of two Marian years, the first of which was in 1954. That year, the baby name Marian saw a rise in usage so steep that it nearly returned to top 100:

  • 1956: 1,249 baby girls named Marian [232nd]
  • 1955: 1,497 baby girls named Marian [208th]
  • 1954: 4,014 baby girls named Marian [104th]
  • 1953: 1,366 baby girls named Marian [217th]
  • 1952: 1,246 baby girls named Marian [221st]

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Marian in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Marian

The baby name Mary likewise saw a significant increase in usage in 1954:

  • 1956: 61,743 baby girls named Mary [rank: 1st]
  • 1955: 63,173 baby girls named Mary [rank: 1st]
  • 1954: 68,021 baby girls named Mary [rank: 1st]
  • 1953: 64,390 baby girls named Mary [rank: 1st]
  • 1952: 65,627 baby girls named Mary [rank: 2nd]

Notably, Mary’s ranking did not increase — because it was already the top girl name in the nation!

The Church’s second Marian year, which lasted from mid-1987 to mid-1988, had no noticeable effect on either Marian or Mary.

Which of these three names — Jubilee, Marian or Mary — do you like most?

Update, Oct. 2020 – I spoke too soon regarding Jubilee! Turns out peak usage was in 2015-2016 — likely because of the Catholic Church’s “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy” that was announced in early 2015 and lasted from late 2015 to late 2016. After that, usage began dropping:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Jubilee in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Jubilee

Sources: Jubilee in the Catholic Church – Wikipedia, SSA

Top image: Montespertoli, targa giubileo1975, famiglia romei by Sailko under CC BY 3.0.

[Latest update: Aug. 2024]

Baby name story: Naomi Rose

On the morning of October 2, 2006, a gunman took ten girls (ages 6 to 13) hostage in a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He shot the girls, killing five and wounding the other five, before committing suicide.

One of the girls who was killed was 7-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersol. Earlier during the incident — before the gunman had ordered the adult women and the boys to leave — Naomi had been comforted by a 22-year-old pregnant woman named Lydia Mae Zook.

[Lydia] reached over and patted the frightened child on the back.

“It’s going to be all right,” she assured the little girl.

On October 10, Lydia gave birth to her baby girl three weeks early. She named the baby Naomi Rose.

(The other little girls who lost their lives were named Anna, Lena, Marian, and Mary.)

Source: Dribben, Melissa. “In Amish survivor’s baby, hope lives “Shattered, but strong”: Woman who escaped death relates her story.” Philadelphia Inquirer 22 Oct. 2006.

Popular baby names in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1866

19th-century Providence, Rhode Island
19th-century Providence

Last month we looked at the top Providence names of 1867, so today let’s check out the rankings from the year before — 1866.

First, some stats:

  • 1,633 babies were babies were born in Providence in 1866, by my count. (The number given by the author of the document is 1,632.)
  • 1,457 of these babies (707 girls and 750 boys) had names that were registered with the government at the time of publication. The other 176 babies got blank spaces.
  • 234 unique names (123 girl names and 108 boy names) were shared among these 1,457 babies.

And here’s some extra information I forgot to mention in the last post: In 1860, the city of Providence was home to 29.0% of Rhode Island’s population. In 1870, it was home to 31.7% of the population. So each of these 3 sets of rankings (1866, 1867, 1868) ought to account for roughly 30% of the residents of the state.

Now, on to the names…

Top 5

The top 5 girl names and boy names of 1866 were, unsurprisingly, very similar to the top names of 1867.

Top baby girl namesTop baby boy names
1. Mary
2. Catherine
3. Ellen
4. Margaret
5. Sarah		1. John
2. William
3. James
4. George
5. Thomas

The girls’ top 5 is identical, while the boys’ top 5 includes Thomas instead of George.

All Girl Names

As expected, Mary was the front-runner by a huge margin. And, while there were dozens of Catherines, and a single Catharine, there weren’t any Katherines.

  1. Mary, 149 baby girls
  2. Catherine, 43
  3. Ellen, 40
  4. Margaret, 37
  5. Sarah, 36
  6. Elizabeth, 32
  7. Alice, 18
  8. Annie, 15
  9. Anna & Eliza, 14 each (2-way tie)
  10. Clara, 13
  11. Ann, 11
  12. Carrie, Emma, Jane & Susan, 10 each (4-way tie)
  13. Grace & Ida, 9 each (2-way tie)
  14. Esther, Martha & Minnie, 7 each (3-way tie)
  15. Anne & Julia, 6 each (2-way tie)
  16. Agnes, Charlotte, Cora, Harriet, Jennie, Joanna, Maria & Rosanna, 5 each (8-way tie)
  17. Amelia, Bridget, Ella, Frances, Hattie, Lydia, Nellie & Theresa, 4 each (8-way tie)
  18. Abby, Emily, Florence, Josephine, Laura, Lillian, Lizzie, Louise & Marion, 3 each (9-way tie)
  19. Ada, Amy, Augusta, Deborah, Edith, Etta, Eva, Fannie, Georgianna, Hannah, Henrietta, Honora, Isabel, Isabella, Lottie, Lucy, Mabel, Marietta, Maud & Teresa, 2 each (20-way tie)
  20. Almira, Annette, Bertha, Catharine, Cedelia, Celia, Christina, Delia, Diana, Dora, Dorcas, Eldora, Eleanor, Elsie, Emeline, Etherine, Eugenie, Evangeline, Fanny, Flora, Geneva, Georgia, Gracie, Helen, Helena, Imogene, Janette, Jessie, Kate, Lena, Louisa, Lucia, Lucinda, Madelina, Marian, Marsalin, May, Millie, Mina, Mini, Minna, Neatah, Nettie, Phebe, Rebecca, Rosa, Roselia, Rosetta, Ruth, Sophia, Stella, Susanna, Susannah, Tillie & Winnifred, 1 each (55-way tie)

All Boy Names

John had an even more commanding lead in 1866 than in 1867.

  1. John, 109 baby boys
  2. William, 78
  3. James, 62
  4. George, 44
  5. Thomas, 41
  6. Charles, 36
  7. Edward, 28
  8. Joseph, 27
  9. Frederick, 20
  10. Henry, 18
  11. Frank, 17
  12. Michael, 15
  13. Francis, 14
  14. Daniel, 13
  15. Albert, Patrick & Robert, 12 each (3-way tie)
  16. Walter, 11
  17. Arthur, Peter & Samuel, 8 each (3-way tie)
  18. Alfred, Harry, Louis & Stephen, 7 each (4-way tie)
  19. Martin, 6
  20. Matthew, 5
  21. Christopher, Clarence, Herbert, Howard & Hugh, 4 each (5-way tie)
  22. Benjamin, Eugene, Ira & Jeremiah, 3 each (4-way tie)
  23. Aaron, Alvin, Arnold, Earl, Edgar, Elisha, Freddie, Harrison, Lewis, Marcus, Nicholas, Philip, Richard & Timothy, 2 each (14-way tie)
  24. Abner, Adam, Adolph, Alanson, Alden, Ambrose, Antonio, August, Augustavus,* Augustus, Bartholomew, Bernard, Bradford, Byron, Chauncey, Clinton, David, Duncan, Eben, Ebenezer, Edwin, Elias, Elliott, Ethan, Everett, Ezra, Ferdinand, Frederic, Fullerton, Gilbert, Gwynn, Harold, Herman, Isaac, Jesse, Josiah, Lauriston, Luther, Manuel, Marks, Maurice, Miles, Mortimer, Oliver, Olney, Oscar, Otto, Rana, Rectol, Salisbury, Shamball, Simon, Terence, Theodore, Victor, Willard, Willie & Wilton, 1 each (58-way tie)

(I didn’t combine any variant spellings, but I did lump the abbreviated names Chas., Benj., and Fred’k in with Charles, Benjamin and Frederick.)

*Does Augustavus = Augustus + Gustav?

Twins

I counted 19 pairs of twins born in Providence in 1866. I didn’t notice any triplets this year. (All of these names have already been accounted for above.)

Girl-girl twinsGirl-boy twinsBoy-boy twins
Agnes & Anna
Eldora & Ellen
Eliza & Mary
Elizabeth & Julia
Frances & Mary
Josephine & Mary
Mary & Sarah
Theresa & (blank)		Alice & Frederick
Alice & John
Annie & Stephen
Catherine & (blank)
Sarah & Samuel		Edgar & Oscar
Edward & James
Francis & James
James & John
John & Thomas
(blank) & (blank)

I’ll try to finish/post the final set of rankings before the end of the year.

Source: Snow, Edwin M. Alphabetical Lists of Persons Deceased, Born and Married in the City of Providence During the Year 1866. Providence: Hammond, Angell & Co., 1867.