How popular is the baby name Mary 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 Mary.

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Popularity of the baby name Mary


Posts that mention the name Mary

What gave the baby name Gilda a boost in the 1920s?

Actress Gilda Gray as the character Aloma in the silent film "Aloma of the South Seas" (1926)
Gilda Gray in “Aloma of the South Seas“

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Gilda achieved peak popularity (in terms of ranking) in 1927:

  • 1929: 257 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 414th]
  • 1928: 291 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 393rd]
  • 1927: 321 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 381st]
  • 1926: 293 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 401st]
  • 1925: 200 baby girls named Gilda [rank: 497th]

What was drawing attention to the name around that time?

Actress Gilda Gray, who began her career as a vaudeville dancer in the late 1910s. She was famous for doing the shimmy — a shoulder-shaking dance move that was somewhat controversial at the time.

She went on to appear in several movies, the most successful of which was the 1926 silent film Aloma of the South Seas, in which she played the title character. Here’s how one newspaper advertisement described the picture:

A fiery romance of the tropics in which Gilda, as a native dancing girl, vies with a lovely woman of fashion for the love of a derelict young white man. Drama! Beauty! Thrills!

(The baby name Aloma saw higher usage in 1927 as well.)

Gilda Gray was born Marianna Michalska in Poland around the turn of the century. Her family immigrated to the U.S. when she was a child.

Her stage name was initially Mary Gray, but singer Sophie Tucker suggested that she change “Mary” to “Gilda” on account of her golden hair.

What are your thoughts on the name Gilda?

P.S. The word “shimmy” is of unknown origin, but one theory posits that it derives from the French word chemise.

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the book Aloma of the South Seas (1926)

Baby name story: Alexandra Naldera

George and Mary Curzon (in 1903)
George and Mary Curzon (in 1903)

British statesman George Curzon and his first wife, American heiress Mary Leiter, were married in 1895. They had a total of three children, all girls.

The first two were named Mary Irene (b. 1896) and Cynthia Blanche (b. 1898).

The third — born in early 1904, while George was serving as Viceroy of India — was named Alexandra Naldera.

Why?

Her first name honored her godmother, Queen Alexandra, and her middle name came from the Indian hill station of Naldera, which is where she was conceived in mid-1903.

Naldera — located about 20 miles away from the city of Shimla, the summer capital of British India — was where George and Mary “would withdraw for a respite from official duties, where Mary could rest and Curzon could work out of doors.”

The settlement’s name (now spelled Naldehra) was likely derived from the term Nag Devta, meaning “serpent deity” — a nod to the local Naga temple.

Sources:

Image: George Curzon with his wife posing with a hunted Bengal tiger, 1903

North Carolina triplets with rhyming names: Dessie, Bessie, Essie

Triplets Dessie, Bessie and Essie Justice (plus a younger sibling)
Dessie, Bessie, and Essie Justice

During the early decades of the the 20th century, Thomas Edward “Tommy” Justice and Laura Effie Justice (née Searcy) of Henderson County, North Carolina, welcomed 14 children — including a set of triplets.

Here are the names of all 14 siblings:

  1. Curtis Edward (born in 1900)
  2. Sidney Thomas (b. 1902)
  3. Dessie M. (b. 1904)
  4. Bessie Martha (b. 1904)
  5. Essie Margaret (b. 1904)
  6. Lula Belle (b. 1906)
  7. unnamed son (b. 1908)
  8. William Leonard (b. 1909)
  9. James Arthur (b. 1911)
  10. Anna May (b. 1914)
  11. Fred (b. 1917)
  12. Mary Sue (b. 1919)
  13. Laura Lee (b. 1921)
  14. George Washington (b. 1924)

Dessie, Bessie, and Essie were born in the family’s log cabin on March 16, 1904.

As children, Dessie and Bessie looked a lot alike, but Essie stood out because she “was the runt,” according to Dessie.

Dessie also noted that all three of them were “bashful” as youngsters:

We were entered in baby shows and attracted a lot of attention since we were triplets, but we didn’t like it. We would run and hide under the bed when people came to take our pictures. They would have to drag us to the shows and feed us ice cream behind the curtain to keep us at the show.

Speaking of Dessie…I wasn’t able to track down her middle name. What do you think Dessie’s middle initial, “M.,” might have stood for?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Spirit of Missions magazine (Sept. 1911)

Minnesota family with 22 children

kinderfest

In the mid-20th century, Alvin Joseph Miller and Lucille Rose Miller (née Kahnke) of Waseca, Minnesota, had 22 children — 15 girls and 7 boys.

Here are the names of all 22 siblings:

  1. Ramona Mary (born in 1940), who became a Franciscan nun
  2. Alvin Joseph, Jr. (b. 1942)
  3. Rose Ann (b. 1943)
  4. Kathleen Edith (b. 1945)
  5. Robert Vincent (b. 1946)
  6. Patricia Jean (b. 1947)
  7. Mary Lucille (b. 1948), nicknamed “Marylu”
  8. Diane Margaret (b. 1949)
  9. John Charles (b. 1950)
  10. Janet Irene (b. 1951)
  11. Linda Louise (b. 1953)
  12. Virginia Therese (b. 1954)
  13. Helen Rita (b. 1955), who wrote a book about growing up in a large family
  14. Arthur Lawrence (b. 1956)
  15. Dolores Maria (b. 1957)
  16. Martin Peter (b. 1959)
  17. Pauline Carmel (b. 1960)
  18. Alice Callista (b. 1961)
  19. Angela Mary (b. 1962)
  20. Marcia Marie (b. 1963)
  21. Gregory Eugene (b. 1964)
  22. Damien Francis (b. 1966)

Eight of the children had been born by April of 1950, when the Miller family was interviewed for the U.S. Census:

The Miller family on the 1950 U.S. Census
The Miller family (1950 U.S. Census)

Alvin and Lucille raised their children on a 300-acre farm that included a seven-bedroom farmhouse. Here’s how Diane (#8) described her childhood:

I remember a lot of rides in the wheelbarrow from the granary to the barn. I remember a lot of grinding feed, a lot of egg washing and packing, a lot of sitting by the wood stove in the basement, singing songs as we candled eggs.

Which of the names above do you like most?

P.S. Thank you to Destiny for letting me know about the Miller family a few months ago! (Destiny also told me about the Jones family of West Virginia.)

Sources:

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus