Most Popular Baby Names of 1901

In 1901, Mary was the most popular name for girls, given to 13,136 babies, and John topped the boys' list with 6,900. Mary held on to number one for a 22nd year in a row, and John held on to number one for a 22nd year in a row.

Social Security counted 239,345 girls and 106,467 boys born in 1901 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 1,943 different girls' names and 1,210 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1901

Top girls' names, 1901
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1900
1	Mary	13,136	same
2	Helen	5,247	same
3	Anna	4,923	same
4	Margaret	4,424	same
5	Ruth	3,974	same
6	Elizabeth	3,216	same
7	Marie	3,157	up 2
8	Florence	3,131	down 1
9	Ethel	3,067	down 1
10	Lillian	2,681	same
11	Gladys	2,676	up 10
12	Alice	2,562	up 2
13	Edna	2,488	down 1
14	Mildred	2,424	up 6
15	Grace	2,398	up 2
16	Annie	2,396	down 5
17	Emma	2,374	down 4
18	Clara	2,319	up 1
19	Bertha	2,257	down 3
20	Rose	2,212	down 2
21	Bessie	2,183	down 6
22	Dorothy	2,173	up 5
23	Hazel	2,097	up 6
24	Mabel	2,097	up 1
25	Frances	2,071	up 1
26	Minnie	2,026	down 4
27	Gertrude	1,964	down 4
28	Myrtle	1,892	up 4
29	Martha	1,886	down 1
30	Irene	1,879	up 1
31	Pearl	1,866	down 7
32	Edith	1,863	up 4
33	Esther	1,844	up 6
34	Ida	1,835	down 4
35	Elsie	1,747	up 3
36	Louise	1,640	down 1
37	Eva	1,617	down 4
38	Catherine	1,599	down 4
39	Agnes	1,525	up 2
40	Sarah	1,514	down 3
41	Nellie	1,454	up 2
42	Ella	1,435	same
43	Josephine	1,434	up 4
44	Laura	1,402	up 1
45	Lillie	1,382	down 5
46	Julia	1,362	same
47	Viola	1,331	up 2
48	Carrie	1,247	same
49	Ruby	1,225	up 2
50	Mattie	1,224	down 6
51	Lena	1,216	up 1
52	Alma	1,195	up 5
53	Beatrice	1,183	up 3
54	Mae	1,140	same
55	Jessie	1,116	down 2
56	Hattie	1,106	down 6
57	Thelma	1,090	up 16
58	Cora	1,027	down 3
59	Blanche	1,025	up 1
60	Mamie	992	down 1
61	Lucy	979	same
62	Evelyn	966	up 8
63	Marion	963	up 3
64	Pauline	938	up 7
65	Stella	928	up 3
66	Ada	913	up 6
67	Lula	905	down 4
68	Willie	901	down 10
69	Jennie	898	down 5
70	Lucille	894	down 3
71	Katherine	890	down 6
72	Fannie	873	down 10
73	Vera	860	up 3
74	Beulah	859	up 4
75	Rosa	845	down 6
76	Virginia	825	down 2
77	Maude	819	same
78	Leona	779	up 7
79	Dora	768	same
80	Maggie	746	down 5
81	Nora	727	up 2
82	Ellen	711	same
83	Marguerite	699	up 3
84	Eleanor	686	up 4
85	Sadie	676	down 1
86	Bernice	660	up 10
87	Daisy	653	down 6
88	Susie	650	down 8
89	Ann	634	up 3
90	Kathryn	620	up 3
91	Violet	611	up 18
92	Hilda	574	up 9
93	Nettie	562	up 1
94	Theresa	554	up 8
95	May	550	down 4
96	Georgia	549	down 9
97	Effie	545	down 8
98	Olive	539	down 3
99	Emily	537	up 6
100	Della	534	down 10

Top boys' names, 1901
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1900
1	John	6,900	same
2	William	5,990	same
3	James	4,735	same
4	George	3,609	same
5	Charles	3,049	same
6	Joseph	2,766	up 1
7	Robert	2,543	down 1
8	Frank	2,402	same
9	Edward	1,917	same
10	Henry	1,870	same
11	Thomas	1,820	same
12	Walter	1,718	same
13	Harry	1,594	same
14	Arthur	1,329	up 1
15	Albert	1,317	up 1
16	Willie	1,294	down 2
17	Clarence	1,196	up 1
18	Fred	1,133	down 1
19	Paul	924	same
20	Roy	917	up 1
21	Harold	915	down 1
22	Raymond	888	up 1
23	Earl	818	up 5
24	Carl	817	up 5
25	Louis	797	up 1
26	Richard	784	down 2
27	Joe	756	down 5
28	Ernest	691	up 2
29	Ralph	682	up 2
30	David	672	up 2
31	Charlie	654	down 6
32	Jack	645	down 5
33	Samuel	628	same
34	Howard	584	up 1
35	Herbert	573	up 1
36	Francis	543	up 5
37	Lawrence	535	up 3
38	Elmer	520	same
39	Alfred	506	up 3
40	Andrew	479	down 3
41	Sam	479	down 7
42	Leo	456	up 4
43	Theodore	450	up 18
44	Eugene	445	up 1
45	Lee	424	down 6
46	Floyd	423	up 2
47	Oscar	422	same
48	Daniel	416	down 4
49	Jesse	411	up 1
50	Russell	395	up 12
51	Herman	393	down 2
52	Michael	384	down 1
53	Will	364	down 10
54	Leonard	362	same
55	Clyde	356	up 1
56	Benjamin	343	up 1
57	Peter	343	up 1
58	Claude	341	up 1
59	Ray	338	down 4
60	Frederick	336	up 4
61	Lester	332	down 1
62	Anthony	323	up 5
63	Lewis	309	down 11
64	Martin	304	up 6
65	Edwin	299	up 9
66	Eddie	296	down 3
67	Tom	291	down 14
68	Lloyd	285	up 10
69	Clifford	282	down 3
70	Cecil	278	up 6
71	Edgar	271	same
72	Leroy	268	down 7
73	Ben	259	same
74	Homer	257	up 6
75	Chester	253	down 3
76	Harvey	253	up 5
77	Donald	250	up 2
78	Kenneth	246	up 12
79	Luther	244	up 3
80	Bernard	242	up 6
81	Jim	239	down 13
82	Stanley	239	down 5
83	Norman	238	same
84	Philip	232	up 10
85	Jessie	231	down 16
86	Everett	218	up 14
87	Leon	208	down 2
88	Allen	199	up 16
89	Leslie	198	up 2
90	Milton	197	up 8
91	Hugh	192	down 3
92	Oliver	187	up 3
93	Patrick	181	down 4
94	Glenn	180	up 24
95	Alvin	179	up 10
96	Horace	178	up 1
97	Melvin	176	up 5
98	Jacob	172	up 3
99	Guy	170	same
100	Victor	169	down 8

Biggest climbers in 1901

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1900.

Girls

Macie: up 357 places, from 819th to 462nd
Retha: up 343 places, from 774th to 431st
Rubye: up 338 places, from 776th to 438th
Magdalen: up 337 places, from 908th to 571st
Mozelle: up 337 places, from 910th to 573rd
Winona: up 314 places, from 916th to 602nd
Clarissa: up 302 places, from 836th to 534th
Hedwig: up 287 places, from 895th to 608th
Ivory: up 262 places, from 993rd to 731st
Lexie: up 262 places, from 997th to 735th

Boys

Evert: up 517 places, from 929th to 412th
Oswald: up 427 places, from 952nd to 525th
Irene: up 397 places, from 940th to 543rd
Alf: up 375 places, from 971st to 596th
Guadalupe: up 371 places, from 810th to 439th
Hoyt: up 369 places, from 812th to 443rd
Newell: up 369 places, from 949th to 580th
Frederic: up 368 places, from 863rd to 495th
Alvis: up 343 places, from 905th to 562nd
Lillian: up 342 places, from 824th to 482nd

New to the top 1,000 in 1901

Girls

Donie, 687th (back after dropping out)
Alverta, 700th (back after dropping out)
Flo, 707th (back after dropping out)
Leva, 734th (back after dropping out)
Lilah, 736th (back after dropping out)
Minta, 739th (back after dropping out)
Velda, 745th (back after dropping out)
Cleora, 773rd (back after dropping out)
Corda, 775th (back after dropping out)
Drucilla, 776th (back after dropping out)

Boys

Kermit, 481st (its first time ever)
Julia, 497th (back after dropping out)
Jones, 547th (back after dropping out)
Andres, 563rd (back after dropping out)
Augusta, 564th (back after dropping out)
Merton, 578th (back after dropping out)
Raphael, 583rd (back after dropping out)
Alonza, 597th (back after dropping out)
Alpha, 598th (back after dropping out)
Ellwood, 612th (back after dropping out)

How spread out were names in 1901?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 19.6% of the girls counted in 1901, and the top ten boys' names to 33.6% of the boys. In 1881, those shares were 24.2% for girls and 43.8% for boys.

Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.