Blog, History, Writing

Popular US Victorian Names: 1880s

Posted onAuthorCJ Corl

Are you looking for some Victorian names?

I love rummaging in old names. It feeds my curious side as a historian and results in having lists and lists and lists of names that I love for me to use in writing.

Thirty Female and Thirty Male names from the 1880s.

I know a lot of people are often putting up lists of names from the Victorian era or the Regency period. While it’s much easier to lump entire eras together, I think that does a bit of a disservice. After all the Victorian era lasted from the late 1830s until the turn of the century! That’s over 60 years! For us in the States, that era encompasses eras including the Second Great Awakening, the Industrial Revolution, the Antebellum South, the Civil War, the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail, the Gilded Age, and some of the Progressive Era.

That’s a lot!

So instead, I prefer to break my information down by decade. Who knows, maybe I’ll eventually do some breaking down by geography and religion (Puritan names, anyone?)

Finding Names

One of my favorite tools for this research is going through the Social Security Administration, who have ranked which names were popular per decade from 1880 until now.

I also like census records, which are very helpful back until 1850. Before the 1850 census, only the heads of households are listed in US censuses.

Lastly, my other favorite place to look is in family trees. If I’m adding any names from family trees, they might not be all from 1880 exactly. I’ll put the year the person was born next to the name to help.

So, are you looking for some late Victorian names? Check these classic ones out and some more unique ones!

Girls

  1. Alice
  2. Addie
  3. Beulah
  4. Cora
  5. Cornelia
  6. Della (1885) 
  7. Dora (1887) 
  8. Elsie 
  9. Ella 
  10. Effie (1883)
  11. Flossie
  12. Flora 
  13. Fulda (1885) 
  14. Georgia 
  15. Grace 
  16. Irene (1886) 
  17. Ida 
  18. Josephine 
  19. Kathryn (1887) 
  20. Lottie
  21. Letha/Lethe (1886) 
  22. Lorena (1888) 
  23. Luella (1885) 
  24. Lyda (1884) 
  25. Minnie 
  26. Mayme 
  27. Oella (1884) 
  28. Rena 
  29. Stella
  30. Viola (1889) 

Boys

  1. Alonzo
  2. Amos 
  3. Arthur 
  4. Curtis 
  5. Clinton 
  6. Chester 
  7. Clyde 
  8. Charles
  9. David
  10. Everett 
  11. Edwin 
  12. Ernest 
  13. Fred 
  14. Floyd (1885) 
  15. Homer
  16. Ira 
  17. James 
  18. Lester 
  19. Leonard 
  20. Lewis 
  21. Ollie 
  22. Owen 
  23. Philip
  24. Randolph (1883)
  25. Ray 
  26. Ralph
  27. Sydney 
  28. Vernon 
  29. William 
  30. Walter 

These are just a sampling of 1880s names that I’m currently loving.

Are you writing something with a character born in the 1880s? I’d love to hear about it. Share with me in the comments below!