Message: "My column on Mary"

My column on Mary

by clevelandkentevans

12/3/2023, 6:56 AM

Here is the link to today's column:

https://omaha.com/life-entertainment/local/cleveland-evans-mary-was-no-1-for-nearly-seven-decades/article_5455312a-8f08-11ee-817d-330f018d03a6.html

The headline is very odd, since Mary of course was #1 from the 1650s until 1947, about 290 years. Whoever wrote the headline must have just payed attention to the paragraph about the Social Security data, since 1880 to 1947 is about seven decades.

https://omaha.com/life-entertainment/local/cleveland-evans-mary-was-no-1-for-nearly-seven-decades/article_5455312a-8f08-11ee-817d-330f018d03a6.html

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- Retrospectre

12/15/2023, 2:54 PM

Hello! I noticed you refer to the SSA baby name data quite often, and give it as a reference for number of girls born in 1880 named Mary as a percentage. That early data only represents about 20% of the population born that year. I know it wasn't a representative sample, but is it roughly the same percentage as compared to census data? It looks like England's baby named Mary saw a similar decline, dropping to 10% by 1880, so i wouldn't be surprised if it was. https://demos.flourish.studio/namehistory/?names=Mary

- fish (guest) +2

12/13/2023, 9:32 PM

Greatly enjoyed the column, Cleveland! I was wondering if you had any information on the name Marigold with how it relates to Mary, or it's early usage?

- clevelandkentevans +1

12/14/2023, 3:58 PM

I don't have time to research this extensively right now, but the first person named Marigold listed in the United States Census seems to be a 12 year old free Black girl living in Anne Arundel County, Maryland in 1850.

- fish (guest)

12/15/2023, 5:30 PM

Thanks! Appreciate the census info.

- Speranza (guest)

12/4/2023, 7:17 AM

Mary was a perennial favourite in Ireland, and they are still many Marys today, mostly not younger than 40 though. They were often given nicknames- Molly, Moll, Maura/Máire, Maureen. Or called Mary Middlename or Mary Middle initial - I know a Mary Margaret and a Mary T(eresa). Marie (pronounced Mah-REE and Mar-ree was popular in my mother's generation, and Anne-Marie and Maria in mine. There was a plethora of Marians born in the Marian Year in the '50s. And if all else fails the many Marys go by first and last name, or first and last name initial. I have friends Mary P., Mary K., etc

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