Many colonial names have fallen out of favor for long enough now to sound fresh and even cool again. Early Americans used names from a variety of styles, including obscure biblical names such as Tryphena and Thirza, extreme virtue names such as Silence and Obedience, and extravagant American place names, such as Philadelphia and Tennessee. The most common girl name during colonial times was Elizabeth, followed by Mary, Sarah, Anne, and Frances.
Along with Elizabeth and Mary, other colonial names for girls in the US Top 500 include Abigail, Amy, Caroline, Charlotte, Hannah, Katherine, Molly, and Sabrina. Unique colonial-era nicknames for girls include Cleda, Hitty, Nonie, Thirza, and Winnet.
If you like historic baby names but want to move beyond the Victorian and biblical baby names we've heard so much of in recent years, consider these names culled from Revolutionary War rolls and eighteenth-century town histories. Below, our collection of colonial baby names for girls.
