This list combines 1,289 spelling variations into 1,087 grouped names based on shared pronunciations. The most popular name in 1898 is John, given to 8,164 babies in total. Learn more about how this works.

Louis has the most spelling variations with 5 different spellings, while Auther has the highest confusion index at 65.6%, indicating the greatest diversity in how parents choose to spell it.

When combining spelling variations, Irvin showed the biggest improvement, moving up 44 positions from 159 to 115, while Edgar had the largest drop, falling 5 positions from 71 to 76.

Looking at trends, Dewey shows the strongest upward momentum (births in 1896–1898 are 3527.03% higher compared to 1889–1898), while Grover shows the steepest decline (78.69% lower). Compared to 1897, Dewey had the largest rank improvement, moving up 85 positions to rank #20, while Hobert fell 55 positions to rank #156.