Names of Children of Mayflower Passengers

Pilgrim Babies Named Desire, Love, Fear; But Nary a Harry

Sep 21, 2009

Some Pilgrims, in picking baby names chose virtues, like Patience. Some picked names that baffle us today. Wrestling? Mostly, though, they liked names from the Bible.

If you were a girl born in Plymouth along the rocky Massachusetts coast around 1621, chances were very good you'd be given the name Mary, Elizabeth or Sarah. If you were a boy, John, Joseph or Samuel were good bets.

A tally of 267 known children of the 102 Mayflower passengers reveals that almost half had one of those six names.

Oceanus Born at Sea

The children named in this roster of Mayflower passengers include not just children born in America, but also children born in Europe (Holland or England), some of whom never set foot on the Mayflower or in America. The roster also includes the one child born on the Mayflower during the crossing. That was the aptly named Oceanus Hopkins, a boy born sometime between departure on September 6, 1620, and the landing on November 9, 1620. He lived only three years at most.

The children's names, like all children's names, echo the culture, traditions, and ideas of their parents. These were English men and women, and the names they gave their children correspond closely with the names other English men and women at that time gave their children. But there were curious differences, as can be seen when comparing this roster with names from a study of English court records in the late 16th century, just a few decades before the Pilgrims sailed.

Why No Boys Named Henry?

By the time the Mayflower set sail, England had already had eight kings named Henry, and Henry was, according to the study of court records, the sixth most popular name for boys. But not one child of Mayflower passengers had that name (though one passenger--Henry Samson--did). Why no boys named Henry? Was it just not in fashion or, possibly, because of Henry VIII? He founded the Church of England, the source of the Pilgrim's discontent with life in England. Meanwhile, Mayflower passengers, compared to other English, liked the names Joseph and Samuel, which were far down the list of names for boys among other English.

Among names for girls, Mary was far more popular among Pilgrims than among other English. Likewise, Sarah, which was far down the list among other English. Meanwhile, there were no girls named Joan among the children of the Mayflower passengers, even though Joan was third to Elizabeth and Anne among other English. Anne also got short shrift by the Pilgrims. Only three girls were named Anne (or a variation) among Mayflower children.

Luke Left Out

Names from the Bible were popular, as one might expect from a group so passionate about their Christian faith. But some Biblical names are, curiously, left out. There were 23 boys named John, but only one Mark, one Matthew, and not a single Luke.

We associate the Pilgrims (and the Puritans) with names like Patience and other virtues. But those names were far less common than Biblical names. Among the names of Pilgrim children that broadly fall into the "virtue" category are Constance, Desire, Fear, Hope, Love, Mercy, Patience, Remember and Resolved.

So, here's the tally of names (in parentheses are the number of children who received the name): Abigail (1), Alexander (1), Ann (1), Anna (1), Anne (1), Bartholomew (1), Benjamin (4), Bethiah (1), Caleb (4), Catherine (1), Charles (2), Christian (2), Constance (1), Damaris (2), David (2), Deborah (2), Desire (2), Dorcas (2), Dorothy (1), Edward (4), Elizabeth (25), Eleazar (1), Elkanah (1), Fear (2), Francis (1), George (1), Giles (1), Hannah (4), Hester (2), Hope (1), Ingle (1), Isaac (8), Isabella (1), Jabez (2), Jacob (1), James (4), Jane (3), Joel (1), John (23), Jonathan (3), Joseph (13), Joshua (2), Josiah (2), Judith (1), Lora (1), Love (1), Lydia (2), Margaret (1), Mark (1), Martha (1), Mary (24), Matthew (1), Mercy (5), Moses (2), Myles (1), Nathaniel (4), Oceanus (1), Patience (2), Peregrine (1), Priscilla (5), Rachel (1), Rebecca (5), Remember (2), Resolved (2), Richard (3), Robert (1), Rose (2), Ruth (6), Sarah (16), Samuel (11), Solomon (1), Stephen (3), Susanna (5), Thomas (6), William (5), Wrestling (2), and Zachariah (1).

The copyright of the article Names of Children of Mayflower Passengers in Colonial America is owned by Brian Deming. Permission to republish Names of Children of Mayflower Passengers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.