Patriotism means different things to different people. It can reflect a devotion to your community, your state, your country, or the planet, but it always comes with many emotions, traditions, symbols, and ideals.
We've compiled a list of baby names inspired by key figures and moments in United States history. Whether you're expecting a July baby, are intrigued by history and the diversity of people who helped to shape this nation, or just love old-school baby names, we're guessing at least one of these patriotic names will suit your little firecracker.
8 patriotic names for girls
Abigail
Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams, was the second-ever first lady of the United States – and the mother of sixth U.S. President John Quincy Adams, too. She was an advocate of women's rights as well as the abolishment of slavery, and once asked her husband, then Vice President John Adams (who was himself one of the Founding Fathers), "how can we fight for that which we deny of others" when fighting for independence.
Amber
Amber makes the patriotic baby names list as a nod to "amber waves of grain," a line in the song "America the Beautiful." While it's most well-known as a song now, the words first appeared in a poem titled "Pikes Peak" published in 1895. As a name, Amber derives from the material amber, which is fossilized tree resin that takes on a honey-gold color and is often used in jewelry.
Coretta
Coretta has jumped over 10,000 spots on the BabyCenter baby name list in the past decade. The most notable person to have this name, Coretta Scott King, was married to Martin Luther King, Jr., and was a civil rights activist and leader in her own right. She founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent and Social Change, and created the Coretta Scott King Award for Black authors and illustrators of outstanding young adult and children's books.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth may not be a name you'd immediately think of as patriotic. But if you look a little deeper, you'll find it's all over American history, from Eliza Schuyler Hamilton (Founding Father Alexander Hamilton's wife, who allegedly helped write his speeches and founded the first private orphanage in the U.S.) to Betsy Ross (a seamstress who's said to have designed the very first U.S. flag). Other fun nicknames, like Beth, Lizzie, and Eli, make this a versatile name for any century.
Harriet
Harriet is a classic name borne by three powerful and influential women who were very much a part of U.S. history: Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Harriet Jacobs. Both Tubman and Stowe were abolitionist: Tubman was Black, born into slavery, and escaped to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Stowe was a white author whose anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin is said to have laid the groundwork for the Civil War. Jacobs, also an author, wrote an autobiography called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , which is now considered an American classic.
Rosa
Rosa is a no-brainer on this list. Rosa Parks, now famous for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus for a white person, wasn't the first person to resist segregation in the Jim Crow South – but her courageous acts led to a bus boycott and an eventual court case that ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. Rosa was the first woman to lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda after her death in 2005, and she was lauded with many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her work fighting for racial equality.
Sally
Sally is the first name of the first American woman to go into outer space and the first LGBTQ astronaut, Sally Ride. Ride, a physicist and NASA astronaut, rode on two missions aboard the space shuttle Challenger . She went on to inspire more American children to pursue careers in science through her outreach company, Sally Ride Science.
Wilma
Wilma is the name of the first woman elected as chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller, a staunch Native American advocate who has fought to restore pride in Native American heritage and ensure equal rights for all Indigenous peoples. She was given honorary degrees from Yale University and Dartmouth College, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame for her advocacy work.
9 patriotic names for boys
Booker
Booker is the name of 19th-century statesman, education reformer, and former slave Booker T. Washington. He worked to elevate Black people in the post-Civil War U.S. through education and entrepreneurship. Washington was president of the historical Black college Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, and he co-founded the National Negro Business League, which aimed to promote African American businesses.
Cesario
Though Cesar Chavez is now a folk hero, he came from humble roots as a manual laborer. He was an influential labor leader who fought for the rights of migrant farm workers, co-founding the National Farm Workers Association and securing better pay and protections for migrant workers. Chavez's birth name was Cesario , a Spanish version of Caesar – an imperial Roman family name so old its meaning has been lost to time. But because of Julius Caesar's influence, the name Caesar has taken on the meaning "emperor" or "king."
Crispus
If you're looking for a name that's out of the ordinary, Crispus is thought to be a Latin name that means "curly-haired" – but more importantly, it's the name of the first person killed in the American Revolutionary War, Crispus Attucks. Crispus was killed during the Boston Massacre in 1770. Thought to be the son of an African-born enslaved father and an Indigenous mother who belonged to the Natick Tribe, it's unknown whether Crispus was a free man or an escaped slave. He became an icon of the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War thanks to his role in early American history.
Franklin
Franklin is the surname of one of the more well-known U.S. Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin helped draft and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a man of many professions – a statesman, writer, publisher, inventor, and scientists, among many other pursuits. He was the owner and printer of the Pennsylvania Gazette and became wealthy as the writer and printer of Poor Richard's Almanack . His experiments led to a better understanding of electricity, and he also invented bifocal eyeglasses and the American penny.
George
George is a classic name that means "farmer" or "earthworker" and originates in Ancient Greece. George Washington was, of course, the first leader of the United States – as a Founding Father, a general who led the Americans to victory during the Revolutionary War, and the very first president of the United States. He's an integral piece of American history, memorialized in monuments, and the namesake of countless cities, streets, and even a state. George was a top-20 baby name until about 1950.
Haym
Haym is a Hebrew name that means "life." It's also the name of Jewish financier Haym Salomon, who helped fund the American Revolutionary War. He donated his entire fortune to the American army and to several Founding Fathers, as well as made deals for other significant donations to war efforts. Considered a patriotic Jewish hero, Salomon allegedly died penniless as a result of his generosity.
Lincoln
Lincoln is the surname of one of the most admired, then mourned, presidents in U.S. history, Abraham Lincoln. Also known as Honest Abe, he led the country through the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which ultimately led to the legal freedom of all enslaved people two years later with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. He was assassinated in 1865 by a Confederate sympathizer, just five days after the Confederate army surrendered and the Civil War ended. This surname-name reached peak popularity on the Social Security list in 2020, when it reached 45th place.
Martin
Martin may be related to the Roman god Mars, the mythological god of war, but the most popular Martin we know is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister from Atlanta who won the Nobel Peace Prize for advocating for peaceful resistance to racial inequality. Though he was assassinated in 1968, King's legacy as a gifted orator and passionate civil rights leader lives on in the form of the national holiday Martin Luther King Day, and his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.
Samuel
Samuel is a name associated with innovative and creative thinkers, leaders, and trailblazers. Samuel Adams was an early American politician and one of the Founding Fathers. Samuel was involved in many events leading up to the Revolutionary War, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.
Samuel Adams isn't the only famous American Samuel, though – Samuel Gompers was a labor union leader who founded the American Federation of Labor in 1886. And Uncle Sam has appeared as a personification of the U.S. government since the 1800s, though he became most well-known when he was used as military propaganda in World Wars I and II.
5 unisex patriotic names
America
America is a name most often used for girls, but is perfectly fitting for a baby boy. This name was derived from the name Amerigo, meaning "home ruler," after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Another theory points to a Welsh aristocrat Richard Amerike, who funded an exploration voyage in the late 15th century. It was in the top 1,000 names in the early 1900s, then, after a 90-year disappearance, it returned in 1998.
Boston
Boston is a popular place name, used for both boys and girls. Boston is the capital of Massachusetts, and one of the oldest Puritan settlements in the United States, providing the backdrop for much of the early colonial American history. Home of the Tea Party and the battle of Bunker Hill, just to name a few, Boston was an active hub during the Revolutionary War.
Ellis
Ellis is a last name of Welsh and English origin, and makes this list of patriotic baby names thanks to Ellis Island. Ellis Island in New York Harbor has a storied history: Native Americans called it Kioshk, which means "Gull Island," because of all the seagulls that lived on it; then it was known as Little Oyster Island through the 1700s because of the large oyster population nearby; and it's now known as Ellis Island because of Samuel Ellis, who bought it in the late 1700s. Now, it's most well known for being the home of the Statue of Liberty and for being the first federal immigration station.
Jubilee
Jubilee has a long history of being a word for celebrating or rejoicing, with roots in Old French, Latin, Greek, and even Hebrew. Its earliest association is in Jewish tradition, when the Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years and the community would free slaves and cancel debts. In the United States, Jubilee Day – now known as Juneteenth – is observed as the day African American slaves were freed. Often lumped in with religious or virtue names, like Faith, Hope, and Charity, this J-name packs a punch.
Liberty
Liberty is a virtue name meaning "freedom" and derives from the Latin goddess Libertas, the personification of freedom. It's a cornerstone of modern politics, with the U.S. declaring "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as fundamental rights in the Declaration of Independence, and France following, with their cry of "liberte, egalite, fraternite" – liberty, equality, brotherhood. There's no shortage of it in American history, from the Liberty Bell to the Statue of Liberty.
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