Ransom

Where Ransom comes from

Ransom hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1864
    Ransom E. Olds born
    American businessman
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #909 among boys — 5 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1882
    Peak, #453
    16 babies named Ransom — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1897
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #852.
  5. 1979
    Ransom Riggs born
    American writer and filmmaker
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Ransom Riggs · American writer and filmmaker, born 1979
  • Ransom E. Olds · American businessman, 1864–1950
  • Ransom W. Dunham · American politician, 1838–1896
  • Ransom Knowling · American musician, 1912–1967
  • Ransom H. Gillet · American politician, 1800–1876

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.