Stanford

Where Stanford comes from

Various placenames from Old English stān (“stone”) + ford (“ford”). * (The university): Named after the son of railroad magnate Leland Stanford.
— Wiktionary's entry for Stanford
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #809 among boys — 6 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1913
    Stanford Moore born
    American biochemist
  3. 1922
    Stanford R. Ovshinsky born
    prolific American inventor and scientist
  4. 1931
    Peak, #503
    130 babies named Stanford — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1974
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,109.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Stanford Moore · American biochemist, 1913–1982
  • Stanford R. Ovshinsky · prolific American inventor and scientist, 1922–2012
  • Stanford White · American architect, 1853–1906
  • Stanford J. Shaw · American historian, 1930–2006
  • Stanford Parris · former U.S. Congressman from Virginia, 1929–2010

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.