Finis

Where Finis comes from

Finis 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. 1846
    Finis E. Downing born
    American politician
  2. 1875
    Finis J. Garrett born
    American judge, lawyer and politician
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #640 among boys — 9 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1881
    Peak, #431
    16 babies named Finis — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1883
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #799.
In the dictionary

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

Namesakes
  • Finis J. Garrett · American judge, lawyer and politician, 1875–1956
  • Finis E. Downing · American politician, 1846–1936
  • Finis McLean · American politician, 1806–1881
  • Finis Fox · American film director and screenwriter, 1884–1949
  • Finis L. Bates · American lawyer, 1848–1923

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.