Loyal

Where Loyal comes from

Loyal 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. 1882
    First appearance
    #943 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1890
    Peak, #533
    13 babies named Loyal — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1893
    Loyal Underwood born
    American actor
  4. 1893
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,035.
  5. 1906
    Loyal Griggs born
    American cinematographer
In the dictionary

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

Namesakes
  • Loyal Griggs · American cinematographer, 1906–1978
  • Loyal Underwood · American actor, 1893–1966
  • Loyal B. Stearns · American politician, 1853–1936
  • Loyal Blaine Aldrich · astrophysicist and astronomer, 1884–1965
  • Loyal Edwin Knappen · United States federal judge, 1854–1930

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.