Morris

Where Morris comes from

* The surname has converged from several origins; see Morris.
— Wiktionary's entry for Morris
  • Old French
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #171 among boys — 77 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1909
    Morris Swadesh born
    American linguist
  3. 1912
    Peak, #82
    960 babies named Morris — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1916
    Morris West born
    Australian writer
  5. 1966
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #343.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name.
  • A male given name from Old French, a medieval form of French Maurice.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Morris Swadesh · American linguist, 1909–1967
  • Morris West · Australian writer, 1916–1999
  • Morris Travers · English chemist, 1872–1961
  • Morris Chestnut · American actor, born 1969
  • Morris Halle · Latvian-American linguist, 1923–2018

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.