In the 1700s, over half of all babies were named Elizabeth, Anne, or Mary; or William, Thomas, or John. It wasn't unusual for siblings to have the same name and use different nicknames. This is how names such as Bill and Polly came to be. If a family had three sons named William, they might call one William, one Will, and one Bill. If a family had three daughters named Mary, they might call one Mary, one Molly, and one Polly. An Elizabeth could be called Eliza, Lizzie, Bet, Betsy, or Betty. An Anne could be called Annie, Nan, or Nancy.

Bible names and virtue names also remained popular, as did names of English royals, like Charles, Edward, George, Henry, James, Amelia, Caroline, Catherine, Charlotte, Henrietta, and Sophia. During and after the Revolution, parents honored American heroes by using their first and last names. A baby might be named George Washington Smith, for example, or Martha Washington Williams or Thomas Jefferson Johnson. America itself was also used as a name for both boys and girls, as were the names of states, like Virginia, Georgia, Carolina, and Tennessee.