The First of His First Name

Baby names see their popularity come and go. Some names at this point are only associated with people of a certain generation, and no doubt many of today's popular names will go down in history the same way.

Being the kind of thinker I am, I started to wonder who the first Major League ballplayers were who had certain names. After all, many names common among today's young men were rare in the old days. Since it often takes a while for a name to become seen as "common," I thought I'd look at the most popular boy's baby names for 1984. Boys born in 1984 are turning 35 this year, and it means their names have probably been a part of the MLB landscape long enough to feel commonplace.

The Social Security database for baby names allows you to sort by sex, by number of births, by year, and even view the change in popularity over time. For 1984, the Top 25 were:

	1984 Boys
1	Michael
2	Christopher
3	Matthew
4	Joshua
5	David
6	Daniel
7	James
8	John
9	Robert
10	Joseph
11	Jason
12	Ryan
13	Justin
14	Andrew
15	Brandon
16	William
17	Brian
18	Adam
19	Jonathan
20	Nicholas
21	Anthony
22	Eric
23	Steven
24	Kevin
25	Thomas

Some of these names have a long history, while others wouldn't have been heard of in decades past. I decided to look at the names which at some point between 1900 and 1984 were not in the Top 100 boys' names, and use Baseball-Reference to determine the first MLBer with that first name. Let's see who pioneered these monikers.

Christopher

This name didn't crack the Top 100 until 1949, and it really picked up popularity in the 1960s. However, it wasn't so uncommon that no one in the old days had it. The first Christopher in MLB was Chris McFarland, who played three games for the Union Association's Baltimore Monumentals, debuting on April 19, 1884.

Matthew

While this name didn't crack the Top 100 until 1956, it's still a good Biblical name that was usually in the Top 200. The first guy in MLB to use this name was another three-gamer in the Union Association, Matthew Porter. Porter played for the Kansas City Cowboys and made his debut on June 27, 1884. Interestingly enough, Porter apparently went by both his given name and his middle name "Sheldon" throughout his life, so it's possible he didn't play under the name "Matthew" during his brief baseball career. If you want to read about the mysterious Matthew Porter, the SABR Biographical Research Committee has a nice article about him in the December 2011 newsletter.

Porter, incidentally, beat out a more noteworthy Matthew by a couple of years: Matt Kilroy.

Joshua

It wasn't a terribly uncommon name in the old days, as there were five Joshuas who played in the 19th Century. The first among them was Josh Snyder, who debuted on May 18, 1872 for the National Association's Brooklyn Eckfords. As for the name itself, it's possible it was more common during the 19th Century, as in the early 20th Century, it dips pretty low on the popularity list, and doesn't start picking up again until the 1960s.

Jason

Here's one that didn't appear until the 1970s, and it came in the form of three-time All-Star first baseman Jason Thompson, who debuted on April 23, 1976. Thompson was born in 1954, when the name "Jason" was the 411th most popular boy's name in America. Going to guess he didn't know many other Jasons growing up, as this is another name that didn't start gaining significant popularity until the 1960s. There wasn't a second Jason until Jason Grimsley came along in 1989.

Ryan

This name was almost unheard of as a given name for many years. As a family name, sure, especially in baseball with its significant Irish contingent. In America, it didn't crack the Top 200 until 1966, possibly due to the popularity of Ryan O'Neal on Peyton Place. MLB's first boy named "Ryan" was the Hawaiian pitcher Ryan Kurosaki, who debuted on May 20, 1975, and whose brief career consisted of seven games with the Cardinals.

Justin

This is another name that makes me wonder, as it's extremely low in popularity until the late 1960s, yet there are a few Major Leaguers from the old days who have it as a given or middle name. I'd like to see some 19th Century records. The first to have it as a given name was Pug Bennett, who debuted on April 12, 1906 and played two seasons with the Cardinals, although he apparently went by a nickname. The earliest player who BBRef has using it as his playing name is Justin Stein, who played in 1938.

Brandon

This one didn't crack the Top 100 until 1971, and it's also got the latest debut date on the list. The first Brandon in the big leagues was Brandon Kolb, who debuted on May 12, 2000. He narrowly beat out Brandon Villafuerte, who came along less than two weeks later.

A footnote should be given to an outfielder who played for the Pirates in 1952 and '53 named Brandy Davis. His full name was Robert Brandon Davis, and the "Brandy" is presumably derived from his middle name. You coulda been a pioneer, but instead, you chose to play under a girl's name!

Brian

I sort of assumed this name was more popular over the years due to people like Brian Dennehy (born 1938), Brian Wilson (born 1942), and so on. It appears that the name was gaining popularity when those guys were born, but still outside the Top 100, which it didn't reach until 1947, and it didn't reach the Top 50 until 1954. Believe it or not, the first Brian to reach the majors was the Incredible Hulk, Brian Downing, who debuted on May 31, 1973.

However, I know what some of you are thinking: What about "Bryan," with a Y? There actually is a Bryan who played earlier, that being pitcher Bryan Stephens, who played in 1947 and 1948. This less common spelling of the name ascended in popularity alongside its "I" counterpart, but always trailed behind it.

Adam

This one didn't reach the Top 100 until 1970, but there actually is an Adam from the olden days. We're going all the way back to the National Association and the Philadelphia Athletics, where Adam Rocap began his 16-game career on May 5, 1875.

Jonathan

This one didn't reach the Top 100 until 1962, which is surprising, given that it seems to have been a not-uncommon name in early America, and there were famous people like Jonathan Winters. There seemed to be about one Jonathan per decade for a while, and the earliest was Jon Morrison, who debuted on August 1, 1884. The first Major League player who went by the name "Jonathan" as opposed to "Jon" or a nickname was Jonathan Hurst, who debuted in 1992.

Nicholas

This name stayed in the 100-200 range during the 20th Century, until it reached #99 in 1972 and continued to rise. No ballplayer has ever gone by the full name "Nicholas," but there have been plenty who went by "Nick." The first was Nick Wise, a one-game wonder from June 20, 1888.

Eric

This one didn't find its way to the Top 100 until 1950, but there was a Swedish-born pitcher named Eric Erickson who debuted on October 6, 1914. Figures that it took an actual Scandinavian to get this name into the Majors.

The alternate spelling "Erik" is less common, and the first to have it was Ollie Sax, who played in 1928 under his middle name. The first to use it as his regular playing name was Erik Hanson in 1988.

Steven

Perhaps I should start by noting that the spelling "Stephen" used to be the more popular one, hovering around the lower reaches of the Top 100 in the early part of the 20th Century. I guess that makes sense, given that that's the Biblical spelling. There were two guys named "Steve" (both Stephens) who debuted on May 9, 1871, those being Steve Bellan and Steve King.

The first Steven, however, was Steve Sundra, who debuted on April 17, 1936, five years before the name with that spelling reached the Top 100.

Kevin

The first man with the first name "Kevin" was none other than "the Rifleman," Chuck Connors, whose real name was Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors. He made his Major League debut on May 1, 1949. The first player to go by the name "Kevin" was Kevin Collins, who came along in 1965.

Just as these guys were mostly outliers in terms of their name's popularity at the time of their birth, with the current crop of popular baby names, we'll be looking back at some of today's players as the first of their kind. The top boy's name for 2017 was "Liam," and as of right now, the only Liam in MLB history is Liam Hendriks, who was born in Australia. Give it a few decades or so, and ballplayers named "Liam" will be as commonplace as ones named "Brandon" are now.