Meaning and history
Babe is an English word-name and affectionate nickname derived from “baby.” It has occasionally been used as a legal given name, but many famous examples used it only as a nickname, so their birth names should not be confused with Babe. Baseball player George Herman Ruth became universally known as Babe Ruth, while athlete Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias was called Babe Didrikson. The name’s cultural history is therefore chiefly informal rather than etymologically traditional.
18801880: 5 births, rank #921
1881: no US SSA record for this spelling
1882: 5 births, rank #952
1883: no US SSA record for this spelling
1884: no US SSA record for this spelling
18851885: no US SSA record for this spelling
1886: no US SSA record for this spelling
1887: no US SSA record for this spelling
1888: no US SSA record for this spelling
1889: no US SSA record for this spelling
18901890: no US SSA record for this spelling
1891: no US SSA record for this spelling
1892: no US SSA record for this spelling
1893: no US SSA record for this spelling
1894: no US SSA record for this spelling
18951895: no US SSA record for this spelling
1896: no US SSA record for this spelling
1897: no US SSA record for this spelling
1898: no US SSA record for this spelling
18991899: 6 births, rank #939
Babe rose from #952 to #939 for boys between 1882 and 1899. That year also produced its highest recorded birth count, at 6.