Daily AncestorHello girl
A hello girl was a female telephone operator who connected calls by hand at a switchboard, greeting each caller.
Early telephone exchanges needed operators to plug cords into a switchboard for every call. Companies soon hired mostly young women for the job, and the public called them hello girls.
In census returns they are listed as telephone operator, often with telephone company or exchange in the industry column. Hello girl itself is an informal nickname found in newspapers and stories.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1900 to 1940 census
Nellie Barr, 19, Telephone operator, Tel. exchange
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Hello girl." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/hello-girl. Last checked 2026-10-01.