List of nursery rhymes

The terms "nursery rhyme" and "children's song" emerged in the 1820s, although this type of children's literature previously existed with different names such as Tommy Thumb Songs and Mother Goose Songs. The first known book containing a collection of these texts was Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, which was published by Mary Cooper in 1744. The works of several scholars and collectors helped document and preserve these oral traditions as well as their histories. These include Iona and Peter Opie, Joseph Ritson, James Orchard Halliwell, and Sir Walter Scott. While there are "nursery rhymes" which are also called "children's songs", not every children's song is referred to as a nursery rhyme. This list is limited to songs which are known as nursery rhymes through reliable sources.

Known date

Title	Other titles	Place of origin	Year first recorded	Source
Ah! vous dirai-je, maman	'Oh! Shall I tell you, Mama'	France		The earliest known printed publication was in volume two of Recueil de Romances by M.D.L..
Aiken Drum		United Kingdom		The rhyme was first printed in 1820 by James Hogg in Jacobite Reliques.
Apple Pie ABC		United Kingdom		Edward Lear made fun of the original rhyme in his nonsense parody "A was once an apple pie".
Akka bakka bonka rakka		Norway		Nora Kobberstad's Norsk Lekebok.
All The Pretty Little Horses	'Hush-a-bye'	United States		Early version by Maud McKnight Lindsay, a teacher from Alabama and daughter of Robert B. Lindsay.
Arthur o' Bower		United Kingdom		Evidence of a letter by William Wordsworth.
A Wise Old Owl	'There was an owl lived in an oak, wisky, wasky, weedle.'	United Kingdom		First published in Punch on April 10, 1875.
A-Tisket, A-Tasket		United States		Originally noted in 1879 as a children's rhyming game.
A-Hunting We Will Go		Great Britain		Composed in 1777 by English composer Thomas Arne.
Akai Kutsu		Japan		Poem by Ujō Noguchi, a basis on factual events is disputed.
Alphabet Song	Several other titles...	United States		The melody in this format was first copyrighted in 1835 by Boston music publisher Charles Bradlee.
Alouette		Canada		Mentioned in "A Pocket Song Book for the Use of Students and Graduates of McGill Colle".
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep		Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Backe, backe Kuchen	'Bake a Cake, Bake a Cake'	Germany		The original form of the text with the rhymed list of ingredients can be found as early as 1450 in Maister Hannsen's von Wirtenberg Koch Cookbook.
Baloo Baleerie	'The Bressay Lullaby'	United Kingdom		Alliterative nonsense based around the Scots word for lullaby, "baloo".
Billy Boy		United States		Variant of the traditional English folk song "My Boy Billy", collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Bingo	Several other titles...	Great Britain		Attributed the song to William Swords, an actor at the Haymarket Theatre of London. The identity of "Bingo" in the song is formally ambiguous.
Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea	'Bobby Shafto'	United Kingdom		The 18th-century British politician Bobby Shafto is a likely subject for this song.
Bye, Baby Bunting		Great Britain		A version of this rhyme was first published in 1731 in England.
Christmas Is Coming		United States		Origin unknown, the lyrics begin appearing in print in 1885.
Did You Ever See a Lassie?		United Kingdom United States		First published in 1909, in Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft.
Ding Dong Bell	'Ding Dong Dell'	England		The earliest recorded reference to the rhyme is from John Lant, the organist of Winchester Cathedral in 1580.
Do Your Ears Hang Low?	'Do your balls hang low'	United Kingdom		"Do Your Ears Hang Low?" is a sanitized version of the original song.
Doctor Foster		United Kingdom		The rhyme was first published in its modern form in 1844.
Down By The Station	'Down at the Station'	United States		Written by Paul Mills and Slim Gaillard and first recorded by The Slim Gaillard Trio in 1947.
E Rere Taku Poi		New Zealand		An early recording by Helen Creighton of this traditional Māori song is provided by the Library of Congress.
Finger Family		United States		This song first appeared on Little Fox in 2000, however the lyrics were a bit different. This song is similar to the nursery rhyme Where is Thumbkin.
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow	'The Bear Went Over The Mountain'	France Great Britain		Allegedly composed the night after the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709.
Frog Went a-Courting	'Frog Wen A-Courtin	Scotland England		First mentioned in The Complaynt of Scotland, it later appeared in 1611 as an English song by Thomas Ravenscroft.
Georgie Porgie	'Georgy Peorgy'	United Kingdom		Origin unknown, first appeared in The Kentish Coronal where the rhyme was described as an "old ballad".
Girls and Boys Come Out to Play	'Boys and Girls Come Out to Play'	Great Britain		The first two lines appeared in dance books in 1708.
Goosey Goosey Gander		Great Britain		The earliest recorded version of this rhyme is in Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus published in London in 1784.
Green Gravel		United Kingdom		Version collected in Manchester in 1835.
Hark, Hark! The Dogs Do Bark	'Hark, Hark'	Great Britain		This rhyme was first published in 1788.
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes		United Kingdom		Origin unknown, lyrics from this song are mentioned as early as 1912.
Here we go Loop de Loop	"Looby Loo", "Loopty Loo", "Loop de Loo", or just "Dancing Looby"	United States		Mentioned as early as 1849 in James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps' Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, as "Dancing Looby."
Hickory Dickory Dock	'Hickety Dickety Dock'	Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Hokey Pokey	'The Hokey Pokey', 'The Hokey Cokey'	United Kingdom		Included in Robert Chambers' Popular Rhymes of Scotland from 1842.
Hot Cross Buns		Great Britain		This originated as an English street cry that was later perpetuated as a nursery rhyme. The words closest to the rhyme that has survived were printed in 1767.
Humpty Dumpty		Great Britain		The earliest known version was published in Samuel Arnold's Juvenile Amusements in 1797
Hush, Little Baby	'Hush Little baby, don't say a word'	United States		English folklorist Cecil Sharp collected and notated a version from Endicott, Franklin County, Virginia in 1918.
I Can Sing a Rainbow	Several other titles...	United States		This was featured in the 1955 film Pete Kelly's Blues, where it was sung by Peggy Lee.
Ichinensei Ni Nattara	When I Become A First-Grader	Japan		This song was composed by and written by the poet Michio Mado.
If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride	'If wishes were horses'	England		First recorded about 1628 in a collection of Scottish proverbs.
I Do Not Like Thee, Doctor Fell		England		Allegedly translated by satirical English poet Tom Brown in 1680.
I Had a Little Nut Tree		Great Britain		The first recorded instance of the rhyme is in Newest Christmas Box, printed in London in 1797.
I'm a Little Teapot		United States		Originally written by George Harry Sanders and Clarence Z. Kelley and published in 1939.
I've Been Working On The Railroad	'Working on the Railroad' or 'I Have Been Working on the Railroad'	United States		The first published version appeared as "Levee Song" in Carmina Princetonia, a book of Princeton University songs published in 1894.
I Love Little Pussy	'I Love Little Kitty'	United Kingdom		The poem is first recorded in The Child's Song Book published in 1830.
It's Raining, It's Pouring		United States		The first two lines of this rhyme can be found in "The Little Mother Goose", published in the United States in 1912.
Jack Sprat	'Jack Spratt'	England		First appearance in John Clarke's collection of sayings.
Kookaburra	'Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree'	Australia		Attributed to Marion Sinclair, who was a music teacher at Toorak College.
Ladybird, Ladybird	'Ladybug Ladybug'	Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Little Boy Blue		England		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Little Jack Horner	'Little Jack Horner sat in a corner'	Great Britain		The earliest surviving English edition is from 1791.
Little Miss Muffet	'Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet'	United Kingdom		The rhyme first appeared in print in Songs for the Nursery.
Little Robin Redbreast		Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Little Tommy Tucker		Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
London Bridge Is Falling Down	'My Fair Lady' or 'London Bridge'	Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Lucy Locket	'Lucy Locket lost her pocket'	United Kingdom		The rhyme was first recorded by James Orchard Halliwell.
Mary Had a Little Lamb	'Mary had a Little Lamb, Little Lamb, Little Lamb'	United States		First published by the Boston publishing firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon, as a poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830.
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary		Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John	"Black Paternoster"	England		Thomas Ady's witchcraft treatise A Candle in the Dark, or, a treatise concerning the nature of witches and witchcraft.
Miss Polly had a Dolly	Several other titles...	United Kingdom		This song was published as early as 1986 by Maureen Sinclair in Glasgow Scotland.
Monday's Child		United Kingdom		This rhyme was first recorded in A. E. Bray's Traditions of Devonshire.
Needles and Pins		United Kingdom		First recorded in the proverbs section of James Orchard Halliwell's The Nursery Rhymes of England.
Old King Cole		Great Britain		The song is first attested in William King's Useful Transactions in Philosophy for January and February 1709.
Old MacDonald Had a Farm	Several other titles...	Great Britain United States		The origin of this song is attributed to Thomas d'Urfey for an opera in 1706. Its modern day lyrics originate in Frederick Thomas Nettleingham's 1917 book Tommy's Tunes.
Old Mother Hubbard		United Kingdom		The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog is attributed to Sarah Catherine Martin.
On Top of Spaghetti	'The Meatball Song'	United States	1963	Children's parody by Tom Glazer of the song "On Top of Old Smoky".
One Day A Taniwha		New Zealand	2009	The song was invented by Beatrice Yates in the 1970s in Rotorua, however it wasn't published until August 2009
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe	'1, 2, Buckle My Shoe'	United States United Kingdom		While the first recorded version is of English origin, this song may go back to 1780 in Wrentham, Massachusetts.
Oranges and Lemons		Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake, Baker's Man	"Pat-a-cake", "patty-cake" or "pattycake"	England		This rhyme first appears in Thomas D'Urfey's play The Campaigners from 1698.
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater		Great Britain		First published in Infant Institutes, part the first: or a Nurserical Essay on the Poetry, Lyric and Allegorical, of the Earliest Ages, &c., in London.
Peter Piper		United Kingdom		Published in John Harris' Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation in 1813.
Polly Put the Kettle On		United Kingdom		"Molly Put the Kettle On or Jenny's Baubie" was published by Joseph Dale in London.
Polly Wolly Doodle	'Polly Wolly Doodle All Day'	United States		Sung by Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, who premiered at New York's Bowery Amphitheatre.
Pop Goes the Weasel		United Kingdom		By December 1852, "Pop Goes The Weasel" was a popular social dance in England.
Pussy Cat Pussy Cat		United Kingdom		The earliest record of the rhyme is publication in Songs for the Nursery.
Rain Rain Go Away	'Rain, Rain Go Away, come again another day'	England		James Howell in his 1659 collection of proverbs noted "Raine, raine, goe to Spain: faire weather come againe".
Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross	'Ride a Cock Horse', 'Ride a White Horse to Banbury Cross'	Great Britain		The earliest surviving version of the modern rhyme can be found in Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus.
Ring-a-Ring o' Roses	'Ring Around the Rosie'	United Kingdom		Origin unknown, there is no evidence linking it to the Great Plague or earlier outbreaks of bubonic plague in England.
Roses Are Red		Great Britain		A rhyme similar to the modern standard version can be found in Gammer Gurton's Garland.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat		United States		The earliest printing of the song has published lyrics similar to those used today, but with a different tune.
Rub-a-dub-dub		Great Britain		One early recorded version is in Christmas Box, published in London in 1798.
Shabondama	'シャボン玉' or 'Soap Bubbles'	Japan		Composed by Shinpei Nakayama with lyrics written by Ujō Noguchi.
She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain	'When She Comes', 'When the Chariot Comes'	United States		The earliest known recording of this song was by Henry Whitter on Okeh Records in 1924.
Simple Simon		Great Britain		The verses used today are the first of a longer chapbook history first published in 1764.
Sing a Song of Sixpence		Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Skidamarink	'Skinnamarink', 'Ski-dy-mer-rink-adink-aboomp', 'Skiddy-Mer-Rink-A-Doo'	United States		The initial version of the song was written by Felix F. Feist and Al Piantadosi for the 1910 Charles Dillingham Broadway production The Echo.
Solomon Grundy		United Kingdom		First collected by James Orchard Halliwell and published in 1842.
Soft Kitty		Poland		Władysław Syrokomla and Wiktor Każyński published a version of this song in 1857, in Pieśniach ludu polskiego.
Ten Little Indians		United States		Songwriter Septimus Winner created an elaborated version called "Ten Little Injuns" for a minstrel show.
The Cat Sat Asleep by the Side of the Fire		United Kingdom		The earliest recorded version of this rhyme is in Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus published in London in 1810.
The Farmer in the Dell	'The Farmer's in his Den'	Germany		This rhyme was first recorded in the German Confederation in 1826, as "Es fuhr ein Bau'r ins Holz".
The Grand Old Duke of York	'The Noble Duke of York'	England		First mentioned under the title 'Old Tarlton's song', attributed to the stage clown Richard Tarlton.
The Lion and the Unicorn		Great Britain		In 1708, William King recorded a verse very similar to the first stanza of the modern rhyme.
The Old Woman and Her Pig	'The Old Woman who found a Silver Penny'	United Kingdom		"The True History of a Little Old Woman Who Found a Silver Penny" published by Tabart & Co. at No. 157 New Bond Street, London, for their Juvenile Library.
The Queen of Hearts		Great Britain		Originally published in the British publication The European Magazine, vol. 1, no. 4, in April 1782 with lesser known stories.
The Three Jovial Huntsmen		United Kingdom		This is the title of a picture book illustrated by Randolph Caldecott, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans and published by George Routledge & Sons in London.
The Three Sisters	'Jennifer Gentle'	United Kingdom	1823	Given by Davis Gilbert in his supplement to "Some Ancient Christmas Carols in the West of England" in 1823.
There Was a Crooked Man		United Kingdom		First recorded in print by James Orchard Halliwell in 1842.
There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe		Great Britain		The earliest printed version is in Joseph Ritson's Gammer Gurton's Garland.
There Was an Old Woman Who Lived Under a Hill		Great Britain		First appeared as part of a catch in The Academy of Complements.
This Is the House That Jack Built	'The House That Jack Built'	Great Britain		Included in Nurse Truelove's New-Year's-Gift, or the Book of Books for Children, printed in London in 1755.
This Old Man	Several other titles...	United Kingdom		The origins of this song are obscure and possibly very old. The "first recorded" date refers to an early published version.
Three Blind Mice		England		Published in Deuteromelia or The Seconde part of Musicks melodie.
Three Little Kittens		United Kingdom United States		Published by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen in New Nursery Songs for All Good Children.
Tinker, Tailor		England		The first record of the opening four professions being grouped together is in William Congreve's Love for Love.
To Market, to Market		England		Based upon the traditional rural activity of going to a market or fair.
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son		Great Britain		First published in a chapbook called Tom the Piper's Son.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee		United Kingdom		The familiar form of the rhyme was first printed in Original Ditties for the Nursery.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star		United Kingdom		Written by Jane Taylor as "The Star" and first published in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery.
Wee Willie Winkie		United Kingdom		First published in a collection of poems called Whistle-Binkie: Stories for the Social Circle''.
Where, O Where Has My Little Dog Gone?	'Der Deitcher's Dog'	United States		Joseph Eastburn Winner first published this song as "Der Deitcher's Dog".
Who Killed Cock Robin?	'The Cock Robin Song'	Great Britain		First mentioned in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod	'Dutch Lullaby'	United States		Written by American writer and poet Eugene Field and published in 1889.