Although there is no real evidence to support this claim, Houdini’s sister Gladys once stated that Houdini/Ehrich was named after an infant son [born April 6th, 1873?] who died through a fall.
That said, John Cox wrote a wild blog post, The Houdini Earth birth year conundrum, that suggested Houdini believed he was born in 1873 until he discovered his true birth year [1874] during his weekend visit to Budapest with his mother in 1901. John speculates:
Having discovered the truth in 1901, Houdini recorded his real birth year in official records. But for the public record, one that his mother might read, it remained 1873 for HER. Tellingly, the 1914 edition of his pitchbook [The Life, History and Handcuff Secrets of Houdini pitchbook], published after her death, his birth year is updated [from 1873] to 1874.
So, after Houdini’s mother died, that was the end of 1873 or was it. Well, I just recently acquired Houdini’s Book of Magic and Party Pastimes (Copyright 1927, by Beatrice Houdini, Executrix of the Estate of Harry Houdini), where it surfaced again:
I wonder where the publishers got their source for the date and brief story of his extraordinary life? Obviously, not from Bess?
Happy Father’s Day! And special congrats to my son, who just became a father to my grandson that the hospital nurses nicknamed “Little Houdini”.
Related:
Looks at that. That pesky date just never goes away. Nice find!
BTW, my paragraph above out of context looks like I’m making a statement of fact. I’m not. That was a WILDly speculative post on my part about the whole 1873 strangeness.
I was very happy to add a nice copy of Houdini’s Book of Magic And Party Pastimes to my collection, and find the puzzling forward to the book.
I updated the post to include that the paragraph is speculation on your part. That said, I fully support it.