1920s Baby Names

5,242 names were given to children in the United States between 1920 and 1929, ranked below by how many.

A name's place is its total across those ten years. Names that appear in only some of the decade say so, because a name recorded once is a different fact from one recorded every year.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#343
Ben Ben is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son," used both as a short form of Benjamin and as a name in its own right.
10,746 in the 1920s
#344
Jim Jim is a boy's name meaning supplanter, shortened from James — which is the same name as Jacob, split into two by Latin.
10,728 in the 1920s
#347
Tony Tony is a boy's name from the Roman family name Antonius, whose meaning has never been established.
10,655 in the 1920s
#353
Lyle Lyle is a boy's name from the Norman French for "the island," and the l at the front is the definite article rather than part of the word.
10,374 in the 1920s
#357
Edmund Edmund was England's patron saint before George — Edmund the Martyr, king of East Anglia, was killed by a Viking army in 869 and held that position for some three hundred years before a crusader saint displaced him.
10,240 in the 1920s
#358
Guy Guy is a boy's name from a Germanic word probably meaning wood or wide, and one of very few names to have become an ordinary English noun — through Guy Fawkes, whose effigies gave the word its modern sense.
9,993 in the 1920s
#361
Salvatore Salvatore means savior, and it is a title rather than a description — Italian Catholic families gave it as a devotional name naming Christ's role directly, in the way Spanish families use Jesús.
9,892 in the 1920s
#362
Orville
9,806 in the 1920s
#363
Delbert Delbert is recorded in one country and nowhere else — every one of its 47,056 births is American, with no births in any other market in any year on record, which is rare even among American coinages.
9,736 in the 1920s
#366
Archie Archie is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "genuine and bold."
9,614 in the 1920s
#367
Phillip Phillip is a boy's name meaning lover of horses, the doubled-l spelling of Philip.
9,595 in the 1920s
#368
Otis Otis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "wealth" or "fortune."
9,551 in the 1920s
#369
Clayton Clayton means the settlement on clay, from an English place name that describes the ground it stood on.
9,498 in the 1920s
#375
Alex Alex is a name of Greek origin meaning "defender of mankind."
9,277 in the 1920s
#378
Angelo Angelo means messenger, and it charts in all seven markets within a 365-place spread — the United States 304th, France 343rd, Northern Ireland 397th, Scotland 522nd, England and Wales 569th and Ireland 669th.
9,207 in the 1920s
#380
Mike Mike is a boy's name, the short form of Michael, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God.
9,117 in the 1920s
#382
Jacob Jacob is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter" or "holder of the heel," from Ya'aqov.
9,067 in the 1920s
#387
Clifton Clifton means the settlement by the cliff, and it is the same first element as Clifford — one describes a ford below the cliff and the other the farm on top of it.
8,810 in the 1920s
#391
Duane Duane means the little dark one, from an Irish surname built on the word for black — and that same root also gives us Dublin, which means the black pool that the city originally grew up around.
8,715 in the 1920s
#395
Matthew Matthew is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of Yahweh," from Mattityahu.
8,587 in the 1920s
#397
Clinton Clinton means the settlement on the hill, from an English place name — and the two American presidents who carried it did so by adoption and by surname, not by descent from the place.
8,512 in the 1920s
#401
Jay Jay is a name serving as an initial-letter shortening for any J name, as a bird name, and as an Indian name meaning victory.
8,295 in the 1920s
#403
Freddie Freddie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
8,242 in the 1920s
#404
Dennis Dennis is a boy's name that traces back to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic release — one of the few widely used Christian names derived from a pagan deity.
8,241 in the 1920s
#405
Dan Dan means he judged, and it is a full Hebrew name in its own right before it is short for Daniel — one of Jacob's twelve sons, and the tribe that gave its name to the northern border of Israel.
8,209 in the 1920s
#406
Wilbert Wilbert means bright will, and it is one of a small set of names joining desire to brightness — the same beorht that ends Albert, Robert and Gilbert, on a first element meaning wanting something.
8,170 in the 1920s
#407
Marshall Marshall began as a stable hand — the word meant a horse servant, and it climbed to become the highest rank in several armies.
8,138 in the 1920s
#410
Leland Leland means fallow land — ground deliberately left unplowed for a season.
8,085 in the 1920s
#414
Nathaniel Nathaniel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God."
7,847 in the 1920s
#417
Ivan Ivan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious."
7,691 in the 1920s
#419
Ervin
7,638 in the 1920s
#423
Jimmy Jimmy is a boy's name, the pet form of James, meaning supplanter.
7,539 in the 1920s
#427
Dewey
7,370 in the 1920s
#429
Lowell Lowell means little wolf, and it is Norman French rather than English — louvel is a diminutive of loup, so the name is affectionate about an animal most cultures feared.
7,355 in the 1920s
#432
Alton Alton means the settlement at the river's source, and that is more specific than the old town reading usually given — the Old English element is a spring or wellhead, not age.
7,338 in the 1920s
#433
Larry Larry is a boy's name, the short form of Lawrence, from a Roman name meaning of Laurentum.
7,292 in the 1920s
#434
Irvin Irvin names a Scottish river valley, and the green water reading describes the water rather than the banks — Brittonic river names usually record color or behavior, not the land beside them.
7,284 in the 1920s
#435
Antonio Antonio is a boy's name of Etruscan origin whose meaning is unknown.
7,272 in the 1920s
#436
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
7,247 in the 1920s
#437
Emil
7,238 in the 1920s
#439
Wilfred Wilfred is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "desiring peace."
7,198 in the 1920s
#441
Juan Juan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious."
7,175 in the 1920s
#443
Elbert
7,113 in the 1920s
#447
Julian Julian is a boy's name of Latin origin, derived from the Roman family name Julius.
7,078 in the 1920s
#449
Forrest Forrest is one of only two names in this group birth records mark as rising, and it is on its second life — American births ran 490 in 2018 and 862 in 2025, having collapsed from a 1994 peak twenty years before.
7,051 in the 1920s
#450
Alan Alan is a boy's name of Breton origin whose meaning has never been established.
7,045 in the 1920s
#451
Sylvester Sylvester means of the woods, and a pope carried it into the calendar — Sylvester I died on 31 December, which is why New Year's Eve is still called Silvester across much of Europe.
7,028 in the 1920s
#452
Allan Allan has no settled meaning at all — handsome, little rock and a deer are all proposed for the Breton original, and the name reached England through Brittany rather than through Ireland or Scotland at all.
7,027 in the 1920s

What Made a 1920s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1920 and 1929. A name's position here is how many of them were.

Why Some Names Only Cover Part of the Decade

A name that appears in three of the ten years either arrived partway through or faded out — and either is more interesting than the total on its own. The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.

Where to Go Next

Open any name to see its full curve — most of these have a hundred and forty years of it. Or compare the ends of the same measurement: the most popular names now and the rarest.