1920s Baby Names

6,994 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

#1
Mary Mary is a girl's name of Hebrew origin whose meaning has never been settled.
704,186 in the 1920s
#6
Dorothy Dorothy is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God."
369,879 in the 1920s
#8
Helen Helen is a girl's name from Greek whose meaning is not settled, though torch and shining are the usual readings.
291,152 in the 1920s
#9
Betty Betty is a girl's name that began as a short form of Elizabeth and is now used in its own right.
283,849 in the 1920s
#11
Margaret Margaret is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "pearl," from margarites.
245,709 in the 1920s
#14
Ruth Ruth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin usually given as "companion" or "friend," though the derivation is not secure.
219,217 in the 1920s
#17
Virginia Virginia is a girl's name from a Roman family name, and the American state was named before the name became common in America — both honoring Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.
170,037 in the 1920s
#20
Doris Doris is a girl's name from Greek mythology, where she is a sea nymph and the mother of the fifty Nereids.
152,135 in the 1920s
#21
Mildred Mildred is a girl's name from Old English elements meaning gentle strength, and it is among the least fashionable names of the twentieth century — yet it is reviving, ninety years after its 1920 peak.
147,624 in the 1920s
#22
Frances Frances is a girl's name meaning a Frank, or a free one, and the feminine of Francis.
141,498 in the 1920s
#23
Elizabeth Elizabeth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," from Elisheva, the name of Aaron's wife in the Book of Exodus.
140,106 in the 1920s
#27
Evelyn Evelyn is a girl's name of English and French origin meaning "desired" or "wished for".
124,521 in the 1920s
#28
Anna Anna is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor," the Greek and Latin form of Hannah.
124,291 in the 1920s
#31
Marie Marie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the French form of Mary, and the largest name in the birth records with more than 2.8 million births on record.
110,955 in the 1920s
#32
Alice Alice is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble," arrived at by a long contraction of Adelaide.
110,911 in the 1920s
#36
Shirley Shirley is a girl's name from an English place name meaning bright clearing, and it was a boys' name until Charlotte Brontë used it for a heroine in 1849.
100,902 in the 1920s
#39
Barbara Barbara is a girl's name from the Greek for foreign or strange, the feminine of the word that gives us barbarian.
97,471 in the 1920s
#41
Irene Irene is a girl's name from the Greek word for peace, and the name of the goddess who personified it.
93,192 in the 1920s
#42
Marjorie Marjorie is a girl's name meaning pearl, an English form of Margaret whose modern spelling was pulled toward the herb marjoram by nothing more than a coincidence of sound.
91,438 in the 1920s
#44
Lois Lois is a girl's name that appears once in the New Testament, in a letter naming Timothy's grandmother, and its meaning has never been established.
88,830 in the 1920s
#45
Florence Florence is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "blossoming" or "flourishing."
88,628 in the 1920s
#46
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
87,102 in the 1920s
#48
Rose Rose is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the flower, from rosa.
85,665 in the 1920s
#51
Lillian Lillian is a girl's name usually explained as an elaboration of Lily, from the Latin lilium, and sometimes as a variant of Elizabeth by way of the medieval pet form Lilian.
83,492 in the 1920s
#52
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
83,395 in the 1920s
#53
Catherine Catherine is a girl's name of Greek origin whose meaning is unknown — the familiar reading of pure is a later reshaping, not the original sense.
79,136 in the 1920s
#54
Ruby Ruby is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the red gemstone, from ruber, meaning red.
77,390 in the 1920s
#55
Eleanor Eleanor is a girl's name that traces back to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the twelfth-century queen of France and later England, whose own name, Aliénor, is widely explained as "the other Aenor," distinguishing her from her mother, also named Aenor.
74,964 in the 1920s
#56
Patricia Patricia is a girl's name from the Latin for noble or patrician, the feminine of Patrick.
74,940 in the 1920s
#57
Gladys Gladys is a girl's name from Welsh, usually taken as a form of Claudia — which would give it the meaning lame.
72,812 in the 1920s
#61
Annie Annie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor."
69,902 in the 1920s
#62
Josephine Josephine is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the French feminine form of Joseph.
69,444 in the 1920s
#63
Thelma Thelma is a girl's name invented for a novel in 1887, and the Greek word it was probably built from means "will" or "volition."
69,101 in the 1920s
#64
Edna Edna is a girl's name from a Hebrew word meaning delight, and it shares its root with Eden.
68,877 in the 1920s
#67
Norma Norma is a girl's name that appears to have been invented for an opera — Bellini's Norma of 1831 — and it was the birth name of Marilyn Monroe, who appears elsewhere in these pages under the name that replaced it.
65,461 in the 1920s
#70
Pauline Pauline is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
64,301 in the 1920s
#72
Lucille Lucille is a girl's name from the Latin for light, given to children born at daybreak.
64,103 in the 1920s
#75
Edith Edith is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "prosperous in war."
63,172 in the 1920s
#76
Ethel Ethel is a girl's name from an Old English word meaning noble, and it is not a name in its own right in that language — it is the first half of longer names like Ethelred, cut off and used alone.
63,144 in the 1920s
#77
Gloria Gloria is a girl's name that is simply the Latin word for glory, taken unchanged.
63,053 in the 1920s
#78
Phyllis Phyllis is a girl's name from the Greek for foliage, borne by a mythological princess who was turned into an almond tree.
62,010 in the 1920s
#79
Grace Grace is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "favor" or "blessing," from gratia.
60,283 in the 1920s
#80
Hazel Hazel is a girl's name of English origin naming the hazel tree, from the Old English hæsel.
59,627 in the 1920s
#81
June June is a girl's name of Latin origin taken from the month, which is named for the goddess Juno — the queen of the Roman gods and the protector of marriage and childbirth.
57,245 in the 1920s
#83
Bernice Bernice is a girl's name meaning bringer of victory, and it is the same name as Veronica — both descend from the Greek Berenike by different routes.
56,896 in the 1920s
#87
Dolores Dolores is a girl's name meaning sorrows — taken from a title of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, which counts seven specific griefs.
52,300 in the 1920s
#88
Rita Rita is a girl's name meaning pearl, clipped from the end of Margarita rather than the front.
50,724 in the 1920s
#91
Lorraine Lorraine is a girl's name from the French region, whose own name means the kingdom of Lothair — a Frankish king's realm that was carved out of Charlemagne's empire and slowly disappeared.
50,198 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.