1920s Baby Names

13,525 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

#241
Dora Dora means gift, and it is the end of several names rather than a name in its own right — Theodora, Isidora and Dorothea all supply it, and Dorothy means the same thing with the halves reversed.
18,441 in the 1920s
#242
Gilbert Gilbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright pledge, and it founded the only medieval religious order native to England.
18,338 in the 1920s
#243
Roberta Roberta is a girl's name meaning bright fame, the feminine of Robert.
18,325 in the 1920s
#244
Hilda Hilda means battle, and it is the surviving fragment of longer Germanic names — Hildegard, Brunhild and Matilda all contain it, and the element outlived most of the compounds it belonged to.
18,251 in the 1920s
#245
Naomi Naomi is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "pleasantness," from No'omi.
18,242 in the 1920s
#246
Edgar Edgar is a boy's name meaning wealthy spear, and it is one of very few Old English names still in wide use.
18,159 in the 1920s
#247
Anita Anita is a girl's name, the Spanish diminutive of Ana, meaning grace.
18,114 in the 1920s
#248
Alberta Alberta means noble and bright, and a Canadian province carries it — Alberta was named for Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, whose full name was Louise Caroline Alberta.
17,975 in the 1920s
#249
Jacqueline Jacqueline is a girl's name, the French feminine of Jacques, and it inherits the meaning supplanter from Jacob.
17,927 in the 1920s
#250
Oscar Oscar is a boy's name with two competing origins: the Irish os, deer, plus cara, friend, giving "deer lover," or the Old Norse Ásgeirr, meaning "god's spear."
17,864 in the 1920s
#251
Inez Inez means chaste, and the Spanish spelling hides a Greek original — Agnes became Inés because Spanish dropped the initial vowel sound, so the two look unrelated and are the same name.
17,820 in the 1920s
#252
Douglas Douglas is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic for dark water, originally a river and then a powerful border family.
17,486 in the 1920s
#253
Claude Claude is a name from a Roman family name meaning lame, one of very few widely used names with an unflattering literal sense.
17,190 in the 1920s
#254
Don Don is a boy's name shortened from Donald, meaning world ruler.
17,168 in the 1920s
#255
Roland Roland is a boy's name meaning famous land, and its bearer is the hero of France's national epic — a knight who dies at Roncevaux because he is too proud to blow his horn for help.
16,977 in the 1920s
#256
Maurice Maurice is a boy's name from a Latin word meaning a Moor, originally describing someone from Roman North Africa. It is reviving, and it peaked in 1920 — a century-long gap of the same kind we see in Walter and Frances.
16,754 in the 1920s
#257
Laverne Laverne means the alder grove, and the goddess sometimes cited for it is a poor fit — Laverna was the Roman patroness of thieves, which is not a namesake most sources mention when they list her.
16,669 in the 1920s
#258
Everett Everett is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "brave as a wild boar," from eber, boar, and hard, brave or hardy.
16,582 in the 1920s
#259
Fannie Fannie means Frenchwoman, shortened from Frances, and it left English-speaking use for reasons of slang rather than fashion — the word acquired a sense the name could not survive.
16,549 in the 1920s
#260
Delores Delores means sorrows, and it is a Marian title rather than a wish — Our Lady of Sorrows, named for the seven griefs of the Virgin, which is why a name meaning pain was ever given.
16,523 in the 1920s
#261
Hattie Hattie is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
16,473 in the 1920s
#262
Curtis Curtis is a boy's name from a Norman French nickname meaning courteous, and it is one of very few names that describes manners rather than birth, appearance or trade.
16,449 in the 1920s
#263
Lula Lula has no single parent — it shortens Louise, Lucille and Tallulah alike, and it is reviving, ranking 1,306th in England and Wales against 1,938th in the United States.
16,425 in the 1920s
#264
Verna Verna means springtime, from the Latin for spring — and it is reviving, though from a low base at 3,464th in the United States on a 1918 peak of 1,885.
16,419 in the 1920s
#265
Virgil Virgil is misspelled and always has been — the poet's name was Vergilius, and medieval scribes changed the e to an i by association with virgo, which is how a Roman family name acquired a meaning it never had.
16,335 in the 1920s
#266
Leslie Leslie is a Scottish place name turned surname turned given name, and it has crossed sexes: about 71 percent of recorded births are female, though the name began firmly male and remains so in Britain.
16,306 in the 1920s
#267
Cora Cora is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "maiden," from kore.
16,222 in the 1920s
#268
Wilbur Wilbur ranks 579th in England and Wales against 3,956th in the United States, so a name most people think of as thoroughly American is now used more than six times more readily in England.
15,834 in the 1920s
#269
Manuel Manuel is a boy's name meaning God is with us, the Spanish short form of Emmanuel.
15,788 in the 1920s
#270
Claire Claire is a girl's name of French origin meaning "clear" or "bright," from the Latin clarus.
15,650 in the 1920s
#271
Constance Constance is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "steadfastness," one of the abstract virtue names the early Church favored.
15,635 in the 1920s
#272
Stephen Stephen is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, borne by the first Christian martyr.
15,630 in the 1920s
#273
Madeline Madeline is a girl's name meaning "of Magdala," a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee whose name comes from the Hebrew migdal, a tower.
15,585 in the 1920s
#274
Jerome Jerome is a boy's name meaning sacred name, and it belongs to the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin — the version Western Europe read for over a thousand years.
15,584 in the 1920s
#275
Miriam Miriam is the origin of Mary, Maria, Marie, Maureen, Marion and Molly — the largest name family in Europe — and it still charts in all seven markets, with its top four inside 46 places of each other.
15,518 in the 1920s
#276
Homer Homer means hostage, which makes it the third pledge name in this group alongside Gage and Giselle — and the ancient tradition that the poet was blind may have been read backward out of a dialect word rather than recorded from life.
15,297 in the 1920s
#277
Glen Glen means a narrow valley, and it is one of very few Gaelic words that English borrowed wholesale rather than adapting to its own sounds.
15,239 in the 1920s
#278
Ada Ada is a girl's name with two origins. In Germanic it is a short form of names beginning with adal, noble; in Hebrew, Adah means "adornment" and belongs to two women in Genesis.
15,212 in the 1920s
#279
Bobby Bobby is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
15,053 in the 1920s
#280
Mamie Mamie has no single parent — it shortens Mary, Margaret and Miriam alike, and Mary's own meaning has never been established, so the name inherits an unresolved question three ways.
14,890 in the 1920s
#281
Hubert Hubert means bright mind, and its saint is the patron of hunters — Saint Hubertus, whose stag with a crucifix between its antlers is the emblem on every bottle of Jägermeister.
14,773 in the 1920s
#282
Sidney Sidney is a name of Old English origin meaning "wide meadow."
14,769 in the 1920s
#283
Lola Lola is a girl's name of Spanish origin meaning "sorrows."
14,746 in the 1920s
#284
Jose Jose is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the Spanish and Portuguese form of Joseph.
14,658 in the 1920s
#285
Rosie Rosie is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "rose."
14,409 in the 1920s
#286
Erma Erma is the only name in this group recorded in a single market across its whole history — every one of its 55,187 births is American, and it charts nowhere else in any year on record.
14,327 in the 1920s
#287
Rachel Rachel is a girl's name from Hebrew meaning ewe, borne by Jacob's wife in Genesis.
14,274 in the 1920s
#288
Hugh Hugh is a boy's name from a Germanic word for mind or spirit, brought to Britain by the Normans.
14,248 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.