1930s Baby Names

4,739 names were given to children in the United States between 1930 and 1939, 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

#229
Warren Warren is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and it is the second-strongest revival we hold — it peaked in 1921 and now ranks 240th in the United States on 1,493 births, a century later.
19,269 in the 1930s
#230
Jesse Jesse is a name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is debated.
19,194 in the 1930s
#232
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.
19,078 in the 1930s
#237
Patrick Patrick is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "nobleman."
18,500 in the 1930s
#239
Stephen Stephen is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, borne by the first Christian martyr.
18,352 in the 1930s
#240
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.
18,261 in the 1930s
#244
Arnold Arnold means eagle power, and England and Wales ranks it 631st on 59 births — well above the United States at 1478th, which is not what the name's twentieth-century American associations would predict.
17,995 in the 1930s
#245
Gilbert Gilbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright pledge, and it founded the only medieval religious order native to England.
17,854 in the 1930s
#248
Elmer Elmer means noble and famous, and its American popularity is traceable to two brothers — the Ebenezer and Jonathan Elmer who signed early revolutionary documents, after whom patriotic families went on to name sons.
17,686 in the 1930s
#249
Cecil Cecil means blind, from a Roman family name, and the saint who made it famous is patron of music on the strength of one ambiguous line in her own account of her wedding day.
17,253 in the 1930s
#250
Lester Lester means from Leicester, and the spelling is the honest one — Leicester has been pronounced LES-ter for centuries, so the surname simply wrote down what people had actually been saying to each other all along.
17,164 in the 1930s
#251
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.
17,090 in the 1930s
#255
Phillip Phillip is a boy's name meaning lover of horses, the doubled-l spelling of Philip.
16,602 in the 1930s
#257
Tom Tom is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," a short form of Thomas used as a full name across Europe.
16,526 in the 1930s
#259
Alan Alan is a boy's name of Breton origin whose meaning has never been established.
16,409 in the 1930s
#263
Milton Milton means the mill settlement, and there is a second and quite separate source meaning the middle settlement — two entirely different Old English place names that ended up producing exactly the same modern spelling.
15,832 in the 1930s
#264
Victor Victor is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conqueror."
15,681 in the 1930s
#265
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.
15,080 in the 1930s
#266
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.
14,709 in the 1930s
#267
Benjamin Benjamin is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son of the right hand," from Binyamin.
14,684 in the 1930s
#268
Chester Chester is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "fortress" or "walled camp."
14,527 in the 1930s
#273
Calvin Calvin is a boy's name of French origin meaning "little bald one," from the Latin calvus, bald.
14,284 in the 1930s
#276
Dean Dean is a boy's name with two English origins.
14,189 in the 1930s
#277
Keith Keith is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, probably from a Brittonic word for a wood.
13,961 in the 1930s
#287
Sam Sam is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has heard," a short form of Samuel.
13,496 in the 1930s
#288
Wallace Wallace means foreigner, and the irony is complete — it is the Anglo-Saxon word for the Britons who were there first, so Scotland's national hero carries a name meaning outsider in his own country.
13,342 in the 1930s
#291
Maurice Maurice is a boy's name from a Latin word meaning a Moor, originally describing someone from Roman North Africa. Our data marks it reviving, and it peaked in 1920 — a century-long gap of the same kind we see in Walter and Frances.
12,985 in the 1930s
#298
Freddie Freddie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
12,646 in the 1930s
#299
Willard Willard means bold desire, and both halves are Germanic words about force of will — it is a surname from a personal name, and its American use is almost entirely nineteenth-century onward.
12,604 in the 1930s
#300
Jose Jose is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the Spanish and Portuguese form of Joseph.
12,507 in the 1930s
#302
Manuel Manuel is a boy's name meaning God is with us, the Spanish short form of Emmanuel.
12,451 in the 1930s
#306
Edgar Edgar is a boy's name meaning wealthy spear, and it is one of very few Old English names still in wide use.
11,937 in the 1930s
#308
Max Max is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "greatest."
11,823 in the 1930s
#309
Hugh Hugh is a boy's name from a Germanic word for mind or spirit, brought to Britain by the Normans.
11,779 in the 1930s
#310
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.
11,524 in the 1930s
#311
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."
11,493 in the 1930s
#314
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.
11,381 in the 1930s
#318
Darrell Darrell does not mean beloved.
11,229 in the 1930s
#320
Wesley Wesley is a boy's name of English origin meaning "western meadow," from the Old English west and leah.
11,055 in the 1930s
#321
Everett Everett is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "brave as a wild boar," from eber, boar, and hard, brave or hardy.
11,019 in the 1930s
#329
Ted Ted is a boy's name that serves two unrelated names at once, and it exists because medieval English moved the n from "mine Edward."
10,575 in the 1930s
#331
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.
10,444 in the 1930s
#334
Dick
10,180 in the 1930s
#340
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.
9,865 in the 1930s
#343
Nicholas Nicholas is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "victory of the people," from nike, victory, and laos, the people.
9,756 in the 1930s
#344
Rodney Rodney is a boy's name from an English place name, and its rise as a given name follows a single admiral — George Rodney, who broke the French line at the Saintes in 1782.
9,729 in the 1930s
#345
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.
9,726 in the 1930s
#347
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.
9,705 in the 1930s

What made a 1930s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1930 and 1939, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1930s names" you will find elsewhere is somebody's sense of the period; this one is the register.

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.