1930s Baby Names

12,733 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

#145
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.
31,861 in the 1930s
#146
Loretta Loretta comes from an Italian shrine, not from the laurel — Loreto is the town where the Holy House of Nazareth was said to have been carried by angels.
31,682 in the 1930s
#147
Grace Grace is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "favor" or "blessing," from gratia.
31,511 in the 1930s
#148
Sharon Sharon is a girl's name taken from a place rather than a person — the fertile coastal plain of Sharon in Israel, known from the rose of Sharon in the Song of Songs.
31,390 in the 1930s
#149
Jimmie Jimmie means supplanter, shortened from James, and about 17 percent of recorded births are female — a much higher share than most nickname-names of this shape, which usually resolve firmly to one side or the other.
31,275 in the 1930s
#150
Edith Edith is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "prosperous in war."
31,191 in the 1930s
#151
Lucille Lucille is a girl's name from the Latin for light, given to children born at daybreak.
31,030 in the 1930s
#152
Ray Ray is a boy's name that serves as a short form of Raymond and as the English word for a beam of light.
30,880 in the 1930s
#153
Bernard Bernard is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning brave as a bear.
30,685 in the 1930s
#154
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.
30,554 in the 1930s
#155
Gene Gene means well-born, shortened from Eugene — and it has nothing at all to do with genes in biology, which is a separate word coined in 1909 from a different Greek root entirely, by a Danish botanist.
30,251 in the 1930s
#156
Emma Emma is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "whole" or "universal," from the element ermen, found in older names such as Ermintrude.
30,230 in the 1930s
#157
Linda Linda is a girl's name usually read as beautiful in Spanish or as a Germanic element meaning soft or tender.
29,482 in the 1930s
#158
Hazel Hazel is a girl's name of English origin naming the hazel tree, from the Old English hæsel.
29,038 in the 1930s
#159
Russell Russell is a boy's name from a Norman nickname meaning little red, given to someone red-haired or ruddy.
29,005 in the 1930s
#160
Philip Philip is a boy's name from Greek elements meaning lover of horses.
28,967 in the 1930s
#161
Jo Jo is a name serving as the short form of Joanne, Josephine and Joan for women and Joseph for men.
28,931 in the 1930s
#162
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
28,730 in the 1930s
#163
Jessie Jessie is a name that arrives from two unrelated directions — the Scottish pet form of Janet, and a feminine of the Hebrew Jesse.
28,481 in the 1930s
#164
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
28,425 in the 1930s
#165
Roberta Roberta is a girl's name meaning bright fame, the feminine of Robert.
27,881 in the 1930s
#166
Carole Carole is a girl's name meaning free man, the French spelling of Carol.
26,864 in the 1930s
#167
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
26,712 in the 1930s
#168
Franklin Franklin means a freeholder — a man who owned his land but held no noble rank, a specific medieval class.
26,519 in the 1930s
#169
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.
26,507 in the 1930s
#170
Douglas Douglas is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic for dark water, originally a river and then a powerful border family.
26,183 in the 1930s
#171
Darlene Darlene is a girl's name built from the English word darling, and it is one of a small group of American twentieth-century coinages that used the -ene ending.
26,065 in the 1930s
#172
Esther Esther is a girl's name usually connected to the Persian word for star, and possibly to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
25,987 in the 1930s
#173
Bobbie Bobbie is 83 percent female on record and England and Wales ranks it 523rd on 110 births — far above the United States at 2,072nd, reversing what an American nickname-name would usually do.
25,707 in the 1930s
#174
Gordon Gordon is a Scottish surname turned given name, from a place in Berwickshire whose meaning is not settled — spacious fort is the usual gloss but it is a guess.
25,597 in the 1930s
#175
Katherine Katherine is a girl's name whose meaning is not settled.
25,332 in the 1930s
#176
Ellen Ellen is a girl's name of Greek origin, a medieval English form of Helen whose meaning has never been settled.
25,267 in the 1930s
#177
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
25,267 in the 1930s
#178
Laura Laura is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "laurel," the tree whose leaves crowned Roman victors and poets.
25,240 in the 1930s
#179
Andrew Andrew is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "manly" or "brave," from andreios, from aner, a man.
25,204 in the 1930s
#180
Julia Julia is a girl's name of Latin origin, the feminine of the Roman family name Julius.
25,132 in the 1930s
#181
Floyd Floyd is the same name as Lloyd, and the F is a mistake that stuck — English had no way to say the Welsh double L, so it substituted the closest sound it had, and the substitution became a separate name.
25,104 in the 1930s
#182
Theodore Theodore is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God," formed from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
25,088 in the 1930s
#183
Johnny Johnny is a boy's name, the pet form of John, meaning God is gracious.
25,011 in the 1930s
#184
Rosemary Rosemary is not Rose and Mary joined together — it is the herb, from a Latin phrase meaning dew of the sea.
24,941 in the 1930s
#185
Jeanette Jeanette means God is gracious, a French double diminutive of Jeanne.
24,870 in the 1930s
#186
Allen Allen is a boy's name whose meaning is unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from an unidentified Breton source.
24,567 in the 1930s
#187
Glenn Glenn is a boy's name from the Gaelic word for a narrow valley, and like Craig and Dale it is a plain landscape noun.
24,439 in the 1930s
#188
Johnnie Johnnie means God is gracious, a pet form of John.
24,396 in the 1930s
#189
Bruce Bruce is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and Scotland's most famous king carried it as an import — the Bruces came from Normandy, not from Scotland.
24,233 in the 1930s
#190
Marian Marian is a girl's name that either joins Mary and Ann or diminutives Mary alone — the sources disagree.
24,151 in the 1930s
#191
Edwin Edwin is a boy's name from Old English meaning rich friend, borne by a Northumbrian king whose fortress may have given Edinburgh its name.
24,140 in the 1930s
#192
Lloyd Lloyd is a boy's name from the Welsh word for gray, and the double L is a genuine Welsh consonant that English has no letter for.
24,002 in the 1930s

What Made a 1930s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1930 and 1939. 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.