Popular Names of 1908

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1908, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1908
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	18,665	125
2	Helen	8,439	462
3	Margaret	6,976	112
4	Ruth	6,180	173
5	Anna	5,860	107
6	Dorothy	5,703	421
7	Elizabeth	4,904	17
8	Mildred	4,624	1,973
9	Alice	4,270	65
10	Marie	4,076	618
11	Florence	3,883	391
12	Ethel	3,786	4,211
13	Lillian	3,634	57
14	Frances	3,593	318
15	Gladys	3,580	3,224
16	Rose	3,382	114
17	Edna	3,365	2,463
18	Louise	2,937	516
19	Grace	2,901	38
20	Evelyn	2,857	8

Table 2. Male names, 1908
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	John	9,343	23
2	William	7,529	9
3	James	7,012	6
4	George	4,584	126
5	Robert	4,219	92
6	Joseph	4,162	29
7	Charles	3,929	48
8	Frank	3,146	514
9	Edward	2,707	224
10	Thomas	2,301	34
11	Henry	2,283	5
12	Walter	2,192	252
13	Willie	1,964	1,322
14	Harry	1,934	775
15	Albert	1,642	614
16	Arthur	1,601	87
17	Harold	1,542	993
18	Paul	1,478	262
19	Clarence	1,428	1,500
20	Fred	1,381	1,936

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As recorded on the Social Security card application. Names given to fewer than five babies of a sex in a year are not published, so the file is a floor.