Popular Names of 1912

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1912, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1912
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	32,304	125
2	Helen	16,133	462
3	Dorothy	12,645	421
4	Margaret	12,536	112
5	Ruth	11,280	173
6	Mildred	8,764	1,973
7	Anna	8,586	107
8	Elizabeth	8,527	17
9	Frances	6,680	318
10	Marie	6,642	618
11	Alice	6,285	65
12	Florence	5,739	391
13	Evelyn	5,620	8
14	Lillian	5,568	57
15	Rose	5,431	114
16	Edna	5,136	2,463
17	Louise	5,116	516
18	Ethel	5,073	4,211
19	Gladys	4,980	3,224
20	Virginia	4,810	526

Table 2. Male names, 1912
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	John	24,588	23
2	William	19,626	9
3	James	17,644	6
4	Robert	12,836	92
5	Joseph	12,062	29
6	George	11,734	126
7	Charles	11,070	48
8	Edward	7,936	224
9	Frank	7,912	514
10	Thomas	6,087	34
11	Walter	5,809	252
12	Henry	5,643	5
13	Harold	5,102	993
14	Paul	4,785	262
15	Arthur	4,685	87
16	Harry	4,624	775
17	Albert	4,587	614
18	Raymond	4,374	395
19	Richard	4,188	234
20	Louis	3,591	249

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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.