Popular Names of 1920

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1920, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1920
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	70,983	125
2	Dorothy	36,643	421
3	Helen	35,097	462
4	Margaret	27,994	112
5	Ruth	26,102	173
6	Mildred	18,060	1,973
7	Virginia	17,314	526
8	Elizabeth	15,908	17
9	Frances	15,883	318
10	Anna	14,581	107
11	Betty	14,016	1,113
12	Evelyn	13,838	8
13	Marie	12,743	618
14	Doris	11,892	2,909
15	Alice	11,596	65
16	Florence	10,731	391
17	Irene	10,072	651
18	Lillian	10,049	57
19	Louise	9,179	516
20	Rose	9,011	114

Table 2. Male names, 1920
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	John	56,913	23
2	William	50,146	9
3	Robert	48,679	92
4	James	47,908	6
5	Charles	28,309	48
6	George	26,891	126
7	Joseph	25,587	29
8	Edward	20,097	224
9	Frank	16,430	514
10	Richard	15,010	234
11	Thomas	14,936	34
12	Harold	13,678	993
13	Walter	13,294	252
14	Paul	12,570	262
15	Raymond	12,193	395
16	Donald	11,941	690
17	Henry	11,305	5
18	Arthur	10,236	87
19	Albert	9,997	614
20	Jack	9,599	15

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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.