Popular Names of 1926

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1926, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1926
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	67,832	125
2	Dorothy	36,618	421
3	Betty	32,964	1,113
4	Helen	26,886	462
5	Margaret	23,072	112
6	Ruth	20,225	173
7	Doris	16,295	2,909
8	Virginia	16,161	526
9	Mildred	13,547	1,973
10	Frances	13,355	318
11	Elizabeth	12,837	17
12	Jean	12,168	2,130
13	Evelyn	11,780	8
14	Shirley	11,762	1,586
15	Anna	11,698	107
16	Barbara	11,079	968
17	Alice	10,956	65
18	Marie	10,629	618
19	Lois	9,816	1,670
20	Gloria	9,198	655

Table 2. Male names, 1926
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Robert	61,130	92
2	John	56,108	23
3	James	53,196	6
4	William	51,922	9
5	Charles	29,521	48
6	George	25,910	126
7	Richard	25,143	234
8	Joseph	23,756	29
9	Donald	20,912	690
10	Edward	19,375	224
11	Thomas	16,592	34
12	Frank	14,493	514
13	Paul	13,653	262
14	Harold	13,310	993
15	Raymond	12,809	395
16	Jack	12,195	15
17	Walter	11,774	252
18	Kenneth	10,342	294
19	Henry	9,994	5
20	Arthur	9,465	87

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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.