babynamepicker

Boy Names of the 1900s

The 100 most common boy names given in the United States during the 1900s, by the number of children recorded with each name across those years.

All 100 names

  1. John 84,590
  2. William 69,320
  3. James 62,170
  4. George 43,589
  5. Charles 36,184
  6. Robert 35,849
  7. Joseph 35,173
  8. Frank 29,046
  9. Edward 24,516
  10. Thomas 21,783
  11. Henry 21,772
  12. Walter 19,997
  13. Harry 17,906
  14. Willie 17,746
  15. Arthur 15,409
  16. Albert 15,318
  17. Clarence 13,573
  18. Fred 13,076
  19. Harold 12,795
  20. Paul 12,636
  21. Raymond 11,650
  22. Richard 10,675
  23. Roy 10,632
  24. Joe 10,466
  25. Louis 10,372
  26. Carl 9,865
  27. Ralph 9,298
  28. Earl 9,251
  29. Jack 9,222
  30. Ernest 8,657
  31. David 8,619
  32. Samuel 8,149
  33. Howard 8,014
  34. Charlie 7,928
  35. Francis 7,021
  36. Herbert 6,957
  37. Lawrence 6,846
  38. Theodore 6,490
  39. Alfred 6,356
  40. Andrew 6,277
  41. Elmer 6,161
  42. Sam 6,161
  43. Eugene 5,909
  44. Leo 5,629
  45. Michael 5,220
  46. Lee 5,158
  47. Herman 5,064
  48. Anthony 5,043
  49. Daniel 5,036
  50. Leonard 5,022
  51. Floyd 4,968
  52. Donald 4,632
  53. Kenneth 4,579
  54. Jesse 4,559
  55. Russell 4,552
  56. Clyde 4,524
  57. Oscar 4,517
  58. Peter 4,375
  59. Lester 4,361
  60. Leroy 4,300
  61. Ray 4,256
  62. Stanley 4,156
  63. Clifford 4,055
  64. Lewis 4,042
  65. Benjamin 4,009
  66. Edwin 3,961
  67. Frederick 3,900
  68. Chester 3,788
  69. Claude 3,704
  70. Eddie 3,695
  71. Cecil 3,610
  72. Lloyd 3,507
  73. Jessie 3,379
  74. Martin 3,346
  75. Bernard 3,296
  76. Tom 3,293
  77. Will 3,246
  78. Norman 3,178
  79. Edgar 3,154
  80. Harvey 3,104
  81. Ben 3,028
  82. Homer 2,915
  83. Luther 2,866
  84. Leon 2,859
  85. Melvin 2,840
  86. Philip 2,817
  87. Johnnie 2,781
  88. Jim 2,718
  89. Milton 2,695
  90. Everett 2,597
  91. Allen 2,558
  92. Leslie 2,531
  93. Alvin 2,484
  94. Victor 2,447
  95. Marvin 2,324
  96. Stephen 2,247
  97. Alexander 2,230
  98. Jacob 2,191
  99. Hugh 2,176
  100. Patrick 2,141

How 1900s boy names compare

John was the most common boy name of the 1900s, given to 84,590 boys across those years, with William, James, George and Charles behind it. The hundredth name on the list, Patrick, accounts for 2,141. Between them the hundred names cover 999,087 births. John was number one in every one of those ten years.

92 of these names were also in the 1890s top 100, and eight were not. 22 are still in the 2025 top 100 — John, William, James, Charles, Robert, Joseph, Thomas and Henry, among others — and 46 are inside the top 500.

Those hundred names cover 73.6% of all boys born in the 1900s — 999,087 of 1,357,571 — and John alone accounts for 6.2% of them. The hundred most common names of 2025 take 38.0% between them, so naming has spread wider since. Every one of the hundred was already in the record before the 1900s began.

Questions about 1900s boy names

What was the most popular boy name of the 1900s?

John, given to 84,590 boys across those years. The next two were William and James.

Are 1900s boy names still used today?

22 of the hundred are in the 2025 top 100: John, William, James, Charles, Robert, Joseph, Thomas and Henry, among others.