babynamepicker

Boy Names of the 1920s

The 100 most common boy names given in the United States during the 1920s, by the number of children recorded with each name across those years.

All 100 names

  1. Robert 576,374
  2. John 564,052
  3. James 515,301
  4. William 512,402
  5. Charles 298,031
  6. George 261,945
  7. Joseph 243,809
  8. Richard 222,599
  9. Edward 197,348
  10. Donald 191,816
  11. Thomas 161,107
  12. Frank 151,830
  13. Harold 133,585
  14. Paul 132,384
  15. Raymond 124,212
  16. Walter 119,809
  17. Jack 115,983
  18. Henry 104,552
  19. Kenneth 99,490
  20. Arthur 97,112
  21. Albert 94,431
  22. David 88,736
  23. Harry 86,183
  24. Eugene 84,755
  25. Ralph 84,466
  26. Howard 70,348
  27. Carl 69,851
  28. Willie 67,993
  29. Louis 67,693
  30. Clarence 66,574
  31. Earl 63,602
  32. Roy 63,259
  33. Fred 62,742
  34. Joe 62,676
  35. Francis 59,096
  36. Lawrence 56,867
  37. Herbert 56,531
  38. Leonard 53,793
  39. Ernest 53,653
  40. Alfred 50,156
  41. Anthony 50,054
  42. Stanley 49,456
  43. Norman 49,364
  44. Gerald 44,520
  45. Daniel 43,407
  46. Samuel 43,362
  47. Bernard 42,408
  48. Billy 42,096
  49. Melvin 40,583
  50. Marvin 39,589
  51. Warren 38,775
  52. Michael 37,893
  53. Leroy 37,871
  54. Russell 37,208
  55. Leo 36,960
  56. Andrew 35,952
  57. Edwin 35,255
  58. Elmer 34,919
  59. Peter 34,066
  60. Floyd 33,157
  61. Lloyd 33,125
  62. Ray 32,045
  63. Frederick 31,512
  64. Theodore 31,287
  65. Clifford 31,242
  66. Vernon 29,432
  67. Herman 29,011
  68. Clyde 28,957
  69. Chester 28,435
  70. Philip 27,268
  71. Alvin 26,872
  72. Lester 26,513
  73. Wayne 26,402
  74. Vincent 26,237
  75. Gordon 25,622
  76. Leon 25,577
  77. Lewis 25,328
  78. Charlie 25,176
  79. Glenn 25,157
  80. Calvin 24,785
  81. Martin 24,243
  82. Milton 24,198
  83. Lee 23,556
  84. Jesse 23,170
  85. Dale 22,752
  86. Cecil 22,528
  87. Bill 22,288
  88. Harvey 21,785
  89. Roger 21,753
  90. Victor 21,498
  91. Benjamin 21,028
  92. Wallace 20,916
  93. Ronald 20,894
  94. Sam 20,844
  95. Allen 20,092
  96. Arnold 19,531
  97. Willard 18,440
  98. Gilbert 18,233
  99. Edgar 18,037
  100. Oscar 17,740

How 1920s boy names compare

Robert was the most common boy name of the 1920s, given to 576,374 boys across those years, with John, James, William and Charles behind it. The hundredth name on the list, Oscar, accounts for 17,740. Between them the hundred names cover 7,977,550 births. Two different names took the number one spot across the decade: Robert for six years and John for four years.

92 of these names were also in the 1910s top 100, and eight were not. 19 are still in the 2025 top 100 — Robert, John, James, William, Charles, Joseph, Thomas and Jack, among others — and 44 are inside the top 500.

Those hundred names cover 72.4% of all boys born in the 1920s — 7,977,550 of 11,019,370 — and Robert alone accounts for 5.2% 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 1920s began.

Questions about 1920s boy names

What was the most popular boy name of the 1920s?

Robert, given to 576,374 boys across those years. The next two were John and James.

Are 1920s boy names still used today?

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