Popular 1920s names, and how old they are now

Babies born in the 1920s are 97 to 106 years old in 2026. Social Security recorded about 23 million of them under names it lists, and by our estimate 1% are still alive: about 270,000 people.

The decade's top names were Mary for girls and Robert for boys. Of the top ten for each, 12 still go to at least 1,000 babies a year.

Top 1920s girl names

Most popular girl names of the 1920s
#	Name	Born 1920s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	701,755	12,000	66
2	Dorothy	368,875	6,300	72
3	Helen	290,404	4,400	66
4	Betty	283,096	6,200	76
5	Margaret	245,011	3,900	61
6	Ruth	218,520	3,400	62
7	Virginia	169,554	2,700	66
8	Doris	151,193	2,900	75
9	Mildred	147,155	2,200	74
10	Frances	140,391	2,300	67
11	Elizabeth	139,672	2,200	44
12	Evelyn	124,166	2,000	34
13	Anna	123,895	2,000	39
14	Marie	110,564	1,800	62
15	Alice	110,526	1,900	53
16	Jean	105,999	2,100	69
17	Shirley	98,602	2,300	75
18	Barbara	97,210	2,400	72
19	Irene	92,836	1,500	61
20	Marjorie	91,221	1,400	69
21	Florence	88,295	1,300	66
22	Lois	88,133	1,800	75
23	Martha	86,788	1,500	66
24	Rose	85,305	1,500	56
25	Lillian	83,160	1,300	29
26	Louise	82,895	1,400	69
27	Catherine	78,881	1,300	54
28	Ruby	76,738	1,300	39
29	Eleanor	74,760	1,200	30
30	Patricia	74,732	2,000	68
31	Gladys	72,561	1,100	68
32	Annie	69,468	1,200	54
33	Josephine	69,223	1,100	39
34	Thelma	68,767	1,100	74
35	Edna	68,629	1,100	70
36	Norma	65,241	1,400	69
37	Pauline	64,075	1,000	69
38	Lucille	63,883	970	52
39	Edith	62,989	950	57
40	Gloria	62,859	1,400	66
41	Ethel	62,806	950	76
42	Phyllis	61,871	1,300	74
43	Grace	60,060	940	27
44	Hazel	58,984	890	27
45	June	56,482	1,000	54
46	Bernice	55,842	920	70
47	Marion	55,178	940	65
48	Dolores	51,990	1,500	74
49	Rita	50,587	890	67
50	Lorraine	49,939	980	67

Top 1920s boy names

Most popular boy names of the 1920s
#	Name	Born 1920s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Robert	576,374	3,500	58
2	John	564,052	3,200	55
3	James	515,301	3,100	54
4	William	512,402	2,900	51
5	Charles	298,031	1,800	54
6	George	261,945	1,400	57
7	Joseph	243,809	1,300	45
8	Richard	222,599	1,600	60
9	Edward	197,348	1,100	56
10	Donald	191,816	1,400	64
11	Thomas	161,107	960	53
12	Frank	151,830	810	59
13	Harold	133,585	730	66
14	Paul	132,384	760	57
15	Raymond	124,212	710	56
16	Walter	119,809	630	58
17	Jack	115,983	720	34
18	Henry	104,552	550	34
19	Kenneth	99,490	630	57
20	Arthur	97,112	520	54
21	Albert	94,431	510	57
22	David	88,736	590	52
23	Harry	86,183	450	62
24	Eugene	84,755	540	63
25	Ralph	84,466	470	65
26	Howard	70,348	380	65
27	Carl	69,851	410	60
28	Willie	67,993	390	64
29	Louis	67,693	370	52
30	Clarence	66,574	360	62
31	Earl	63,602	350	64
32	Roy	63,259	360	60
33	Fred	62,742	350	67
34	Joe	62,676	380	61
35	Francis	59,096	320	57
36	Lawrence	56,867	320	60
37	Herbert	56,531	400	65
38	Leonard	53,793	300	60
39	Ernest	53,653	290	61
40	Alfred	50,156	300	60
41	Anthony	50,054	280	40
42	Stanley	49,456	270	62
43	Norman	49,364	310	64
44	Gerald	44,520	320	64
45	Daniel	43,407	260	42
46	Samuel	43,362	230	32
47	Bernard	42,408	240	61
48	Billy	42,096	400	61
49	Melvin	40,583	240	59
50	Marvin	39,589	250	56

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in the 1920s, from Social Security's records. “Alive today” estimates how many of those babies are still living, using SSA's cohort life tables. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1920s babies. Records before the late 1930s undercount births, because many people born then never applied for a Social Security card. How we calculate this