Popular 1930s names, and how old they are now

Babies born in the 1930s are 87 to 96 years old in 2026. Social Security recorded about 21 million of them under names it lists, and by our estimate 17% are still alive: about 3.6 million people.

The decade's top names were Mary for girls and Robert for boys. Of the top ten for each, 11 still go to at least 1,000 babies a year.

Top 1930s girl names

Most popular girl names of the 1930s
#	Name	Born 1930s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	573,000	120,000	66
2	Betty	300,409	60,000	76
3	Barbara	296,420	70,000	72
4	Shirley	229,380	53,000	75
5	Patricia	220,582	52,000	68
6	Dorothy	210,415	41,000	72
7	Joan	173,439	36,000	73
8	Margaret	157,369	33,000	61
9	Nancy	142,488	34,000	68
10	Helen	140,426	27,000	66
11	Carol	117,731	31,000	72
12	Joyce	115,506	26,000	72
13	Doris	110,658	22,000	75
14	Ruth	109,204	22,000	62
15	Virginia	103,089	21,000	66
16	Marilyn	98,531	21,000	69
17	Elizabeth	96,480	20,000	44
18	Jean	94,189	19,000	69
19	Frances	92,117	19,000	67
20	Beverly	80,846	18,000	70
21	Lois	80,713	16,000	75
22	Alice	78,968	16,000	53
23	Donna	78,846	18,000	68
24	Martha	77,697	17,000	66
25	Dolores	77,139	14,000	74
26	Janet	76,038	18,000	68
27	Phyllis	73,805	16,000	74
28	Norma	72,878	15,000	69
29	Carolyn	69,525	17,000	67
30	Evelyn	69,364	14,000	34
31	Gloria	68,588	14,000	66
32	Anna	66,598	13,000	39
33	Marie	65,803	14,000	62
34	Ann	64,060	14,000	65
35	Mildred	61,738	12,000	74
36	Rose	59,111	12,000	56
37	Peggy	56,275	13,000	71
38	Geraldine	50,042	11,000	72
39	Catherine	50,027	10,000	54
40	Judith	49,904	15,000	72
41	Louise	49,859	9,900	69
42	Janice	49,343	13,000	70
43	Marjorie	49,213	9,800	69
44	Annie	48,946	10,000	54
45	Ruby	47,648	9,600	39
46	Eleanor	46,379	9,400	30
47	Jane	45,814	10,000	62
48	Sandra	45,399	14,000	66
49	Irene	44,448	8,700	61
50	Wanda	43,072	9,300	69

Top 1930s boy names

Most popular boy names of the 1930s
#	Name	Born 1930s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Robert	590,810	74,000	58
2	James	547,479	70,000	54
3	John	487,950	61,000	55
4	William	416,730	51,000	51
5	Richard	330,502	42,000	60
6	Charles	303,218	38,000	54
7	Donald	283,718	34,000	64
8	George	192,289	23,000	57
9	Thomas	183,878	24,000	53
10	Joseph	180,566	22,000	45
11	David	164,701	24,000	52
12	Edward	147,849	18,000	56
13	Ronald	140,332	21,000	64
14	Paul	125,774	16,000	57
15	Kenneth	125,111	16,000	57
16	Frank	108,090	13,000	59
17	Raymond	99,585	12,000	56
18	Jack	96,396	11,000	34
19	Harold	95,467	11,000	66
20	Billy	88,341	11,000	61
21	Gerald	82,821	11,000	64
22	Walter	80,908	9,600	58
23	Jerry	80,690	12,000	63
24	Joe	71,470	9,100	61
25	Eugene	70,938	8,100	63
26	Henry	70,419	8,400	34
27	Bobby	69,419	9,000	60
28	Arthur	67,730	8,100	54
29	Carl	66,759	8,300	60
30	Larry	65,249	11,000	65
31	Ralph	63,802	7,600	65
32	Albert	62,829	7,300	57
33	Willie	62,466	7,700	64
34	Fred	56,164	6,900	67
35	Michael	56,001	8,600	49
36	Lawrence	54,485	6,900	60
37	Harry	53,115	6,200	62
38	Roy	51,495	6,200	60
39	Howard	51,495	6,100	65
40	Norman	49,987	6,000	64
41	Roger	49,615	7,000	63
42	Daniel	47,998	6,300	42
43	Louis	47,754	5,600	52
44	Earl	44,613	5,200	64
45	Gary	43,596	7,600	65
46	Clarence	42,676	4,900	62
47	Anthony	42,546	5,300	40
48	Francis	41,384	4,900	57
49	Wayne	41,141	5,700	63
50	Marvin	41,085	5,000	56

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in the 1930s, 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 1930s babies. Records before the late 1930s undercount births, because many people born then never applied for a Social Security card. How we calculate this