Last post we looked at the most popular baby names in the US in the 1880s, via the Social Security Administration. A fascinating exercise in looking at the general consciousness of the past; a past almost unrecognizable to modern life. Instead of going decade by decade looking at the changes and trends in names, I thought it would be interesting to compare top names from a couple of different decades, spread out to allow for a much starker difference over time. So let’s jump from the 1880s, to the roaring 1920s, a time when America was still new, and still rising fast. Let’s see if the most popular baby names reflect the times, and how much different they are from 40 years prior.
Boys:
Robert
John
James
William
Charles
George
Joseph
Richard
Edward
Donald
Girls:
Mary
Dorothy
Helen
Betty
Margaret
Ruth
Virginia
Doris
Mildred
Frances
As we can see, the boy’s names generally stayed the same with the standards all still represented, although in a different order, and Donald has made an appearance at number 10. As for the girl names, they are very different, with the exception of Mary still staying strong as the top name for girls, there is only one other name in the 1920s top 10 and in the 1880s top ten, and that is Margaret.









