Baby names of the 1900s
The most given names of the 1900s were Mary and John. The names most over-represented in those years are Mabel, Myrtle, Bessie for girls and Clarence, Harry, Fred for boys, each given at least 5.3 times as often then as across 1880-2025.
Babies given each name per year; 1900-1909 shaded.
Births 1900-1909: SSA national file, published May 8, 2026; the living figure uses SSA’s cohort life tables. SSA’s notes on the data.
The most given names
| # | Name | Births |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mary | 161,504 |
| 2 | Helen | 69,428 |
| 3 | Margaret | 57,919 |
| 4 | Anna | 54,918 |
| 5 | Ruth | 51,010 |
| 6 | Elizabeth | 41,708 |
| 7 | Dorothy | 39,112 |
| 8 | Marie | 37,091 |
| 9 | Florence | 36,191 |
| 10 | Mildred | 36,173 |
| 11 | Alice | 35,232 |
| 12 | Ethel | 34,868 |
| 13 | Lillian | 32,519 |
| 14 | Gladys | 30,285 |
| 15 | Edna | 29,832 |
| 16 | Frances | 28,499 |
| 17 | Rose | 28,106 |
| 18 | Annie | 27,748 |
| 19 | Grace | 26,927 |
| 20 | Bertha | 24,247 |
| 21 | Emma | 24,176 |
| 22 | Bessie | 23,984 |
| 23 | Clara | 23,899 |
| 24 | Hazel | 23,802 |
| 25 | Irene | 23,656 |
| # | Name | Births |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Most given: births summed over 1900-1909, per sex.
Which names define the 1900s?
A name’s share of births in these years divided by its share across the whole record, for names given to at least 10,000 babies in the span and to one sex at least 90% of the time.
Typical: share in the span over share in 1880-2025.