Top Baby Names in Idaho, 1930s — Most Popular Boys & Girls Names

The most popular baby names in Idaho from 1930 to 1939, ranked by total births during the decade.

What the Data Says About the 1930s in Idaho

During the 1930s (1930–1939), the Social Security Administration recorded 47,792 births across the top 50 boy and top 50 girl names in Idaho. The decade's leading boy name was Robert with 2,110 births, while Mary was the top girl name with 1,423 births. The top 50 boys in this decade collectively accounted for 25,605 births versus 22,187 for the top 50 girls — a common SSA pattern in which the boy-name pool is more concentrated among fewer high-frequency choices. These totals represent only names appearing five or more times per year in Idaho; rarer names fall below the SSA's privacy-disclosure threshold and are excluded.

The 1930s sits within a specific cultural window of U.S. naming history. Pre-1950 decades like the 1930s were characterized by strong traditional and biblical naming conventions, with a small cluster of dominant names (John, William, Mary, Elizabeth) capturing a disproportionate share of births. Robert and Mary leading Idaho during this window reflects how regional preferences interact with broader national trends.

Decade totals are computed by summing SSA state-year records for Idaho across all ten years of the 1930s. Because the SSA suppresses any name with fewer than five annual occurrences in a state, the true number of unique names given in Idaho during this decade is larger than what this page lists. The dataset also treats every spelling as a separate name — for example, Kayla and Kaylah are tracked independently — so combined-spelling totals would shift the rankings somewhat. This page is provided for informational and research purposes and does not constitute naming, legal, or genealogical advice.

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

Rank Name Births
1 Robert 2,110
2 James 1,392
3 Richard 1,389
4 John 1,364
5 Donald 1,223
6 William 1,176
7 Larry 914
8 Gary 848
9 Charles 826
10 Ronald 806
11 David 747
12 Kenneth 693
13 Jack 668
14 Jerry 629
15 George 623
16 Gerald 489
17 Don 435
18 Dale 426
19 Wayne 381
20 Thomas 378
21 Harold 362
22 Frank 338
23 Paul 337
24 Ralph 334
25 Bill 329
26 Edward 324
27 Raymond 322
28 Norman 285
29 Bob 284
30 Dean 283
31 Joseph 282
32 Fred 281
33 Jim 280
34 Melvin 274
35 Carl 274
36 Keith 273
37 Marvin 273
38 Roger 255
39 Jay 249
40 Ray 239
41 Dennis 237
42 Gene 229
43 Gordon 226
44 Earl 225
45 Lawrence 220
46 Eugene 220
47 Darrell 218
48 Howard 214
49 Billy 211
50 Stanley 210

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

Rank Name Births
1 Mary 1,423
2 Barbara 1,281
3 Shirley 1,197
4 Betty 1,180
5 Donna 1,012
6 Carol 855
7 Patricia 841
8 Dorothy 652
9 Beverly 649
10 Joyce 638
11 Sharon 612
12 Joan 547
13 Helen 537
14 Lois 520
15 Marilyn 503
16 Margaret 473
17 Norma 453
18 Bonnie 421
19 Ruth 383
20 Doris 376
21 Virginia 356
22 Darlene 355
23 Janet 339
24 Phyllis 337
25 Jean 335
26 Alice 299
27 Carolyn 298
28 Karen 297
29 Nancy 294
30 Janice 284
31 Marlene 275
32 Evelyn 262
33 Marjorie 246
34 Frances 240
35 Sandra 235
36 Arlene 230
37 Joann 229
38 Gloria 229
39 Dolores 227
40 Joanne 223
41 Elaine 223
42 Geraldine 215
43 Colleen 210
44 Ann 210
45 Wanda 206
46 Peggy 204
47 Connie 199
48 Myrna 194
49 Wilma 193
50 Maxine 190

Nearby Rankings

Related decade and state views for Idaho

Compare 1930s leaders: Robert vs Mary → or pick any two names →

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files, 1910–2024 (ssa.gov).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year are included (ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html).

Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details.