Top Baby Names of 1931

Most popular names for boys and girls in 1931.

What the Data Says About 1931

The Social Security Administration's national 1931 file shows 1,466,126 births concentrated in the top 100 boy and top 100 girl names, the segment of U.S. baby-name data released to the public for that year. The #1 boy name of 1931 was Robert, with 60,520 births registered nationally. The #1 girl name of 1931 was Mary, with 60,299 births nationally. The top 100 boys captured 761,711 births compared with 704,415 for the top 100 girls — consistent with the historical SSA pattern in which a smaller pool of boy names dominates a larger share of annual births while girl names are more evenly distributed.

1931 sits within a specific era of U.S. naming trends. Pre-1940 years are dominated by traditional biblical and English names — John, William, Mary, and Helen consistently occupy the top ranks, and the top 10 names account for a much larger share of all births than in later decades. Robert and Mary leading 1931 fits this broader cultural signature.

These rankings come directly from Social Security Administration card applications and represent approximately 96% of all U.S. births in 1931. Names with fewer than five occurrences nationally in 1931 are excluded from SSA's public file to protect privacy, meaning the true number of unique names given in 1931 is significantly larger than any public top-100 list can show. Each spelling variation is counted separately — Sophia and Sofia, Aiden and Ayden — so rankings reflect only the specific spelling filed on the SS card, not combined name pools. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute naming advice.

← 1930
1931
1932 →

Top 100 Boys' Names Boy

Rank Name Births
1 Robert 60,520
2 James 51,213
3 John 48,422
4 William 43,280
5 Richard 31,823
6 Charles 29,933
7 Donald 29,102
8 George 20,686
9 Joseph 19,327
10 Thomas 16,846
11 Edward 15,647
12 Paul 12,255
13 David 11,783
14 Kenneth 11,568
15 Jack 11,489
16 Frank 11,472
17 Raymond 10,854
18 Harold 10,694
19 Billy 9,263
20 Walter 8,940
21 Eugene 8,152
22 Henry 7,805
23 Arthur 7,525
24 Albert 7,131
25 Ralph 6,960
26 Gerald 6,823
27 Ronald 6,726
28 Carl 6,582
29 Joe 6,456
30 Harry 6,045
31 Willie 5,963
32 Bobby 5,858
33 Fred 5,698
34 Howard 5,623
35 Roy 5,489
36 Norman 5,426
37 Louis 5,424
38 Lawrence 5,364
39 Clarence 5,062
40 Earl 5,047
41 Herbert 4,788
42 Francis 4,735
43 Jerry 4,371
44 Daniel 4,360
45 Marvin 4,360
46 Anthony 4,310
47 Ernest 4,298
48 Leonard 4,279
49 Stanley 4,202
50 Alfred 3,949
51 Melvin 3,700
52 Leroy 3,648
53 Roger 3,625
54 Bernard 3,514
55 Michael 3,489
56 Samuel 3,379
57 Bill 3,217
58 Wayne 3,217
59 Don 3,176
60 Ray 3,161
61 Peter 3,122
62 Dale 3,008
63 Russell 2,943
64 Gene 2,766
65 Andrew 2,713
66 Floyd 2,707
67 Edwin 2,704
68 Lloyd 2,704
69 Leo 2,700
70 Theodore 2,667
71 Philip 2,648
72 Glenn 2,624
73 Frederick 2,471
74 Vernon 2,465
75 Clifford 2,451
76 Gordon 2,397
77 Clyde 2,336
78 Bob 2,318
79 Allen 2,308
80 Alvin 2,299
81 Jimmie 2,288
82 Elmer 2,265
83 Herman 2,263
84 Leon 2,245
85 Douglas 2,203
86 Vincent 2,162
87 Lewis 2,160
88 Larry 2,147
89 Jimmy 2,125
90 Lee 2,123
91 Martin 2,103
92 Gilbert 1,993
93 Harvey 1,978
94 Charlie 1,975
95 Eddie 1,959
96 Lester 1,919
97 Jesse 1,895
98 Arnold 1,835
99 Milton 1,834
100 Warren 1,834

Top 100 Girls' Names Girl

Rank Name Births
1 Mary 60,299
2 Betty 36,105
3 Dorothy 26,524
4 Barbara 21,803
5 Joan 19,119
6 Helen 17,664
7 Margaret 17,332
8 Patricia 16,470
9 Shirley 14,405
10 Doris 13,629
11 Ruth 13,131
12 Virginia 11,886
13 Jean 11,013
14 Dolores 10,806
15 Joyce 10,580
16 Elizabeth 10,292
17 Nancy 10,036
18 Frances 9,718
19 Marilyn 9,664
20 Lois 9,348
21 Alice 8,816
22 Norma 8,759
23 Gloria 8,547
24 Evelyn 8,491
25 Anna 8,429
26 Mildred 8,170
27 Marie 7,549
28 Martha 7,482
29 Phyllis 7,213
30 Rose 6,881
31 Beverly 6,789
32 Donna 6,600
33 Louise 5,897
34 Marjorie 5,880
35 Ann 5,858
36 Catherine 5,642
37 Irene 5,616
38 Geraldine 5,413
39 Ruby 5,331
40 Eleanor 5,255
41 Annie 5,090
42 Peggy 5,077
43 Florence 5,011
44 June 5,002
45 Janet 4,948
46 Carol 4,891
47 Lillian 4,807
48 Rita 4,613
49 Lorraine 4,588
50 Jane 4,532
51 Josephine 4,497
52 Edna 4,461
53 Thelma 4,440
54 Wanda 4,395
55 Gladys 4,351
56 Pauline 4,191
57 Juanita 4,130
58 Delores 4,050
59 Theresa 4,034
60 Carolyn 4,008
61 Clara 3,899
62 Lucille 3,854
63 Bernice 3,822
64 Audrey 3,790
65 Edith 3,772
66 Marion 3,763
67 Ethel 3,760
68 Joanne 3,757
69 Wilma 3,741
70 Grace 3,712
71 Sarah 3,636
72 Elaine 3,622
73 Bonnie 3,552
74 Hazel 3,507
75 Charlotte 3,403
76 Emma 3,308
77 Arlene 3,217
78 Jacqueline 3,135
79 Esther 3,034
80 Anne 2,979
81 Billie 2,921
82 Vivian 2,893
83 Patsy 2,869
84 Marian 2,862
85 Beatrice 2,844
86 Elsie 2,807
87 Kathleen 2,799
88 Rosemary 2,722
89 Laura 2,668
90 Joann 2,655
91 Julia 2,624
92 Katherine 2,624
93 Willie 2,597
94 Eva 2,592
95 Marlene 2,585
96 Loretta 2,581
97 Sally 2,557
98 Jeanne 2,525
99 Ellen 2,450
100 Ida 2,419
← 1930
1932 →

Nearby Year & Decade Rankings

Compare 1931 with adjacent years and the surrounding decade

1930 Top Names
National top 100
1932 Top Names
National top 100
1930s Decade
Decade-level rollup
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Compare 1931 leaders: Robert vs Mary → or pick any two names →

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data (ssa.gov/oact/babynames).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are excluded to protect privacy.

Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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