The 100 Most Popular Baby Names From 1922

"Why'd you name me Gertrude?"
"Why'd you name me Gertrude?" / pappamaart/iStock via Getty Images

While names like Luna and Oliver rule the charts these days (for both new babies and new pets), 1922 looked a little different.

According to data from BabyNames.it, plenty of parents chose timeless classics for their infants that year: John took the top spot for boys, followed by Robert, William, James, and Charles. For girls, Mary was number one; Elizabeth, Anna, and Marie all finished within the top 15. If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the last century, it’s the popularity of female names that start with E—Elizabeth, Evelyn, Emma, and Eleanor made 1922’s top 50 and 2021’s top 50.

Though you won’t find Ella, Emily, Elena, or Everly on the former list, you will find Edna, Ethel, Edith, Esther, and many more monikers that we’d now consider “old lady names,” from Mildred to Gertrude. Similarly, male names like Earl, Albert, and Eugene—which we now associate with older men—were deemed perfect for bouncing baby boys.

Some entries reflect naming trends from the past. Virginia, for example, follows the fad of naming babies after states. And Ruby illustrates 20th-century parents’ affinity for choosing jewels or other words that embodied opulence. Others could turn up in Generation Alpha more than you’d expect. Betty, Frank, and Ralph were still popular into the 1950s—an era from which today’s Millennial parents are borrowing names.

See 1922’s top 50 girls’ and top 50 boys’ names below, and find out what just missed the cut-off here.

Most Popular Baby Girl Names From 1922


  1. Mary

  2. Dorothy

  3. Helen

  4. Margaret

  5. Ruth

  6. Betty

  7. Virginia

  8. Mildred

  9. Elizabeth

  10. Frances

  11. Doris

  12. Anna

  13. Evelyn

  14. Marie

  15. Alice

  16. Marjorie

  17. Irene

  18. Florence

  19. Lillian

  20. Jean

  21. Martha

  22. Louise

  23. Rose

  24. Catherine

  25. Gladys

  26. Ruby

  27. Eleanor

  28. Josephine

  29. Edna

  30. Annie

  31. Ethel

  32. Thelma

  33. Lucille

  34. Edith

  35. Lois

  36. Pauline

  37. Hazel

  38. Grace

  39. Shirley

  40. Barbara

  41. Bernice

  42. Marion

  43. Beatrice

  44. Esther

  45. June

  46. Norma

  47. Clara

  48. Gertrude

  49. Ann

  50. Emma

Most Popular Baby Boy Names From 1922


  1. John

  2. Robert

  3. William

  4. James

  5. Charles

  6. George

  7. Joseph

  8. Edward

  9. Richard

  10. Frank

  11. Thomas

  12. Donald

  13. Harold

  14. Paul

  15. Walter

  16. Raymond

  17. Henry

  18. Jack

  19. Arthur

  20. Albert

  21. Kenneth

  22. Harry

  23. Ralph

  24. Eugene

  25. David

  26. Howard

  27. Louis

  28. Willie

  29. Clarence

  30. Carl

  31. Earl

  32. Roy

  33. Fred

  34. Francis

  35. Joe

  36. Lawrence

  37. Ernest

  38. Leonard

  39. Anthony

  40. Herbert

  41. Stanley

  42. Alfred

  43. Samuel

  44. Norman

  45. Warren

  46. Bernard

  47. Daniel

  48. Michael

  49. Russell

  50. Melvin