Name Legacy

Baby names in California, 1920s

1920–1929 · 683,463 recorded births

Robert was the most common name given in California across the 1920s, with 23,008 births in the decade. The state recorded 683,463 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to California in the 1920s

Names given far more often here than nationally in these years. The multiplier is conservative — it is the low end of the plausible range, so a name carried by a handful of births does not outrank one carried by hundreds.

NameBirthsvs national
Shizuye3816×
Chiyeko5016×
Yoshiye6515×
Akira17114×
Michiko14814×
Kazuko10814×
Mariko3914×
Emiko12114×

Top 25 in the 1920s

RankNameBirths
#1Robert23,008
#2Mary17,784
#3John15,771
#4William14,563
#5Betty11,658
#6James10,669
#7Richard10,526
#8Barbara10,416
#9Dorothy10,252
#10George9,454
#11Donald8,339
#12Charles7,355
#13Frank7,105
#14Helen7,080
#15Margaret6,987
#16Jack6,703
#17Virginia6,633
#18Patricia5,975
#19Edward5,273
#20Ruth5,266
#21Frances4,702
#22Joseph4,425
#23Raymond4,255
#24Shirley4,179
#25David4,122

Other decades in California

All California names, 2025

Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. State records begin in 1910. Names given to fewer than five babies in a state in a year are withheld at source. namelegacy.org