Name Legacy

Baby names in Illinois, 1920s

1920–1929 · 1,165,975 recorded births

Robert was the most common name given in Illinois across the 1920s, with 42,409 births in the decade. The state recorded 1,165,975 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Illinois 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
Lavergne19712×
Rochelle138
Casimir381
Sherwin92
Christ143
Bruno511
Colette106
Shirlee309

Top 25 in the 1920s

RankNameBirths
#1Robert42,409
#2Mary35,034
#3John33,197
#4William28,828
#5Dorothy23,852
#6James22,908
#7Betty19,668
#8Helen17,475
#9Charles16,958
#10Richard16,750
#11Edward15,423
#12George15,399
#13Donald14,877
#14Joseph13,294
#15Margaret12,254
#16Ruth11,707
#17Virginia11,092
#18Shirley10,001
#19Frank9,882
#20Raymond9,199
#21Harold8,958
#22Thomas8,239
#23Evelyn7,695
#24Walter7,634
#25Lorraine7,632

Other decades in Illinois

All Illinois 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