Name Legacy

Baby names in Kentucky, 1920s

1920–1929 · 552,636 recorded births

Mary was the most common name given in Kentucky across the 1920s, with 23,432 births in the decade. The state recorded 552,636 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Kentucky 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
Estill22028×
Wilgus2822×
Alka2721×
Malvery1117×
Estil11415×
Mossie11115×
Woodford6914×
Hargis2513×

Top 25 in the 1920s

RankNameBirths
#1Mary23,432
#2James21,205
#3William16,721
#4John11,528
#5Charles11,293
#6Robert10,769
#7Dorothy9,185
#8George6,142
#9Helen5,798
#10Anna5,623
#11Virginia5,511
#12Margaret5,462
#13Ruth5,324
#14Betty5,318
#15Mildred4,758
#16Ruby4,707
#17Martha4,152
#18Paul4,067
#19Thomas4,026
#20Joseph3,839
#21Edward3,677
#22Elizabeth3,542
#23Edna3,305
#24Thelma3,232
#25Harold3,197

Other decades in Kentucky

All Kentucky 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