Name Legacy

Baby names in Pennsylvania, 1920s

1920–1929 · 1,805,761 recorded births

John was the most common name given in Pennsylvania across the 1920s, with 68,389 births in the decade. The state recorded 1,805,761 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Pennsylvania 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
Regis554
Metro129
Nevin274
Romayne216
Wasil41
Curvin51
Romaine410
Clair1,379

Top 25 in the 1920s

RankNameBirths
#1John68,389
#2Mary66,936
#3William52,684
#4Robert50,100
#5Joseph40,961
#6Helen38,271
#7James36,064
#8Dorothy35,498
#9Margaret31,072
#10Charles30,020
#11Betty29,461
#12George28,056
#13Edward24,141
#14Anna24,086
#15Ruth22,354
#16Richard20,652
#17Elizabeth19,904
#18Thomas17,464
#19Frank17,391
#20Paul17,210
#21Donald15,691
#22Jean14,640
#23Harry13,299
#24Marie12,883
#25Doris12,845

Other decades in Pennsylvania

All Pennsylvania 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