Name Legacy

Baby names in South Carolina, 1920s

1920–1929 · 423,999 recorded births

James was the most common name given in South Carolina across the 1920s, with 18,891 births in the decade. The state recorded 423,999 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to South Carolina 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
Heyward22931×
Furman28527×
Blease2626×
Eartha20723×
Thomasena4923×
Elease34621×
Azalee15720×
Florie9019×

Top 25 in the 1920s

RankNameBirths
#1James18,891
#2Mary16,297
#3John11,054
#4William10,738
#5Willie8,714
#6Robert7,160
#7Annie6,046
#8Dorothy5,678
#9Margaret5,020
#10George4,819
#11Charles4,552
#12Thomas4,187
#13Ruth4,082
#14Frances3,969
#14Helen3,969
#16Elizabeth3,955
#17Louise3,706
#18Henry3,646
#19Sarah3,283
#20Joseph3,259
#21Mildred3,223
#22Ruby2,936
#23David2,776
#24Edward2,668
#25Martha2,653

Other decades in South Carolina

All South Carolina 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