Name Legacy

Baby names in Tennessee, 1920s

1920–1929 · 523,609 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Tennessee across the 1920s, with 24,308 births in the decade. The state recorded 523,609 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Tennessee 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
Mai9024×
Trula17212×
Lillard5311×
Mayford30
Tennie106
Dimple139
Beecher57
Kyle156

Top 25 in the 1920s

RankNameBirths
#1James24,308
#2Mary22,587
#3William15,931
#4John12,278
#5Robert11,161
#6Charles9,322
#7Dorothy9,316
#8Margaret6,215
#9Willie6,125
#10Helen5,630
#11George5,562
#12Mildred5,548
#13Betty4,912
#14Thomas4,885
#15Ruby4,762
#16Martha4,602
#17Frances4,538
#18Ruth4,470
#19Virginia4,361
#20Annie3,640
#21Joe3,528
#22Elizabeth3,269
#23Edward3,138
#24Paul3,120
#25Evelyn3,062

Other decades in Tennessee

All Tennessee 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