Name Legacy

Baby names in Tennessee, 1930s

1930–1939 · 523,406 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Tennessee across the 1930s, with 23,122 births in the decade. The state recorded 523,406 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Tennessee in the 1930s

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
Mai6320×
Mayford3512×
Dimple13710×
Trula100
Lillard33
Dorris348
Kyle172
Robbie590

Top 25 in the 1930s

RankNameBirths
#1James23,122
#2Mary19,133
#3Betty14,341
#4William13,237
#5Robert12,238
#6Charles11,662
#7John10,124
#8Billy8,146
#9Dorothy7,646
#10Barbara7,381
#11Bobby6,396
#12Shirley5,998
#13Joe4,713
#14Thomas4,697
#15Martha4,643
#16Margaret4,537
#17George4,530
#18Helen4,311
#19Willie4,223
#20Peggy4,021
#21Donald3,647
#22Virginia3,253
#23Nancy3,204
#24Paul3,201
#25Joyce3,195

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