Name Legacy

Baby names in Virginia, 1930s

1930–1939 · 454,253 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Virginia across the 1930s, with 16,960 births in the decade. The state recorded 454,253 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Virginia 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
Ryland10121×
Welford5017×
Alease11315×
Ashby5315×
Waverly10114×
Linwood45912×
Percell5011×
Berkley6811×

Top 25 in the 1930s

RankNameBirths
#1James16,960
#2Mary14,888
#3William12,901
#4Robert11,473
#5John9,802
#6Betty9,293
#7Charles8,016
#8Shirley7,829
#9Barbara6,744
#10Dorothy5,806
#11George5,294
#12Margaret4,439
#13Thomas4,417
#14Nancy4,288
#15Virginia4,129
#16Richard3,978
#17Helen3,790
#18Frances3,672
#19Donald3,624
#20Doris3,498
#21Joseph3,248
#22Joyce3,171
#23Edward3,076
#24Elizabeth2,954
#25Peggy2,911

Other decades in Virginia

All Virginia 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