Name Legacy

Baby names in West Virginia, 1920s

1920–1929 · 371,997 recorded births

Mary was the most common name given in West Virginia across the 1920s, with 14,766 births in the decade. The state recorded 371,997 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to West Virginia 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
Okey25444×
Macil5729×
Macel12423×
Denzil21015×
French7514×
Denver35811×
Tennis1710×
Jennings17010×

Top 25 in the 1920s

RankNameBirths
#1Mary14,766
#2James11,239
#3William10,199
#4Robert8,818
#5Charles8,393
#6Betty8,195
#7John8,168
#8Helen6,080
#9Virginia5,452
#10Dorothy4,677
#11Margaret4,438
#12Ruth4,211
#13George4,088
#14Paul3,368
#15Mildred3,077
#16Anna3,044
#17Harold2,854
#18Thomas2,569
#19Donald2,550
#20Elizabeth2,473
#21Frances2,460
#22Jack2,419
#23Joseph2,413
#24Richard2,399
#25Ruby2,342

Other decades in West Virginia

All West 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