Vintage and Old-Fashioned Boy Names

Top 100 boy names most popular before 1940, Social Security records

George, Edward and Donald lead the vintage boy names: the 100 names given to the most boys born from 1880 to 1939, among names whose most popular year came before 1940. George alone was given to 765,441 boys in those years, and its biggest year was 1921.

Some are back: in 2025, 2 of them were in the top 100 boy names again, led by Jack and Arthur (#15, #87). Others are rare now: 32 were given to fewer than 100 boys in 2025, among them Fred, Earl and Herbert. For the names that fell out of use and came back, see Old-Fashioned Names Making a Comeback.

The 100 Most Popular Vintage Boy Names

Ranked by the boys given each name from 1880 to 1939. The peak year is the year the most boys got it; the last column gives the boys born in 2025 and the name's rank that year. Social Security lists a name only when at least 5 babies of one sex get it in a year.

#	Name	Peak year	Born 1880 to 1939	Born in 2025
1	GeorgePeak 1921	1921	765,441	2,848 #126
2	EdwardPeak 1924	1924	540,599	1,591 #224
3	DonaldPeak 1934	1934	539,501	395 #690
4	FrankPeak 1918	1918	464,668	584 #514
5	WalterPeak 1918	1918	347,539	1,381 #252
6	HaroldPeak 1924	1924	330,587	230 #993
7	RaymondPeak 1924	1924	317,974	807 #395
8	ArthurPeak 1921	1921	280,258	3,847 #87
9	JackPeak 1927	1927	278,446	8,748 #15
10	AlbertPeak 1921	1921	268,913	461 #614
11	HarryPeak 1918	1918	267,057	329 #775
12	RalphPeak 1921	1921	221,308	211 #1,048
13	FredPeak 1924	1924	206,199	80 #1,936
14	EugenePeak 1927	1927	204,496	249 #943
15	JoePeak 1936	1936	197,442	230 #994
16	LouisPeak 1921	1921	193,136	1,391 #249
17	ClarencePeak 1921	1921	192,680	117 #1,500
18	HowardPeak 1921	1921	186,751	226 #1,004
19	EarlPeak 1921	1921	170,866	63 #2,236
20	FrancisPeak 1918	1918	156,333	769 #420
21	ErnestPeak 1921	1921	153,367	213 #1,040
22	HerbertPeak 1928	1928	145,086	49 #2,656
23	LeonardPeak 1921	1921	135,217	438 #637
24	BillyPeak 1934	1934	133,824	203 #1,068
25	AlfredPeak 1928	1928	133,749	293 #840
26	NormanPeak 1928	1928	130,688	169 #1,200
27	BernardPeak 1924	1924	105,808	137 #1,362
28	MelvinPeak 1928	1928	105,152	243 #959
29	LeroyPeak 1924	1924	103,819	269 #888
30	MarvinPeak 1928	1928	102,618	385 #699
31	ElmerPeak 1918	1918	97,325	165 #1,223
32	EdwinPeak 1922	1922	93,452	798 #398
33	FloydPeak 1926	1926	90,917	63 #2,237
34	CharliePeak 1919	1919	86,444	2,460 #145
35	LloydPeak 1918	1918	85,908	111 #1,549
36	HermanPeak 1921	1921	84,913	58 #2,368
37	BobbyPeak 1937	1937	83,763	195 #1,097
38	CliffordPeak 1925	1925	83,536	139 #1,352
39	ClydePeak 1920	1920	82,456	350 #743
40	ChesterPeak 1920	1920	75,856	107 #1,588
41	LewisPeak 1921	1921	75,214	736 #433
42	WarrenPeak 1921	1921	74,746	1,471 #240
43	LesterPeak 1918	1918	73,509	103 #1,641
44	VernonPeak 1920	1920	72,500	133 #1,387
45	LeonPeak 1924	1924	70,299	2,583 #138
46	AlvinPeak 1927	1927	69,262	294 #838
47	SamPeak 1918	1918	68,909	428 #647
48	HarveyPeak 1921	1921	64,044	1,381 #251
49	MiltonPeak 1920	1920	63,368	125 #1,440
50	CecilPeak 1920	1920	61,120	119 #1,486
51	ClaudePeak 1920	1920	53,376	40 #3,044
52	ArnoldPeak 1924	1924	52,814	120 #1,477
53	GenePeak 1937	1937	51,664	63 #2,238
54	GilbertPeak 1930	1930	50,764	145 #1,330
55	WillardPeak 1915	1915	50,264	47 #2,760
56	FranklinPeak 1933	1933	50,175	909 #359
57	CalvinPeak 1924	1924	48,304	2,710 #132
58	JimmiePeak 1934	1934	48,037	30 #3,700
59	JohnniePeak 1928	1928	47,567	61 #2,295
60	WallacePeak 1923	1923	46,700	241 #964
61	MauricePeak 1921	1921	44,439	220 #1,020
62	JessiePeak 1922	1922	43,846	126 #1,431
63	HomerPeak 1920	1920	43,794	21 #4,769
64	RolandPeak 1924	1924	43,314	466 #608
65	MarionPeak 1921	1921	43,149	54 #2,504
66	HughPeak 1916	1916	42,943	360 #732
67	VirgilPeak 1921	1921	42,523	129 #1,417
68	SidneyPeak 1918	1918	41,512	146 #1,327
69	WilburPeak 1918	1918	41,063	27 #4,040
70	LutherPeak 1922	1922	39,972	122 #1,464
71	MorrisPeak 1918	1918	39,926	92 #1,762
72	BenPeak 1918	1918	38,420	292 #843
73	HubertPeak 1924	1924	37,579	34 #3,400
74	HoracePeak 1921	1921	33,981	14 #6,245
75	JuliusPeak 1918	1918	32,657	759 #424
76	WillisPeak 1924	1924	31,421	52 #2,567
77	EarnestPeak 1926	1926	30,787	25 #4,164
78	RudolphPeak 1927	1927	30,607	25 #4,231
79	IrvingPeak 1918	1918	29,955	90 #1,783
80	OtisPeak 1920	1920	28,092	422 #652
81	EdmundPeak 1923	1923	26,349	199 #1,082
82	OrvillePeak 1920	1920	26,298	14 #6,347
83	LylePeak 1922	1922	26,049	211 #1,047
84	WoodrowPeak 1918	1918	25,889	102 #1,653
85	BenniePeak 1929	1929	25,735	53 #2,519
86	DelbertPeak 1932	1932	25,546	12 #6,901
87	WillPeak 1888	1888	23,639	170 #1,195
88	JuniorPeak 1926	1926	22,973	343 #752
89	SalvatorePeak 1927	1927	22,950	249 #945
90	EmilPeak 1917	1917	21,580	155 #1,269
91	LowellPeak 1931	1931	21,535	36 #3,281
92	BilliePeak 1930	1930	21,353	13 #6,502
93	WilbertPeak 1922	1922	20,889	20 #5,031
94	RufusPeak 1922	1922	20,560	27 #4,019
95	SylvesterPeak 1920	1920	20,530	64 #2,224
96	AltonPeak 1937	1937	20,444	106 #1,602
97	ElbertPeak 1920	1920	20,229	9 #8,442
98	BertPeak 1918	1918	20,078	6 #10,866
99	CarrollPeak 1934	1934	19,959	Under 5
100	IrvinPeak 1923	1923	19,831	80 #1,937

More Old-Fashioned Name Ideas

The top names of each early decade, girls and boys side by side:

Or let the random name generator pick boy names from the 1920s or any other decade, and see the vintage girl names.