Top UK babies' names from the 1930s
| Rank | Girls' names | Boys' names |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Margaret (1) | John (1) |
| 2 | Jean (12) | Peter (11) |
| 3 | Mary (2) | William (2) |
| 4 | Joan (3) | Brian (66) |
| 5 | Patricia (31) | David (21) |
| 6 | Sheila (43) | James (4) |
| 7 | Barbara (18) | Michael (40) |
| 8 | Doreen (15) | Ronald (6) |
| 9 | June (80) | Kenneth (7) |
| 10 | Shirley (-) | George (3) |
Source: Office for National Statistics
The table shows the top ten girls' and boys' names from 1934. The figures in brackets are the position of the name in 1924.
Girls' names
Girls' names change with the decades. However, Mary and Margaret were popular for the first four decades of the twentieth century. In the 1930s Margaret was the most popular name and Mary the third most popular. However, Mary was declining. It was the most popular name in 1904 and 1914, but the second most popular in 1924 and Mary's popularity continued to decline in the following decades.
The 1930s was the high-water mark for Jean, Patricia, Sheila, Barbara, June, Doreen and Shirley. Joan peaked in popularity in the 1920s and was on its way down in the 1930s.
Girls' names in the twentieth century tended to peak in one decade, decline and never come back.
How did girls' names in the UK differ from in the USA?
The top ten baby girl names in the USA in the 1930s were (UK position in brackets):
- Mary (3)
- Betty (21)
- Barbara (7)
- Shirley (10)
- Patricia (5)
- Dorothy (11)
- Joan (4)
- Margaret (1)
- Nancy (78)
- Helen (63)
The names Mary, Barbara, Patricia, Shirley, Joan and Margaret were popular in the UK and in the US. Shirley was not a common UK name before the 1930s. It was number seventeen in the 1920s in the USA. Was there some American influence in the UK choice of names?
The US names Dorothy and Betty had some following in the UK. Nancy and Helen were common in the US, but not in the UK.
The top ten UK names less popular in the US were:
- Jean (USA 18)
- Sheila (USA 177)
- Doreen (USA -)
- June (USA 52)
Boys' names
Boys' names are less subject to fashion than girls' names.
There is a definite pattern to boys' names in the twentieth century in the UK. In the first three decades of the century traditional boys' names held sway. The top three names in 1904, 1914, and 1924 were William, John and George. The 1930s marked the start of a transition. Some of the traditional names lost ground.
John and William were still in the top three, but George fell to number ten. The second most popular name, Peter, was number eleven in 1924.
Two names that gained ground in the 1930s were David and Michael. Both were more popular in the following decades. But Brian at number four and Peter at number two peaked in the 1930s.
Of the top ten names from 1934, only three were not in the top ten for 1924: Brian (66), David (21) and Peter (11).
How did boys' names in the UK differ from in the USA?
The top ten baby boy names in the USA were (UK position in brackets):
- Robert (11)
- James (6)
- John (1)
- William (3)
- Richard (28)
- Charles (29)
- Donald (18)
- George (10)
- Thomas (12)
- Joseph (23)
There is less of an intersection between popular boys' names in the US and UK than there is with girls' names. Only James, John, William and George are in both lists and their positions are very different.
The top ten UK names less popular in the US were:
- Peter (USA 58)
- David (USA 11)
- Brian (USA -)
- Michael (USA 35)
- Ronald (USA 13)
- Kenneth (USA 15)
References
The data for the US names was provided online by the United States Social Security Administration
Read more:
- Top UK babies' names in the 1920s
- Top UK babies' names in the 1940s
- Top USA babies' names in the 1950s
- Top UK babies' names in the 1950s
- Top UK babies' names in the 1960s
- Top UK babies' names in the 1970s
- Top UK babies' names in the 1980s
By Steven Braggs, January 2022
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