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The 1920s had a sound. You can almost hear it — the snap of a drum kit, a trumpet climbing over a crowd, the clink of ice against glass somewhere below street level. It was the decade when America exhaled after the Great War, when cities hummed with electric light and women cut their hair short and danced until dawn. And the names people gave their children in that decade carry all of that energy: they’re short, punchy, often one or two syllables, built for a world moving fast.
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When referencing popularity, I am referring to baby name data from Social Security Administration database in the United States for 2025, which is the most current year of data available.
Here’s what’s in store –
The Flapper Names: Girls Who Defined the Jazz Age
The Jazz Age Gentlemen: Names for Dapper Boys
Silver Screen and Stardust: Names From Early Hollywood
The Literati: Names From the Lost Generation’s Circle
Art Deco Names: Elegant, Architectural, and Bold
Heartland and Working Class Names: The Real 1920s America
What makes 1920s names so compelling right now is that they occupy a specific cultural sweet spot. Victorian names — Agatha, Cornelius, Horatio — have been getting attention for a decade. Midcentury names — the Judys and Garys and Barbaras — are having their moment. But the Jazz Age names sit in between, and they’re largely untouched. A room full of toddlers in 2026 has plenty of Eleanors and Henrys. It has almost no Zeldas, no Roscoes, no Stellas paired with the right surnames, no Myrnas.
The names here were at or near their peak in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. census records. Some you’ll recognize immediately as great-grandparent names; others will surprise you with how modern they sound. A few were carried by actual flappers, speakeasy regulars, jazz musicians, and silent film stars — and if that provenance matters to you, it’s all included below. These aren’t invented names or obscure historical curiosities. Every single one is real, with a real history, and at least one of them is going to stop you mid-scroll.
- Origin: Jazz Age revival
- Meaning: Names that shimmied into the 1920s spotlight
- Popularity: Rising among parents seeking vintage-but-not-Victorian names
Hold on — before the names, a quick secret for your crib:
The Flapper Names: Girls Who Defined the Jazz Age
Flappers weren’t just a fashion choice — they were a social statement. They drove their own cars, held their own opinions, wore their hair above the collar, and danced until the police showed up. The names below were their names: the ones you’d find on the guest list at a Harlem rent party, the marquee of a burlesque theater, or the byline of a smart magazine essay. They’re mostly short, often vowel-heavy, and carry a kind of blunt confidence that the longer Victorian names didn’t.
- Origin: German (via Griselda) / Yiddish (feminine of Zelig)
- Pronunciation: ZEL-dah · ˈzɛldə
- Meaning: grey battle-maiden (via Griselda); also ‘blessed’ as a form of Zelig
- Popularity: #748
Forever linked to Zelda Fitzgerald, the original hard-living, brilliantly chaotic flapper who may have been the most interesting person in the room — including her husband’s room.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: KLAIR-uh · ˈklɛərə
- Meaning: bright, clear, famous
- Popularity: #78
- Origin: English (variant of May)
- Pronunciation: MAY · ˈmeɪ
- Meaning: a vintage spelling of May, linked to the Roman goddess Maia (spring/growth); also used as a pet form of Mary, Margaret, or Mabel
- Popularity: #530
Mae West turned this one-syllable name into an entire personality — irreverent, unfiltered, impossible to ignore.
- Origin: French (feminine diminutive of Joseph, ultimately Hebrew)
- Pronunciation: JOH-zeh-feen · ˈdʒoʊzəfiːn
- Meaning: may he (God) add — inherited from Joseph
- Popularity: #56
Josephine Baker left St. Louis for Paris and became the most famous entertainer on two continents; the name has grandeur and swing in equal parts.
- Origin: English (diminutive of Elizabeth)
- Pronunciation: BESS-ee · ˈbɛsi
- Meaning: pet form of Elizabeth, traditionally glossed ‘God is my oath’
- Popularity: #9630
Bessie Smith was called the Empress of the Blues for a reason — and this nickname-name has a warmth that the full Elizabeth sometimes loses.
- Origin: French (feminine of Louis)
- Pronunciation: loo-EEZ · luˈiːz
- Meaning: famous warrior
- Popularity: #540
Louise Brooks had the most iconic haircut of the decade and a fiercely independent spirit to match the bob.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: STEL-ah · ˈstɛlə
- Meaning: star
- Popularity: #49
Stella Dallas, a hugely popular 1920s novel and film, made this name peak-cultural at exactly this moment; the sound is all vowel and light.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: vy-OH-lah · vaɪˈoʊlə
- Meaning: violet (the flower)
- Popularity: #1190
It rode the wave of flower names but with more edge than Rose or Lily — Viola has always had a slightly theatrical lean.
- Origin: literary coinage (Swedish novel, 1840s)
- Pronunciation: THEL-muh · ˈθɛlmə
- Popularity: #4446
A name essentially invented for the 1920s temperament: self-directed, with no ancient saint attached.
- Origin: Irish (Anglicized)
- Pronunciation: MUR-nuh · ˈmɜːrnə
- Meaning: beloved
- Popularity: #11795
Myrna Loy made it glamorous in the early talkies; it has that slightly smoky quality of names that end in vowel-nasal combinations.
- Origin: Arabic
- Pronunciation: LAY-lah · ˈleɪlə
- Meaning: night
- Popularity: #268
Sophisticated, slightly exotic by 1920s American standards, carried by artists and bohemians who’d read Byron.
- Origin: uncertain — competing Germanic, Scottish Gaelic, and Turkish/Arabic derivations
- Pronunciation: SEL-mah · ˈsɛlmə
- Popularity: #2788
Spare and strong, it worked across multiple immigrant communities in 1920s America.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: VIV-ee-an · ˈvɪviən
- Meaning: alive, full of life
- Popularity: #77
The name sounds exactly like what it means; it was a stage favorite throughout the decade.
- Origin: Spanish (diminutive of Dolores)
- Pronunciation: LOH-lah · ˈloʊlə
- Meaning: sorrows (via Dolores)
- Popularity: #273
The sorrow is theoretical — in practice, Lola in the 1920s meant someone who danced.
- Origin: Greek
- Pronunciation: KOR-ah · ˈkɔːrə
- Meaning: maiden
- Popularity: #102
Simple, old, and surprisingly modern-sounding — it’s been revived successfully, but its peak was actually the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Origin: English
- Pronunciation: PURL · ˈpɜːrl
- Meaning: from the gemstone pearl; also an English form of the Yiddish name Perle
- Popularity: #802
A name you wore; in the 1920s, pearl strands were the flapper’s accessory of choice and the name matched the mood exactly.
- Origin: Literary coinage (1831, Bellini’s opera); further derivation disputed
- Pronunciation: NOR-muh · ˈnɔːrmə
- Popularity: #2620
Norma Shearer and Norma Talmadge were both major silent film names — the name itself has a quiet authority.
- Origin: Greek
- Pronunciation: eye-REEN · aɪˈriːn
- Meaning: peace
- Popularity: #638
- Origin: English (19th-century coinage from the gemstone name, ultimately Sanskrit)
- Pronunciation: OH-pal · ˈoʊpəl
- Meaning: named after the opal gemstone; the gem-word itself traces to a Sanskrit term for ‘jewel’
- Popularity: #450
Gem names were enormously popular in the early 20th century; Opal has the best sound of the bunch — two clean syllables, memorable.
- Origin: Latin (variant of Cecilia)
- Pronunciation: sih-SEEL-yah · sɪˈsiːljə
- Meaning: blind
- Popularity: #568
The 1925 song “Cecelia” kept the name in rotation throughout the decade; it has a sing-song quality that fits the era.
- Origin: Old English / Welsh (conflated names)
- Pronunciation: WIN-ih-fred · ˈwɪnɪfrɪd
- Meaning: joy and peace (Old English), merged with the separate Welsh name Gwenfrewi
- Popularity: #1031
Often shortened to Winnie, this name carried a kind of capable, no-nonsense femininity that wasn’t stuffy.
- Origin: Old French (via the flower name)
- Pronunciation: PAN-zee · ˈpænzi
- Meaning: thought (from Old French ‘pensee’)
- Popularity: #15193
Yes, it’s a flower name — but it had genuine currency in the 1920s before it became difficult to carry.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: KAHN-stanss · ˈkɑːnstəns
- Meaning: steadfast, constant
- Popularity: #1645
Often abbreviated Connie in the 1920s, it was the name of someone you could depend on — and that wasn’t a small thing in uncertain times.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: lee-OH-nah · liˈoʊnə
- Meaning: lioness
- Popularity: #488
Strong, direct, and slightly lion-hearted — Leona was a name for the girl who didn’t back down.
- Origin: Welsh
- Pronunciation: GLAD-is · ˈɡlædɪs
- Meaning: Of uncertain origin; possibly related to Welsh ‘gwlad’ (‘country/land’)
- Popularity: #3453
Peaked sharply in the 1910s–1920s; Gladys Knight and Gladys George kept it in cultural circulation well into the century.
- Origin: diminutive (short form of Eleanor, of disputed origin, rarely of Honora, Latin)
- Pronunciation: NOR-ah · ˈnɔːrə
- Popularity: #22
Ibsen’s Nora — the woman who slams the door and walks out — made this name iconic for exactly the kind of independent women the 1920s celebrated.
- Origin: French
- Pronunciation: BLANCH · ˈblæntʃ
- Meaning: white or pale — likely originally a descriptive nickname for someone fair-skinned or fair-haired
- Popularity: #11242
Tennessee Williams later gave it a tragic spin, but in the 1920s Blanche was simply elegant — French-adjacent and refined.
- Origin: Latin (via French)
- Pronunciation: ROH-zuh-lee · ˈroʊzəli
- Meaning: connected to the rose flower, via the Latin saint’s name Rosalia
- Popularity: #177
More playful than Rose, more specific than the full Rosalind — Rosalie has a lightness to it that suits the decade’s mood.
- Origin: English (19th-century flower name, ultimately from Latin viola via French violette)
- Pronunciation: VY-oh-let · ˈvaɪəlɪt
- Meaning: the violet flower (purple-blue)
- Popularity: #15
Violet ran alongside Rose and Lily as the trio of serious flower names; it has a slightly more literary feeling than the others.
- Origin: English (from Latin amabilis via Amabel)
- Pronunciation: MAY-bel · ˈmeɪbəl
- Meaning: lovable
- Popularity: #222
Mabel Normand was one of early film’s greatest physical comedians, and the name carries some of that quick, funny energy.
The Jazz Age Gentlemen: Names for Dapper Boys
The men of the 1920s wore their names the way they wore their hats — with a specific kind of easy authority. They were bartenders and bootleggers, novelists and newspaper men, trumpet players and prizefighters. Their names skewed short and punchy, or carried a Germanic or Latin solidity that grounded them. A surprising number of these are due for a full revival.
- Origin: English (Germanic)
- Pronunciation: AR-chee · ˈɑːrtʃi
- Meaning: short form of Archibald, from Germanic roots roughly meaning ‘genuinely bold’
- Popularity: #333
Archie is having a slow comeback — it has the warmth of a nickname-name without feeling too soft.
- Origin: Scottish (from the River Clyde)
- Pronunciation: KLYDE · ˈklaɪd
- Meaning: named for the River Clyde in Scotland
- Popularity: #728
Clyde Barrow made it notorious later; in the 1920s it was simply a solid Scots-American name with geography baked in.
- Origin: English (from the noble title ‘earl’)
- Pronunciation: URL · ɜːrl
- Meaning: nobleman (from the title ‘earl’, originally also ‘warrior’)
- Popularity: #2152
Earl Hines was one of the foundational jazz pianists of the period — the name is both a title and a first name, which gives it an unusual dignity.
- Origin: English (surname, diminutive of Emma)
- Pronunciation: EM-it · ˈɛmɪt
- Meaning: whole, universal
- Popularity: #119
Less used than it deserves to be — it has the same energy as Everett without the prep-school connotations.
- Origin: Welsh (Anglicized)
- Pronunciation: FLOYD · flɔɪd
- Meaning: gray, gray-haired
- Popularity: #2169
Floyd Patterson, Floyd Mayweather — the name has always carried a certain toughness; in the 1920s it was simply common-used and honest.
- Origin: Scottish/Irish (Gaelic place name/surname)
- Pronunciation: GLEN · ɡlɛn
- Meaning: valley
- Popularity: #1362
- Origin: Breton (via Old French/English surname)
- Pronunciation: HAR-vee · ˈhɑːrvi
- Meaning: roughly ‘iron’ and ‘blazing’ or ‘vigorous’, from the name of a Breton saint
- Popularity: #244
Harvey Firestone, Harvey Wiley — the name was solid, middle-America respectable without being boring.
- Origin: Germanic (Latinized form of Hugh)
- Pronunciation: HYOO-goh · ˈhjuːɡoʊ
- Meaning: mind, thought
- Popularity: #403
It sits in an interesting space between the Germanic heaviness of Herman and the Latin elegance of Julius — distinctive in 1920s America.
- Origin: Scottish (surname)
- Pronunciation: ER-ving · ˈɜːrvɪŋ
- Meaning: from the Scottish surname/place name Irvine, likely meaning ‘green’ or ‘fresh river’ (from Celtic roots for ‘fresh’ + ‘river’)
- Popularity: #1617
Irving Berlin was perhaps the most famous Irving of the era — the name has a particular New York immigrant musicality.
- Origin: Old Persian
- Pronunciation: JAS-per · ˈdʒæspər
- Meaning: treasurer
- Popularity: #133
Occupies the same retro-cool territory as Felix and Clyde, and has been slower to come back despite being completely wearable.
- Origin: Latin (via Old French Laurent)
- Pronunciation: LOR-ens · ˈlɔːrəns
- Meaning: from Laurentum
- Popularity: #509
Lawrence carried a certain academic distinction in the 1920s — the kind of name a professor or a jazz composer might have.
- Origin: Germanic (Old High German)
- Pronunciation: LEN-urd · ˈlɛnərd
- Meaning: brave/strong lion (or, by an alternate reading, ‘hardy people’)
- Popularity: #673
Leonard carries more weight than Leo, with that full three-syllable form — and Leo has been so thoroughly revived that Leonard now sounds fresher.
- Origin: Welsh (surname)
- Pronunciation: LOYD · lɔɪd
- Meaning: grey, or grey-haired
- Popularity: #1766
Lloyd Price, Lloyd Wright — the name has a matter-of-fact quality, plain and Western-European, completely without pretension.
- Origin: Old French (English/Scottish surname)
- Pronunciation: LY-uhl · ˈlaɪəl
- Meaning: island
- Popularity: #1018
Less common than Lloyd but in the same tonal family — it has a short, complete sound and almost no one uses it now.
- Origin: Old French (form of Maurice)
- Pronunciation: MOR-iss · ˈmɒrɪs
- Meaning: dark-skinned / Moorish (via Maurice, from Latin Maurus)
- Popularity: #1868
Morris had a particular New York Jewish-immigrant currency in this decade; it sits next to Maurice on the spectrum.
- Origin: Ancient Greek
- Pronunciation: MY-ruhn · ˈmaɪrən
- Meaning: fragrant oil, myrrh (from Greek myron)
- Popularity: #1690
Greek-origin names were carried in immigrant communities across 1920s industrial cities; Myron is almost entirely unused today.
- Origin: Literary coinage (English, possibly Welsh-influenced)
- Pronunciation: OR-vil · ˈɔːrvɪl
- Meaning: A name invented by novelist Frances Burney for a character in her 1778 novel ‘Evelina’; often read as ‘golden town,’ though it may instead draw on the Welsh name Eurfyl (‘gold’).
- Popularity: #7117
Orville Wright’s flight was only seventeen years before the decade began — the name was fresh-heroic in 1920 in a way that’s hard to fully recover.
- Origin: Norman French (place name, ultimately Latin)
- Pronunciation: PUR-see · ˈpɜːrsi
- Popularity: #1257
More popular in England, but Percy had American currency through Percy Grainger the composer and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s shadow.
- Origin: Old English / Germanic
- Pronunciation: RALF · rælf
- Meaning: wolf counsel
- Popularity: #1152
One of the true 1920s workhorses — solid, short, a little roughened at the edges, and wildly unused in 2026.
- Origin: Germanic (Frankish/Old High German)
- Pronunciation: RAY-mund · ˈreɪmənd
- Meaning: protection through wise counsel
- Popularity: #379
Ray was the decade’s nickname; Raymond was the Sunday-clothes version — it has a pleasing formality that Raymond Chandler later made cool.
- Origin: Germanic (via Latin)
- Pronunciation: REJ-i-nuhld · ˈrɛdʒɪnəld
- Meaning: counsel combined with rule or power, from Germanic elements
- Popularity: #1178
More British in feel but present in American records — Reggie as a nickname gives it warmth; the full form has a surprising elegance.
- Origin: Germanic (Frankish, via Old French)
- Pronunciation: ROH-lund · ˈroʊlənd
- Meaning: famous land
- Popularity: #663
Roland Kirk, Roland Hayes — the name has a heroic medieval lineage and a strong jazz-era association; it sounds like a name a musician gives his son.
- Origin: English (place name of Old Norse origin)
- Pronunciation: ROS-koh · ˈrɑːskoʊ
- Meaning: deer forest / roebuck wood
- Popularity: #2180
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s scandal may have overshadowed the name in its era, but it’s since aged into something purely vintage and charming.
- Origin: Scottish Gaelic
- Pronunciation: ROY · ˈrɔɪ
- Meaning: red, red-haired
- Popularity: #541
Simple, royal by etymology, entirely unpretentious in use — Roy Campanella, Roy Orbison, Roy Rogers all confirm it ages well.
- Origin: Anglo-Norman/Old French (surname)
- Pronunciation: RUSS-el · ˈrʌsəl
- Meaning: little red-haired one
- Popularity: #367
A name that sounds honest and Northern — Russell had comfortable middle-class currency throughout the decade.
- Origin: English (surname, two distinct origins)
- Pronunciation: SID-nee · ˈsɪdni
- Meaning: surname turned given name; either an Old English place name for a ‘wide island’ or ‘wide water-meadow’, or, separately, a Norman-French surname from ‘St. Denis’
- Popularity: #1374
Sidney Bechet was one of the great jazz saxophonists — the name has a cosmopolitan sound that works across backgrounds.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: sil-VES-ter · sɪlˈvɛstər
- Meaning: of the woods or forest
- Popularity: #2108
Sylvester carries an old-world gravity; it was common enough in Italian and Catholic immigrant communities during the 1920s.
- Origin: Old French/Norman (surname and place name, root ultimately Gaulish)
- Pronunciation: VER-nun · ˈvɜːrnən
- Meaning: place of the alder trees
- Popularity: #1557
Vernon Duke was a Jazz Age composer; the name is clean, mid-American, and sits in the same pocket as Gordon and Warren.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: VIK-ter · ˈvɪktər
- Meaning: conqueror
- Popularity: #214
- Origin: Scottish/English (surname, from Anglo-Norman/Old English)
- Pronunciation: WAH-liss · ˈwɑːlɪs
- Meaning: foreigner, Welshman
- Popularity: #981
Wallace Beery, Wallace Stevens — the name has a particular literary-rugged quality that fits the decade’s contradictions.
Silver Screen and Stardust: Names From Early Hollywood
The 1920s invented celebrity culture as we know it. Photoplay magazine ran profiles of women and men who’d become household names purely on the strength of their faces. Many of those faces had names that were partly stage-constructed, partly genuine — and all of them radiated a particular kind of aspirational glamour that filtered into what parents named their babies that decade.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: LIL-ee-uhn · ˈlɪliən
- Meaning: lily flower
- Popularity: #54
Lillian Gish was silent cinema’s great dramatic actress — she made this elaborated form of Lily feel weighty and serious.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: GLOR-ee-ah · ˈɡlɔːriə
- Meaning: glory
- Popularity: #654
Gloria Swanson defined silent film excess and glamour; the name itself means exactly what she represented.
- Origin: Irish
- Pronunciation: kah-LEEN · kɑːˈliːn
- Meaning: girl
- Popularity: #2797
Colleen Moore was one of the great flapper actresses, and the name carried her warm, approachable energy.
- Pronunciation: BAY-bay · ˈbeɪbeɪ
- Popularity: #13683
Bebe Daniels was a genuine 1920s star; this nickname-name has a retro-European sweetness that’s very now.
- Origin: Spanish
- Pronunciation: duh-LOR-ess · dəˈlɔrɪs
- Meaning: sorrows
- Popularity: #3175
Dolores del Río was a Mexican actress who became one of Hollywood’s first international stars in the late 1920s.
- Pronunciation: POH-luh · ˈpoʊ.lə
- Popularity: #11935
Pola Negri arrived from Poland and became one of silent film’s great dramatic vamps — the name is entirely unused and startlingly wearable.
- Origin: French (from Latin)
- Pronunciation: ruh-NAY · rəˈneɪ
- Meaning: reborn
- Popularity: Rare
French names filtered into American use through the cinema’s cosmopolitan aspirations; Renée carried European sophistication.
- Origin: Irish
- Pronunciation: LON · lɒn
- Meaning: blackbird (Irish lon, as in lon dubh)
- Popularity: #13550
Lon Chaney was the silent era’s greatest character actor — “The Man of a Thousand Faces” — making this short name deeply cinematic.
- Origin: Germanic
- Pronunciation: ROO-dahlf · ˈruːdɑːlf
- Meaning: famous wolf
- Popularity: #3436
Rudolph Valentino was the era’s first male sex symbol, making this name peak-famous in exactly the early 1920s before his death in 1926.
- Origin: Spanish
- Pronunciation: ruh-MOHN · rəˈmoʊn
- Meaning: form of Raymond, meaning ‘wise protector’
- Popularity: #829
Ramón Novarro was Valentino’s successor as Hollywood’s Latin lover archetype — this Spanish form of Raymond is elegant and underused.
- Origin: Scottish
- Pronunciation: DUG-lus · ˈdʌgləs
- Meaning: dark stream
- Popularity: #853
Douglas Fairbanks was perhaps the decade’s biggest action star — athletic, charming, impossibly energetic.
- Origin: Hebrew (via Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Old French, Middle English)
- Pronunciation: MAIR-ee · ˈmɛri
- Popularity: #132
Mary Pickford was arguably the most powerful woman in 1920s Hollywood — co-founder of United Artists, the first female film executive with real clout.
- Origin: German/Swedish (contraction of Margareta)
- Pronunciation: GRET-ah · ˈɡrɛtə
- Meaning: pearl (via Margaret)
- Popularity: #855
Greta Garbo arrived in Hollywood in 1925 and immediately became something singular — the name carries exactly her cool reserve.
- Pronunciation: BUS-tər · ˈbʌstəɹ
- Popularity: #6499
Buster Keaton made physical comedy an art form — the name is a nickname-as-first-name tradition from this exact era.
- Origin: Old English / Old Norse (Germanic)
- Pronunciation: HAIR-uld · ˈhɛrəld
- Meaning: army ruler, military power
- Popularity: #988
Harold Lloyd, the silent comedian who dangled from clock towers, made this solid name briefly thrilling.
- Origin: Germanic (via Charles)
- Pronunciation: CHAR-lee · ˈtʃɑːrli
- Meaning: pet form of Charles, meaning ‘free man’
- Popularity: #140
Charlie Chaplin didn’t just star in movies — he defined what movies could be; the name carries his particular mix of pathos and mischief.
- Origin: Scottish/Irish (nickname, from Gaelic ‘Mac-‘)
- Pronunciation: MAK · ˈmæk
- Meaning: nickname/short form of Gaelic ‘Mac-‘ names (e.g., Mackenzie, Malcolm), carrying that prefix’s ‘son of’ sense
- Popularity: #498
Mack Sennett ran the Keystone Studios; the name is short, bold, unmistakable — and almost entirely unused as a formal first name.
- Origin: Spanish (short form of Guadalupe)
- Pronunciation: LOO-peh · ˈluːpeɪ
- Meaning: wolf river (traditional gloss of Guadalupe)
- Popularity: #10479
Lupe Velez was a Mexican actress who became one of Hollywood’s first Latina stars — fierce, funny, and entirely her own person.
- Origin: Latin (via German)
- Pronunciation: EH-mil · ˈɛmɪl
- Meaning: rival, one who emulates or competes
- Popularity: #1248
Emil Jannings won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 — the name has a serious European weight to it.
- Pronunciation: THEE-duh · ˈθiːdə
- Popularity: #17444
Theda Bara was the original screen vamp — she essentially invented the femme fatale archetype — and her name is like no one else’s.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: REKS · ˈrɛks
- Meaning: king
- Popularity: #794
Rex Ingram directed some of the most visually ambitious films of the 1920s; as a first name it’s bold, regal, and extremely rare now.
- Origin: Old French (fem., diminutive of Marie); English surname (masc., US)
- Pronunciation: MARE-ee-un · ˈmæriən
- Meaning: diminutive of Marie (female); surname-derived (US male)
- Popularity: #1867
Marion Davies was both a genuine comic actress and William Randolph Hearst’s companion — the name is soft but not weak.
The Literati: Names From the Lost Generation’s Circle
The writers and intellectuals who gathered in Paris after the Great War — at Gertrude Stein’s salon, at the Dôme café, in the pages of the Little Review — carried names that reflected their era’s educated, cosmopolitan aspirations. These names have a serious literary quality: they’re the names of people who stayed up arguing about aesthetics until sunrise.
- Origin: Germanic
- Pronunciation: GUR-trood · ˈɡɜːrtruːd
- Meaning: spear + strength
- Popularity: #4683
Gertrude Stein’s Saturday salon on the Rue de Fleurus was the hub of the entire Lost Generation — and the name is starting to feel genuinely fresh again.
- Origin: Hebrew (also used in Ireland/Scotland as an anglicization of Eithne)
- Pronunciation: ED-nah · ˈɛdnə
- Meaning: delight, enjoyment
- Popularity: #2054
Edna St. Vincent Millay was the 1920s poet everyone was reading — sharp, romantic, politically awake; her name deserves its revival.
- Origin: Greek
- Pronunciation: DOR-uh-thee · ˈdɔːrəθi
- Meaning: gift of God
- Popularity: #431
Dorothy Parker wrote the sharpest sentences in New York and made her name synonymous with a certain devastating wit.
- Origin: Germanic (Old High German)
- Pronunciation: UR-nist · ˈɜːrnɪst
- Meaning: vigor, earnestness (originally battle-related)
- Popularity: #1083
Ernest Hemingway barely needs an introduction — and the name, with its blunt seriousness, suits the decade’s ideals about authenticity and effort.
- Origin: Latin (Medieval)
- Pronunciation: FRAN-sis · ˈfrænsɪs
- Meaning: a Frenchman/Frank; someone from France
- Popularity: #450
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s given name was Francis; he went by Scott professionally, but Francis has a literary formality that suits the era.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Pronunciation: EZ-rah · ˈɛzrə
- Meaning: help
- Popularity: #13
Ezra Pound’s name feels like it couldn’t have come from any other era — sharp, Old Testament, entirely distinctive, and he used it to maximum effect.
- Origin: Old English
- Pronunciation: ED-mund · ˈɛdmənd
- Meaning: wealthy protector
- Popularity: #1182
Edmund Wilson was the great literary critic of the era, the person who explained what the decade’s writers were doing — the name is solid and slightly underused.
- Pronunciation: SHER-wuud · ˈʃɜːr.wʊd
- Popularity: #9708
Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio was one of the foundational texts of 1920s American modernism — the name has a nice woody quality.
- Origin: Germanic (via Anglo-Norman/Old French)
- Pronunciation: AHR-chuh-bawld · ˈɑːrtʃɪbɔːld
- Meaning: genuine and bold
- Popularity: #1174
- Origin: American (19th-century coinage from Will/William, ultimately Germanic)
- Pronunciation: WIL-ah · ˈwɪlə
- Meaning: carries the ‘will, desire’ sense, from Will/William
- Popularity: #423
Willa Cather published A Lost Lady in 1923 — one of the decade’s most beautiful novels — and the name is quietly striking.
- Origin: English (place name/surname)
- Pronunciation: LANG-stun · ˈlæŋstən
- Meaning: tall stone
- Popularity: #909
Langston Hughes was the Harlem Renaissance’s poet laureate, and his name — compact, geographic — has a particular American grandeur.
- Pronunciation: KOWN-tee
- Popularity: Rare
Countee Cullen was the other great voice of the Harlem Renaissance — the name is an American original.
- Origin: Slavic
- Pronunciation: ZOR-ah · ˈzɔːrə
- Meaning: dawn
- Popularity: #918
Zora Neale Hurston did her most important field research in the 1920s and published in the Harlem Renaissance; this name is distinctive, sunrise-bright.
- Origin: French (Hebrew root)
- Pronunciation: JEEN · ˈdʒiːn
- Meaning: God is gracious
- Popularity: #1139
Jean Rhys, Jean Toomer — the name was carried by both male and female writers, giving it an elegant ambiguity.
- Origin: Germanic (German)
- Pronunciation: KARL · ˈkɑːrl
- Meaning: free man
- Popularity: #1033
Carl Sandburg wrote Chicago Poems and Smoke and Steel — earthy, industrial, democratic names for a deliberately earthy, industrial poet.
- Popularity: Rare
- Origin: Ancient Greek
- Pronunciation: THEE-oh-dor · ˈθiːədɔːr
- Meaning: gift of God
- Popularity: #4
Theodore Dreiser’s novels of this era were controversial, bleak, and brilliant — the name has formal weight that Teddy softens.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: SIL-vee-ah · ˈsɪlviə
- Meaning: of the forest; forest spirit
- Popularity: #361
Sylvia Beach ran Shakespeare and Company in Paris and published Joyce’s Ulysses — without her, the entire Lost Generation canon looks different.
- Origin: Old Persian (via Greek Anaïtis, ultimately the goddess name Anahita)
- Pronunciation: ah-nah-EES · ɑːnɑːˈiːs
- Meaning: linked to Anahita, an ancient Persian goddess of water and fertility
- Popularity: Rare
Art Deco Names: Elegant, Architectural, and Bold
Art Deco was the era’s visual language: geometric, streamlined, unafraid of gold and black and sharp angles. The names in this section carry that same quality — there’s nothing soft or mumbled about them. They have edges and they hold their shape. Several of these were names of architects, designers, and tastemakers who literally built the 1920s aesthetic.
- Origin: English (feminine form of Max, itself short for Maximilian/Maximus)
- Pronunciation: mak-SEEN · mækˈsiːn
- Meaning: greatest
- Popularity: #520
Maxine has that Jazz Age cabaret quality — brassy and beautiful — and it’s underused in a field where Max for boys has been so thoroughly revived.
- Origin: Latin; also English (surname)
- Pronunciation: DEKS-tur · ˈdɛkstər
- Meaning: right-handed or skillful (Latin); also independently from an English surname meaning ‘dyer of cloth’
- Popularity: #720
Dexter Gordon was born in 1923 and became one of bebop’s giants — the name has a dexterity to it, smart and capable.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: FEE-liks · ˈfiːlɪks
- Meaning: happy, fortunate, lucky
- Popularity: #177
Felix the Cat was the decade’s most famous animated character — the name is short, Latin-origin, and radiates a genuine good humor.
- Origin: English (from Old French/Norman, ultimately Germanic)
- Pronunciation: AW-bree · ˈɔːbri
- Meaning: elf ruler
- Popularity: #130
Aubrey has moved fluidly between genders across the 1920s into the present; in its 1920s use it was primarily masculine, which makes it a distinctive choice today.
- Pronunciation: del-MAR · dɛlˈmɑːr
- Popularity: #4726
Delmar has an easy, coastal elegance — uncommon enough to read as fresh, familiar enough not to need explanation.
- Origin: Old English (surname)
- Pronunciation: KLYV · klaɪv
- Meaning: cliff (dweller near a cliff)
- Popularity: #2056
Clive Bell was a key figure in the Bloomsbury Group, overlapping with 1920s artistic life — the name is British-cool and works well across cultures.
- Origin: Italian (short form of Eleonora, cognate with Eleanor)
- Pronunciation: lee-uh-NOR-ah · liːəˈnɔːrə
- Meaning: variant/short form of Eleonora; Eleanor’s own root meaning is disputed
- Popularity: #2087
- Origin: Greek (literary coinage)
- Pronunciation: ee-VAN-jeh-leen · ɪˈvændʒəliːn
- Meaning: good news
- Popularity: #174
Longfellow’s poem kept this name alive through the 19th century into the 20th; it has the grandeur and length of an Art Deco building’s name.
- Origin: French (place name)
- Pronunciation: lor-AYN · lɒˈreɪn
- Meaning: from Lorraine, France (ultimately ‘famous army’ via Lothair)
- Popularity: #1417
Place-name turned given name, this one has a Francophone elegance that suits the Art Deco fascination with Paris.
- Origin: French
- Pronunciation: JEN-eh-veev · ˈdʒɛnəviːv
- Meaning: woman of the tribe/kin
- Popularity: #165
- Origin: Old English
- Pronunciation: MIL-drid · ˈmɪldrəd
- Meaning: gentle strength
- Popularity: #2105
Its Old English roots literally combine ‘mild’ and ‘strength,’ pairing softness with power in a single name.
- Origin: French/Latin
- Pronunciation: LY-uh-nel · ˈlaɪənəl
- Meaning: little lion
- Popularity: #561
Lionel Barrymore was a major actor of the era — the name is both a real animal name and a diminutive, which gives it an interesting tension.
- Origin: Occitan (ultimately from Latin stella)
- Pronunciation: es-TEL · ɛˈstɛl
- Meaning: star
- Popularity: #636
More formal than Stella, with a French-origin distinction — Great Expectations‘s Estella gave it literary weight.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: SEL-es-teen · ˈsɛləstiːn
- Meaning: heavenly, of the sky
- Popularity: #3968
More elaborate than Celia or Celeste — this is the full cathedral version of the name, and it was genuinely used in the 1920s.
- Origin: Greek (variant of Isidora)
- Pronunciation: iz-uh-DOR-uh · ɪzəˈdɔːrə
- Meaning: gift of the goddess Isis
- Popularity: #1223
Isadora Duncan essentially invented modern dance and died in 1927 — her name is singular, dramatic, and entirely of its era.
- Origin: Welsh (English spelling variant)
- Pronunciation: GWEN-duh-lin · ˈɡwɛndəlɪn
- Meaning: white/fair ring
- Popularity: #393
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in 1917 — the name has a Celtic elegance and the “Gwen” shortening makes it approachable.
- Origin: Greek
- Pronunciation: YOO-jeen · ˈjuːdʒiːn
- Meaning: well-born, noble
- Popularity: #870
Eugene O’Neill was winning Pulitzer Prizes throughout the 1920s — the name has a theatrical grandeur without being ostentatious.
- Origin: Latin (via Old French)
- Pronunciation: MOR-iss · ˈmɔːrɪs
- Meaning: dark-skinned, i.e. ‘Moorish’
- Popularity: #930
Maurice Ravel was composing his most important work in this decade — the name has a Parisian sophistication that suits the era’s Francophilia.
- Origin: Old French (nickname/surname)
- Pronunciation: AL-jer-nun · ˈældʒərnən
- Meaning: having a mustache
- Popularity: #12275
Unusual even for the 1920s, but genuinely used — it’s the kind of name that belongs in a Jazz Age novel.
- Origin: Latin (feminine form of Cornelius)
- Pronunciation: kor-NEEL-yuh · kɔːrˈniːljə
- Meaning: horn
- Popularity: #3824
Grand, Roman, slightly austere — Cornelia was used in old American families and has a quiet architectural dignity.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: PER-dih-tuh · ˈpɜːrdɪtə
- Meaning: lost
- Popularity: Rare
More literary than popular, but present in this era among artistically inclined parents who loved their Shakespeare.
- Origin: Latin (adjective ‘of Florence’)
- Pronunciation: FLOR-en-teen · ˈflɒrəntiːn
- Meaning: flourishing (shares Florence’s root, via the adjective ‘of Florence’)
- Popularity: Rare
The place-name elaboration — not just Florence, but Florentine — carries an Art Deco excess that’s interesting.
- Origin: Norman French (place name, from a personal name)
- Pronunciation: munt-GUM-er-ee · mɒntˈɡʌməri
- Meaning: Gomeric’s hill
- Popularity: #1090
Montgomery was used as both a surname and first name in this era — Monty as a nickname gives it warmth.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: val-en-TEE-nah · vælənˈtiːnə
- Meaning: strong, healthy
- Popularity: #47
More common in Spanish and Italian immigrant communities; the name has a romantic fullness to it.
Heartland and Working Class Names: The Real 1920s America
Not everyone in the 1920s was at a speakeasy or a Paris café. Most of the decade’s population was working: in factories, on farms, in mines and mills and department stores and diners. The names here reflect that larger, less-glamorous America — they’re strong, plain, honest names that were carried by the decade’s actual majority. They wear extremely well.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Pronunciation: ROOTH · ˈruːθ
- Meaning: possibly ‘companion’ (the Hebrew root is uncertain)
- Popularity: #172
- Origin: Greek
- Pronunciation: HEL-en · ˈhɛlən
- Meaning: shining light / the bright one
- Popularity: #424
Helen Keller’s decade-defining advocacy work kept this ancient Greek name deeply present in 1920s culture.
- Origin: Greek
- Pronunciation: MAR-grit · ˈmɑːrɡrɪt
- Meaning: pearl (via Latin/Old French margarita), popularized by the 3rd-century Saint Margaret the Virgin
- Popularity: #119
Margaret Sanger was fighting for reproductive rights throughout the 1920s — the name has a serious, capable quality.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: vur-JIN-yah · vərˈdʒɪnjə
- Meaning: popularly glossed ‘maiden/virgin’ (via Latin virgo), though the name itself derives from the Roman family name Verginius/Virginius, whose own root is uncertain
- Popularity: #510
Virginia Woolf published Mrs. Dalloway in 1925 — the name has a Southern-American gentility alongside its literary associations.
- Origin: Latin
- Pronunciation: FRAN-ses · ˈfrænsəs
- Meaning: French, or more literally “a Frank” (member of the Frankish people); from Old French Franceise, ultimately Latin Franciscus.
- Popularity: #379
Frances Perkins was building her labor reform career in the 1920s — the name is solid, dignified, and entirely serious.
- Origin: Old English
- Pronunciation: ETH-el · ˈɛθəl
- Meaning: noble
- Popularity: #4915
Ethel Waters was one of the first African American women to record commercially; Ethel Barrymore ran the stage — the name was everywhere and everywhere respected.
- Origin: English (from Latin, via Old English)
- Pronunciation: CHES-ter · ˈʧɛstər
- Meaning: from Latin castrum (‘fort/camp’), via Old English, referring to a fortified Roman town
- Popularity: #1650
Chester is one of those names that feels both American and old-world at once — Chester Arthur preceded it, Chester A. Riley followed.
- Origin: Germanic (Frankish)
- Pronunciation: WAWL-ter · ˈwɔːltər
- Meaning: ruler of the army
- Popularity: #271
- Origin: Germanic
- Pronunciation: AL-bert · ˈælbərt
- Meaning: noble and bright/famous
- Popularity: #606
Albert Einstein arrived at his most famous work a decade earlier but won the Nobel Prize in 1921 — the name was peak-respectable in the 1920s.
- Origin: Old Norse (via English surname)
- Pronunciation: HOW-erd · ˈhaʊərd
- Meaning: high guardian
- Popularity: #1056
Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, briefly making Howard one of the most exciting names in the English-speaking world.
- Origin: English (place name/title, from Clare, Suffolk)
- Pronunciation: KLAIR-uns · ˈklærəns
- Popularity: #1558
Clarence Darrow argued the Scopes Trial in 1925 — the name carries a certain principled, slightly combative intelligence.
- Origin: Old English/Germanic (compare German Hermann)
- Pronunciation: HUR-mun · ˈhɝːmən
- Meaning: army man
- Popularity: #2641
Herman Melville had been dead thirty years but his name was in common 1920s use — it has a blunt Germanic solidity that’s surprisingly wearable.
- Origin: Germanic (via Old French, from Frankish *Hariberht)
- Pronunciation: HER-bert · ˈhɜːrbərt
- Meaning: bright army
- Popularity: #2482
Herbert Hoover ended the decade in the White House; the name fell in popularity after the Depression but has a genuine quiet dignity.
- Origin: English (from French Henriette, feminine of Henri/Henry)
- Pronunciation: HAIR-ee-ut · ˈhæriət
- Meaning: home ruler, ruler of the household
- Popularity: #1157
- Origin: Old High German
- Pronunciation: BUR-thuh · ˈbɜːrθə
- Meaning: bright one; historically a short form of names like ‘bright gift’ or ‘bright joy’
- Popularity: #4775
Bertha has been difficult to carry since World War I’s “Big Bertha” cannon, but before that it was a serious, respected name.
- Origin: Scandinavian/German/Russian (pet form of Helena, Magdalena, or Yelena)
- Pronunciation: LEE-nah · ˈliːnə
- Meaning: short/pet form of Helena, Magdalena, or Yelena
- Popularity: #263
Lena Horne was born in 1917; this short form has a brightness to it — clean, complete, and no one uses it.
- Origin: Scottish (diminutive of Elspeth/Elizabeth)
- Pronunciation: EL-see · ˈɛlsi
- Meaning: God is my oath (via Elspeth/Elizabeth)
- Popularity: #155
More popular in Britain but present in American records — Elsie has the same short-and-complete quality as Bessie or Nellie.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Pronunciation: nay-OH-mee · neɪˈoʊmi
- Meaning: pleasant, agreeable
- Popularity: #44
Naomi was a serious biblical name with genuine 1920s currency — and it’s now been revived so thoroughly that its earlier history is easy to forget.
- Origin: English (pet form of Harriet)
- Pronunciation: HAT-ee · ˈhæti
- Meaning: home ruler (via Harriet/Henry)
- Popularity: #382
Hattie McDaniel would win her Oscar in 1940 for work that began in the 1920s — the name is warm and completely distinctive.
- Origin: English (diminutive/pet form, uncertain base)
- Pronunciation: MIN-ee · ˈmɪni
- Popularity: #2758
Minnie the Moocher debuted in 1931 but was a name of the whole Jazz Age — Cab Calloway’s most famous song was a tribute to a type.
- Origin: English (19th-century pet form, from Louisa, Lucy, or Tallulah)
- Pronunciation: LOO-la · ˈluːlə
- Popularity: #1958
Short, confident, and rooted in the working-class South and Midwest — a name with substance.
- Origin: Germanic
- Pronunciation: EYE-dah · ˈaɪdə
- Meaning: from a Germanic word for ‘work’; industrious
- Popularity: #1143
Ida Tarbell had just demolished Standard Oil in the previous decade — the name carries her no-nonsense investigative quality.
- Origin: Germanic or Hebrew (dual origin)
- Pronunciation: AY-dah · ˈeɪdə
- Meaning: noble (or ‘ornament, ‘ dual root)
- Popularity: #193
Ada Lovelace was already a historical figure by the 1920s but her name was in ongoing use; it’s elegant and minimal.
- Origin: English (diminutive of Charlotte)
- Pronunciation: LOT-ee · ˈlɑːti
- Meaning: free woman
- Popularity: #676
Short forms were enormously popular in working-class America — Lottie has the same energy as Nellie and Bessie but is used even less.
1920s Boys You Haven’t Considered Yet
These names were common enough to appear in census records and city directories throughout the 1920s, but they’ve been so thoroughly skipped in the current vintage revival that they read as fresh. If Henry and Theodore are too expected, this section is where you live.
- Origin: Old French (surname)
- Pronunciation: LEE-roy · ˈliːrɔɪ
- Meaning: the king
- Popularity: #862
Leroy has an easy confidence — it was used across communities in 1920s America and carries a quiet swagger.
- Origin: English (patronymic surname, from a Germanic given name)
- Pronunciation: OH-tis · ˈoʊtɪs
- Meaning: a patronymic meaning ‘son of Ote/Ode’, a name cognate with Otto
- Popularity: #730
- Origin: Latin/Roman (family name Horatius, of obscure origin, possibly Etruscan)
- Pronunciation: HOR-iss · ˈhɒrɪs
- Popularity: #5287
Horace Mann’s educational legacy made this name respectable; Horace Silver made it cool.
- Origin: Latin (Roman clan name)
- Pronunciation: VUR-jil · ˈvɜːrdʒɪl
- Popularity: #1542
Virgil Thomson wrote extraordinary music in the 1920s — the name has a classical weight but a frontier edge.
- Origin: English/American (modern coinage, formation unclear)
- Pronunciation: DEL-burt · ˈdɛlbərt
- Popularity: #6224
Del or Bert as nicknames; the full form is almost entirely absent from current use despite being genuinely handsome.
- Origin: Old English (via the medieval name Aylmer)
- Pronunciation: EL-mer · ˈɛl.mər
- Meaning: noble and famous (from Old English æðel ‘noble’ + mær ‘famous’)
- Popularity: #1166
Elmer has been difficult to rehabilitate, but it’s due — Sinclair Lewis published Elmer Gantry in 1927, making it peak-cultural.
- Origin: English (surname/place name, from Leicester)
- Pronunciation: LES-ter · ˈlɛstər
- Meaning: Roman fort
- Popularity: #1580
Lester Young was perhaps the greatest tenor saxophonist of the Jazz Age — the name is short, complete, and undervalued.
- Origin: French
- Pronunciation: MURL · mɜːrl
- Meaning: blackbird
- Popularity: #4640
Merle Haggard carried it into country music; in the 1920s it was simply a sweet short name with a bird at its center.
- Origin: Scottish/Irish Gaelic, via English surname
- Pronunciation: GLEN · ˈglɛn
- Meaning: valley
- Popularity: #2315
Derived from the Gaelic word for valley, it entered English as a surname before becoming a given name.
- Origin: Latin / Welsh (two converging origins)
- Pronunciation: SES-il · ˈsɛsəl
- Meaning: blind (from Latin Caecilius); or, via the Welsh surname Seisyllt, ‘sixth’
- Popularity: #1479
Cecil B. DeMille was at peak power in the 1920s — the name has a grand, slightly imperious quality that’s genuinely unusual now.
- Origin: Old English (place name/surname)
- Pronunciation: KLIF-tun · ˈklɪftən
- Meaning: settlement by a cliff
- Popularity: #1746
Clifton Webb was a Jazz Age dancer and actor before he became a film star — the name has more sophistication than Clifford.
- Origin: Old English/Germanic (Eoforheard/Eberhard)
- Pronunciation: EV-er-et · ˈɛvərɪt
- Meaning: wild boar + hardy, brave (a Germanic compound name)
- Popularity: #85
Everett is one of the 1920s names that sounds most modern — it was revived early and partially, but it has more room to run.
- Origin: Germanic
- Pronunciation: BUR-truhm · ˈbɜːrtrəm
- Meaning: bright raven
- Popularity: #7806
Bertram is the kind of name that comes with its own character already installed — it belongs to someone bookish and unexpected.
- Origin: Latin (Roman gens name)
- Pronunciation: kor-NEEL-yus · kɔːrˈniːljəs
- Meaning: horn
- Popularity: #2150
Cornelius was a patrician Roman name with genuinely common American use through Dutch-American immigrant families — it’s long, grand, and deserves a comeback.
- Pronunciation: GAY-lord · ˈɡeɪlɔːrd
- Popularity: #10158
This one requires acknowledging the obvious contemporary complication, but it was a straightforward name of dignity in the 1920s.
- Origin: English (surname/place name, variant of Elsworth)
- Pronunciation: ELZ-wurth · ˈɛlzwərθ
- Popularity: #7155
Ellsworth Kelly wasn’t yet painting but Ellsworth Huntington was mapping the world — the name has an explorer’s quality.
- Origin: Latin (short form of Clement)
- Pronunciation: KLEM · klɛm
- Meaning: merciful
- Popularity: #8283
A short form with more warmth than Clement and less baggage than Clint — Clem is informal and approachable.
- Origin: Old English
- Pronunciation: AL-vin · ˈælvɪn
- Meaning: elf friend
- Popularity: #791
Alvin York was the decade’s war hero — the name is soft but grounded, and Alvin Ailey later gave it a dancer’s lightness.
- Origin: Old French (Arthurian, probably from Welsh/Celtic)
- Pronunciation: PUR-si-vul · ˈpɜːrsɪvəl
- Meaning: probably from the Welsh Arthurian name Peredur, reshaped in Old French to resemble ‘pierce’ + ‘valley’
- Popularity: #1768
Percy is the soft landing — but the full Percival is a proper Arthurian name, and it was used.
- Origin: Spanish (variant of Alfonso)
- Pronunciation: uh-LON-zoh · əˈlɑːnzoʊ
- Meaning: noble and ready
- Popularity: #512
- Origin: English
- Pronunciation: ED-ih-sun · ˈɛdɪsən
- Meaning: son of Edward
- Popularity: #827
Thomas Edison was still alive in the 1920s and enormously famous — Edison as a first name was a direct tribute name that parents actually used.
Undersung 1920s Girl Names That Sound Surprisingly Fresh
These are the names that didn’t make it into the flapper section or the Art Deco section, but deserve their own spotlight. They were common enough to be genuinely of the era, but they’ve been quiet long enough to sound like discoveries. Many of these will stop people at the park.
- Origin: Polish/Slavic
- Pronunciation: WAHN-dah · ˈwɑːndə
- Meaning: possibly referring to a Wend (a Slavic people)
- Popularity: #5123
Polish-immigrant communities brought Wanda to American records in this era — it has a boldness that its relative obscurity doesn’t diminish.
- Origin: literary name (medieval pseudo-historical chronicle); root uncertain
- Pronunciation: roh-WEE-nuh · roʊˈiːnə
- Popularity: #3430
Ivanhoe kept Rowena in circulation through the 19th century; it has a Pre-Raphaelite dreaminess that suits the 1920s artistic circles.
- Origin: Scottish Gaelic (Anglicized)
- Pronunciation: MYUR-ee-el · ˈmjʊriəl
- Meaning: sea-bright (fair/bright combined with ‘sea’)
- Popularity: #3198
- Origin: Ancient Greek
- Pronunciation: FIL-is · ˈfɪlɪs
- Meaning: leaf, foliage
- Popularity: #8282
Phyllis peaked in the 1920s–30s and is almost entirely dormant now, which means it reads as fresh — it has a lightness despite its slight old-fashionedness.
- Origin: Latin (place name Lavinium, Latium)
- Pronunciation: luh-VIN-ee-ah · ləˈvɪniə
- Popularity: #2139
Lavinia has an ancient Roman grandeur that was fashionable among educated families of the era; it’s a name for someone with opinions.
- Origin: Old French / Provençal (variant of Eleanor)
- Pronunciation: leh-NOR-ah · ləˈnɔːrə
- Meaning: uncertain; likely ‘the other Aenor’ via Eleanor, not literally ‘light’
- Popularity: #714
Less common than Eleanor or Leonora; Lenora has a particular three-syllable warmth — the rare form that feels like its own name, not just a nickname-in-disguise.
- Origin: English (plant name)
- Pronunciation: MER-tul · ˈmɜːrtəl
- Meaning: named after the myrtle plant, an evergreen shrub associated with love and marriage
- Popularity: #14617
Myrtle has been hard to revive — The Great Gatsby’s Myrtle Wilson didn’t help — but the plant itself is beautiful and the name has a Victorian-to-Jazz-Age continuity.
- Origin: Arabic, Sanskrit
- Pronunciation: LY-lah · ˈlaɪlə
- Meaning: night (Arabic, via Layla) or play/charm (Sanskrit līlā), depending on origin
- Popularity: #207
Lila has had a partial revival but its 1920s roots are solid — short, complete, and beautiful.
- Origin: Latin (via French, from the Roman gens name Hortensius)
- Pronunciation: hor-TENSS · hɔːrˈtɛns
- Meaning: relating to gardens (traditionally tied to a Roman gardener)
- Popularity: #8509
Hortense has been difficult to rehabilitate but it’s genuinely elegant — the Horten- sound is unusual and the meaning is lovely.
- Origin: French
- Pronunciation: paw-LEEN · pɔːˈliːn
- Meaning: French form of Paulina: small, the younger
- Popularity: #3475
Pauline came with the same working-class respectability as Josephine but in a shorter, more approachable package.
- Origin: Italian/Latin (diminutive of Laura)
- Pronunciation: lor-ET-ah · ləˈrɛtə
- Meaning: laurel (via Laura)
- Popularity: #677
Loretta Young’s career began in the late silent era — the name has a sweetness and a country-music resonance.
- Origin: Latin (19th-century coinage)
- Pronunciation: VER-nuh · ˈvɜːrnə
- Meaning: linked to spring (from Latin vernus, ‘spring-like’), possibly formed as a feminine of Vernon
- Popularity: #4999
- Origin: multiple (Sanskrit, Persian, or Germanic short form)
- Pronunciation: MEE-nah · ˈmiːnə
- Meaning: varies by origin: ‘fish’ (Sanskrit/Hindi मीना), ‘blue enamel/glass’ or a flower name (Persian مینا), or a short form of Wilhelmina (‘resolute protector’, Germanic)
- Popularity: #608
Mina is the name with the most current energy on this list — one syllable, strong vowel, complete.
- Origin: Greek
- Pronunciation: yoo-LAY-lee-ah · juːˈleɪliə
- Meaning: sweetly speaking
- Popularity: #2693
Saint Eulalia was a martyr; the name was used in Spanish-American and Catholic communities — it’s unusual and has a music to it.
- Origin: Germanic (short form of Matilda)
- Pronunciation: TIL-duh · ˈtɪldə
- Meaning: mighty in battle
- Popularity: #8359
- Origin: Russian (via an obscure-origin Georgian saint’s name) or Italian (diminutive)
- Pronunciation: NEE-nah · ˈniːnə
- Popularity: #321
How to Choose a Name From This List
Two hundred names is a lot, and the 1920s is a wide era with sharp internal contrasts — the Harlem Renaissance is the same decade as the Southern rural heartland; Zelda Fitzgerald is the same decade as the silent stoic Ruth. The first useful filter is to ask which aspect of the 1920s you’re drawn to. The jazz world? The literary world? The cinema? The immigrant working class? Each has its own naming aesthetic.
Think about the nickname situation. 1920s names were routinely used in abbreviated forms — Bess for Bessie, Ray for Raymond, Connie for Constance, Clem for Clement — and many of the full forms that sound old on paper become immediately warm when you consider their short forms. Leona becomes Leo. Gertrude becomes Gert or Gertie. Cornelius becomes Neil or Corn (admittedly harder). Run both the full name and the likely nickname in your head.
Consider the middle name slot. A lot of these names work best when they don’t have to carry the whole weight of a name combination alone. Zelda needs a solid last name. Roscoe can take a very formal middle name. Eulalia probably wants a one-syllable surname. Think about the full name, said aloud, before you decide.
Be honest about the effort level. Some of these names — Winifred, Cornelius, Genevieve — require a certain commitment: a lifetime of spelling it out, explaining it, probably establishing a preferred short form. Others — Stella, Leo, Felix, Nina — require almost none. Neither is wrong, but knowing which you want to sign up for helps.
Finally: look up the specific bearer you’re drawn to. Every name on this list is attached to at least one person from the era who carried it well. If you’re considering Langston, read Langston Hughes. If you’re considering Theda, watch ten minutes of Theda Bara. Names carry their bearers with them, and knowing the full person makes the name feel more owned.
Name Art for Your Favorite
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Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a name a “1920s name” exactly?
A name is genuinely of the 1920s if it appeared at or near its statistical peak in U.S. census and birth record data from roughly 1918–1932. That’s the metric used here — not just names that sound vintage, but names that were actually being given to actual babies in that decade. Some names that feel quintessentially 1920s (like Zelda or Theda) were less common statistically than names that feel more generic (like Ruth or Walter); both are included because peak-cultural and peak-popular are different things.
Are any of these names currently popular enough to feel overdone?
A handful have been partially revived and could feel familiar depending on where you live. Eleanor, Stella, Felix, Violet, and Evelyn (not on this list but in the same period) have all seen significant recent popularity. The safest choices for uniqueness are the ones in the heartland and hidden gems sections — names like Verna, Roscoe, Eulalia, Clem, and Myrtle that have had essentially no revival. The flapper names vary: Zelda is being used more but is still rare; Clara is genuinely common again.
Which 1920s names work best for girls in 2026?
The ones with the best current energy are Mina, Lila, Nina, Genevieve, Zelda, Nora, Stella, Cora, and Violet — these have a directness and clarity that parents are gravitating toward. For something more distinctive, Zora, Myrna, Wanda, Theda, and Eulalia are genuinely unusual without being difficult to live with. If you want maximum literary credibility, Edna, Sylvia, and Dorothy carry the names of writers whose work genuinely shaped the era.
Which 1920s names work best for boys in 2026?
Felix, Hugo, Jasper, Oscar, Leo, and Theodore have already been successfully revived and carry clean, modern energy. For something less expected: Roscoe, Lester, Merle, Sylvester, Delmar, and Edison are all genuinely of the era and almost entirely absent from current nurseries. Langston and Countee are beautiful names with deep Harlem Renaissance associations if that provenance matters to you.
Are any of these names associated with negative figures from history?
A few have complicated associations worth knowing. Clyde has Bonnie and Clyde in its background — a romantic association for some, a criminal one for others. Roscoe is linked to a 1920s scandal involving Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Al Capone made Al feel slightly gangster-adjacent for a generation. None of these associations are strong enough to make the names genuinely difficult to carry today, but they’re worth being aware of if you plan to tell people the name’s backstory.
What middle names pair well with 1920s first names?
1920s names tend to pair best with either very short middle names (one syllable) or more formal, longer names — not other vintage one-syllable names, which can create a collision. Zelda June, Roscoe James, Genevieve Mae, Cornelius Paul, and Myrna Grace are examples of how the short/long pairing works. If you’re using a hyphenated or double-barrel combination, the 1920s first name often works better as the first element: Zelda-Rose rather than Rose-Zelda.
Did the 1920s have naming trends beyond flapper names?
Yes — the Jazz Age was also the height of gemstone names (Opal, Pearl, Ruby, Jasper), place-name given names (Lorraine, Georgia, Virgil, Florence), virtue names (Grace, Constance, Ernest), and title-names (Earl, Rex, Roy, Leroy). It was also the great era of immigrant name-borrowing, when Italian, Jewish, Irish, Polish, and German families brought names like Carmela, Isadora, Anastasia, Wanda, and Brigid into the American mainstream. The decade’s naming culture was genuinely plural — not just flappers and bootleggers.
📊 Curious how popular a name actually is? Look it up in our Baby Name Popularity Checker — pulls live SSA data to show ranking trends.
Final Thoughts
The Roaring Twenties gave us a century’s worth of sound in ten years: jazz, blues, the first talkies, the first radio broadcasts, the first transatlantic flights. The names from that decade carry some of that energy — they’re built for a world that was moving fast, changing shape, making itself up as it went. If you’re looking for a name that’s vintage without being precious, specific without being obscure, and connected to one of the most genuinely interesting decades in American history, you’re already in the right place. Pick the one that makes you pause. That’s usually the right one.
Read next; 🌷 200+ Art Deco Baby Names From the Glamorous 1920s and 1930s 🌷 200+ Dark Academia Baby Names for the Bookish, Brooding Parent 🌷 200+ Light Academia Baby Names for the Cozy Scholar Aesthetic
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