1930s Name Generator

The 1930s sit between the Jazz Age and the war, and the names show it. Robert, James, John, William and Richard led the boys' charts all decade, while Mary, Betty, Barbara, Shirley and Patricia led the girls'; Shirley in particular exploded after 1934 thanks to Shirley Temple, and Donald, Ronald and Gerald all peaked in these years. The names that feel most distinctly thirties today are the ones that have since vanished: Elwood, Delbert, Orville, Wendell, Lavern, Doris, Norma, Wilma, Maxine, Geraldine and Phyllis.

Two habits give a 1930s character instant authenticity. The first is the double name, especially in the South and the farm belt: Betty Jean, Billy Ray, Bobby Joe, Mary Lou, Ora Mae, Earl Vernon. The second is the nickname, because almost nobody used a formal name day to day. Men were Bud, Red, Slim, Dutch, Buddy or Sonny; women were Dot, Midge, Toots, Babe or Bobbie. Boys were also routinely named for heroes of the moment, which is why you meet men called Franklin Delano, Woodrow Wilson and Jack Dempsey something.

The surnames here reflect the actual 1930 census: old Anglo and Scots-Irish stock, Black Southern families, and the Italian, Polish, Jewish, German, Scandinavian and Irish communities that filled Northern cities, plus Mexican-American families in the Southwest.