Popular baby names in South Carolina, 1938

The most popular baby names in South Carolina in 1938 were Mary for girls (1,479 babies) and James for boys (1,662). James ranked #2 nationally for boys. Social Security records list 39,890 babies born in South Carolina in 1938 with a name given to at least five children of the same sex in the state.

Names that stood out in South Carolina in 1938

Names given at least 15 times in South Carolina that year and at least twice as common as in the US as a whole.

Girls

Elease: 23 babies, 26.9× the national rate
Eartha: 26 babies, 26.4× the national rate
Albertha: 33 babies, 25.7× the national rate
Jannie: 50 babies, 13.3× the national rate
Pearline: 21 babies, 8× the national rate
Vernell: 24 babies, 7.6× the national rate
Janie: 105 babies, 7.3× the national rate
Sadie: 72 babies, 7.3× the national rate
Lottie: 42 babies, 7.2× the national rate
Carrie: 144 babies, 6.9× the national rate

Boys

Heyward: 29 babies, 46.1× the national rate
Hazel: 18 babies, 21.4× the national rate
Olin: 42 babies, 17.5× the national rate
Isiah: 24 babies, 14.4× the national rate
Isaiah: 18 babies, 9.5× the national rate
Maxie: 17 babies, 9.2× the national rate
Ulysses: 23 babies, 8.6× the national rate
Elijah: 29 babies, 8.5× the national rate
Nathaniel: 109 babies, 8.3× the national rate
Moses: 37 babies, 8× the national rate

Top 50 girls' and boys' names in South Carolina, 1938

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1937	US rank
1	Mary	1,479	–	1
2	Betty	771	–	4
3	Dorothy	515	↑2	8
4	Shirley	488	↓1	5
5	Barbara	482	↓1	2
6	Annie	404	–	47
7	Margaret	345	–	9
8	Martha	327	↑2	26
9	Elizabeth	315	↑2	17
10	Frances	284	↓2	23
11	Sarah	269	↓2	67
12	Patricia	259	↑2	3
13	Nancy	248	↑5	7
14	Carolyn	233	↑1	15
15	Helen	223	↓2	13
16	Doris	206	↓4	25
17	Virginia	199	↑9	22
18	Rosa	195	↑1	>100
19	Evelyn	187	↑4	38
20	Ruth	187	↓3	21
21	Louise	178	↑4	59
22	Mildred	177	–	52
23	Joyce	171	↑5	11
24	Ruby	171	↓4	61
25	Lillie	169	↓4	>100
26	Willie	169	↓10	>100
27	Peggy	164	–	35
28	Thelma	151	↑4	86
29	Carrie	144	↓5	>100
30	Alice	138	↑7	29
31	Ethel	125	↓1	94
32	Shelby	125	↑3	>100
33	Emma	119	↓4	96
34	Sylvia	118	↑2	56
35	Edna	116	↑5	82
36	Mattie	115	↓5	>100
37	Catherine	114	↓3	48
38	Rebecca	113	↑12	>100
39	Marie	112	↑6	37
40	Hattie	107	↑8	>100
41	Janie	105	new	>100
42	Julia	104	↓9	>100
43	Sara	104	↑4	>100
44	Ann	103	new	32
45	Margie	102	new	>100
46	Ella	101	new	>100
47	Gladys	101	↓3	>100
48	Hazel	101	new	>100
49	Minnie	101	↓3	>100
50	Clara	97	new	98

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1937	US rank
1	James	1,662	–	2
2	John	989	–	3
3	William	903	–	4
4	Robert	848	–	1
5	Charles	579	↑1	6
6	Willie	550	↓1	34
7	Thomas	406	–	9
8	George	378	↑1	11
9	David	317	↑2	8
10	Henry	306	↑2	30
11	Bobby	305	↓1	27
12	Joe	299	↓4	28
13	Joseph	276	–	12
14	Harold	250	↑2	23
15	Edward	222	↑2	13
16	Donald	217	↑3	7
17	Richard	217	↓3	5
18	Billy	211	↓3	24
19	Jerry	197	↑4	17
20	Frank	186	–	18
21	Walter	184	↑1	26
22	Samuel	175	↓1	62
23	Leroy	166	↓5	61
24	Jimmy	145	↑1	45
25	Paul	144	↑1	15
26	Johnny	141	↑6	63
27	Jack	140	–	25
28	Arthur	137	↓4	32
29	Clarence	134	↑13	58
30	Larry	131	↑11	16
31	Kenneth	128	↓2	14
32	Marion	128	↓2	>100
33	Ernest	123	↑3	55
34	Eugene	121	↓6	33
35	Charlie	118	–	>100
36	Fred	116	↓2	38
37	Harry	111	↓6	44
38	Roy	110	new	41
39	Nathaniel	109	↑9	>100
40	Albert	108	↓7	37
41	Johnnie	99	↑6	>100
42	Eddie	98	↑7	79
43	Benjamin	92	↑2	>100
44	Ralph	91	↓4	35
45	Daniel	90	new	39
46	Melvin	90	↑4	54
47	Carl	88	↓10	29
48	Earl	86	new	50
49	Leon	83	new	85
50	Herbert	82	↓11	68

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