1925 Girl Names: Favorite Frances, Forgotten Fern

1925 girl names combine antique charm with a certain novelty. One hundred years, give or take, is enough time for us to completely forget the trends and styles that once dominated naming.

In other words? Your grandma Barb’s name seems hopelessly outdated, but her mom’s name? That might be exactly the right mix of familiar and underused.

Not all of the 1925 girl names are ready for a triumphant return. Former Top Ten name Mildred is all-but extinct now. And it’s tough to imagine parents getting excited about Bernice or Ethel. At least not now.

Other favorites from one hundred years ago are already back. Alice, Ruby, Rose, and Eleanor are just as appealing today as they were back when radio was the hot new technology.

Somewhere between those timeless favorites and the not-quite-ready-for-revival list, a whole group of names waits. They’re names we all recognize, even if we can’t think of anyone with that exact name now. And they fit the general style of names we like now, too. It’s just a little bit of a mystery why these 1925 girl names haven’t been more popular – but that also signals an opportunity.

Let’s start with the most popular names of the year 1925 and then move on to those overlooked gems.

TOP 100 GIRL NAMES FROM THE YEAR 1925

1. Mary
2. Dorothy
3. Betty
4. Helen
5. Margaret
6. Ruth
7. Virginia
8. Doris
9. Mildred
10. Elizabeth
11. Frances
12. Evelyn
13. Anna
14. Jean
15. Alice
16. Marie
17. Shirley
18. Lois
19. Irene
20. Gloria
21. Marjorie
22. Barbara
23. Martha
24. Florence
25. Lillian
26. Rose
27. Louise
28. Patricia
29. Catherine
30. Ruby
31. Eleanor
32. Annie
33. Gladys
34. Norma
35. Thelma
36. Josephine
37. Edna
38. Pauline
39. June
40. Phyllis
41. Lucille
42. Edith
43. Ethel
44. Grace
45. Hazel
46. Bernice
47. Marion
48. Rita
49. Juanita
50. Beatrice
51. Lorraine
52. Ann
53. Jane
54. Geraldine
55. Clara
56. Esther
57. Emma
58. Sarah
59. Joyce
60. Nancy
61. Katherine
62. Wilma
63. Elsie
64. Dolores
65. Julia
66. Joan
67. Marian
68. Willie
69. Agnes
70. Gertrude
71. Eva
72. Wanda
73. Elaine
74. Bertha
75. Laura
76. Vivian
77. Charlotte
78. Audrey
79. Maxine
80. Theresa
81. Kathleen
82. Ida
83. Marilyn
84. Viola
85. Anne
86. Vera
87. Bessie
88. Kathryn
89. Jeanne
90. Pearl
91. Lillie
92. Violet
93. Ella
94. Alma
95. Myrtle
96. Eileen
97. Jessie
98. Nellie
99. Margie
100. Mattie

OVERLOOKED 1925 GIRL NAMES

BERNADETTE (#359 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

Not so long ago, a name like Florence felt pretty dated. Now, though? It’s fresh and stylish, the kind of name we’re considering as Eleanor and Charlotte spend yet another year near the top of the charts. I’ll nominated Bernadette as the logical successor to all of those classic, vintage lovelies.

BERYL (#496 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

I am prepared to be completely wrong about Beryl’s appeal. Nearly no one has taken me up on Sybil, even with long-running period drama Downton Abbey boosting plenty of other early twentieth century gems. But Beryl has even more advantages, I think. It’s a lovely gemstone name in a shade of green. Pioneering aviator Beryl Markham puts it in the same class as Amelia. And it’s vaguely unisex, too, making it a cousin to powerhouse Evelyn.

DELIA (#417 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

There’s a dark and mournful tale attached to this song. Johnny Cash’s recording is the most famous, but the lyrics remain the same across many re-tellings. That might’ve given parents pause in the past, but it feels less problematic today. Instead, Delia could appeal to the same parents who love Delilah, Dahlia, and Amelia.

FERN (#203 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

There’s something gentle and understated about Fern. It’s the name of the little girl in Charlotte’s Web, which makes it even more endearing. At first glance, it’s just too quiet and a little harsh compared to Willow or Rose. But then there’s Wren, a style star that helped kickstart the Nature Plus trend. Maybe we’ll see Fernlee trending?

JOY (#236 in 1925; ranked #455 as of 2023)

I think I’ve been unfair to Joy over the years. While word names appeal, I always hesitate about words that might not match a person’s gifts. (This is probably personal baggage, as I’d be the world’s clumsiest Grace.) And so Joy has always given me pause. But Inside Out and Inside Out 2 have given us a nuanced, thoughtful character by the name. And, like Rose and June, it’s brief and bright and all good things in just a single syllable. Joyce has nearly always been the more pick, but I think Joy has all the potential in 2025.

LIBBY (#971 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

Readers of the world, rise up and name your daughters for the library app that keeps our Kindles full, week after week. Yes, Libby. If you have the icon on your home screen, complete with a tiny hair bow peeking out from behind a giant book, you know. Besides that hook? Libby is Lily meets Abby, an Elizabeth nickname we don’t often hear for Elizabeth now. It stands on its own nicely in our Sadie/Millie moment.

MARCELLA (#167 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

Maybe Marcella languishes in obscurity because Marcie is … mousy, maybe? Or just dated in a different way. Marcie peaked right about 1970, meaning it hasn’t been out of favor long enough to make a triumphant return. But we don’t call all those little Antonellas Toni, so why not just used Marcella in full? It’s an appealing alternative to Isabella, Annabelle, and all those other -ella/-elle names that just won’t quit.

MARGUERITE (#132 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

Evergreen Margaret is made even grander when translated into French. (For what it’s worth, it’s an old lady name in France, too.) In English, it sounds like a name from the Titanic passenger list – which, of course, is kind of the point. It shuffles the potential nicknames a bit – more Margot, less Maggie. But it has all the charm of Genevieve, but with a little bit of extra sepia tone.

NELLA (#868 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

Because Marcella is on this list, I almost dropped Nella. Except. With children answering to Ella, Stella, Bella, and even Della in big numbers, how have we overlooked Nella? Especially with sweetly vintage Nell as a nickname option. Somehow we’ve simply forgotten that it’s an option. (The first time I heard it, I had to go check if the name had ever charted in the US Top 1000 previously. D’oh.)

PETRA (#512 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

There’s more than one meaning and origin for Petra, but it’s probably easiest to consider it a feminine form of Peter. We favor easier, more flowing sounds for our daughters’ names now – more Luna and Layla and Sienna, less Norma and Martha and Mildred. But I think the -tra ending of Petra is only a fraction more intense sound. I think that makes it one of the 1925 girl names that could help us make our way back to an age of Trudy and Agnes.

ROXIE (#427 in 1925; unranked as of 2023)

Roxanne is still, five decades later, the kind of name that makes us sing that song. (There’s a story there.) But Roxie – or Roxy – is something different. It’s a women’s surf brand, beachy and adventurous. It’s Roxie Hart, the prettiest woman ever charged with murder in Jazz Age-musical Chicago. And it’s a logical choice with names like Birdie, Jovie, and Stevie trending.

VADA (#426 in 1925; ranked #830 as of 2023)

There’s this big, amorphous group of names that sound a little like someone just dreamed them up yesterday. But also like they’ve been around for ages. It’s like maybe if you looked back in your family tree, it would turn out you had a Great Aunt Vada, the one who moved to Hollywood, dated movie stars, and made her own real estate fortune before setting off to see the world. What we know for certain: Vada was the name of the main character in 1991’s sweetly tragic My Girl, which is enough to cement it in a generation’s collective memory.

Do any of the most popular 1925 girl names surprise you? Would you consider any of the overlooked choices I’ve listed here?