Name.Baby Names by year 1930s 1938 Most Popular Baby Names of 1938 Social Security has card records for 2,277,928 people born in the U.S. in 1938. Mary was the top girl name (56,225 babies) and Robert the top boy name (62,271).
Top 100 names of 1938 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1938, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 56,225 #125 2 Barbara 39,277 #968 3 Patricia 27,560 #1,334 4 Betty 25,506 #1,113 5 Shirley 23,766 #1,581 6 Carol 19,421 #2,239 7 Nancy 18,951 #965 8 Dorothy 16,358 #421 9 Margaret 15,330 #112 10 Joan 14,303 #1,085 11 Joyce 12,698 #1,071 12 Judith 10,878 #788 13 Helen 10,837 #461 14 Sandra 10,806 #1,207 15 Carolyn 10,586 #1,222 16 Janet 9,870 #2,778 17 Elizabeth 9,803 #17 18 Beverly 9,770 #1,016 19 Marilyn 9,745 #760 20 Donna 9,693 #1,962 21 Ruth 9,303 #173 22 Virginia 9,269 #525 23 Frances 8,921 #318 24 Janice 8,711 #2,514 25 Doris 8,603 #2,895 26 Martha 8,578 #712 27 Jean 7,764 #2,117 28 Phyllis 7,644 #11,932 29 Alice 7,490 #65 30 Sharon 7,244 #1,250 31 Linda 7,047 #902 32 Ann 6,990 #1,076 33 Lois 6,502 #1,666 34 Norma 6,368 #2,002 35 Peggy 6,343 #8,362 36 Gloria 6,299 #654 37 Marie 5,958 #617 38 Evelyn 5,688 #8 39 Rose 5,292 #114 40 Anna 5,145 #107 41 Judy 4,992 #1,872 42 Elaine 4,835 #304 43 Dolores 4,809 #2,564 44 Jane 4,786 #221 45 Geraldine 4,652 #2,438 46 Carole 4,616 #10,107 47 Annie 4,562 #182 48 Catherine 4,525 #313 49 Wanda 4,513 #5,917 50 Karen 4,508 #1,279
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1938, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Marlene 4,473 #1,261 52 Mildred 4,441 #1,962 53 Marjorie 4,318 #1,016 54 Sally 4,278 #1,150 55 Patsy 4,260 #5,917 56 Sylvia 4,259 #300 57 Joanne 4,250 #2,607 58 Kathleen 4,228 #1,150 59 Louise 4,069 #514 60 Eleanor 4,049 #12 61 Ruby 3,942 #64 62 Loretta 3,913 #606 63 Arlene 3,894 #1,631 64 Diane 3,827 #2,607 65 Bonnie 3,773 #396 66 Rosalie 3,758 #171 67 Sarah 3,749 #90 68 Joann 3,710 #3,028 69 Jacqueline 3,633 #558 70 Charlotte 3,626 #2 71 Susan 3,555 #1,085 72 Irene 3,554 #651 73 Roberta 3,547 #2,778 74 Rita 3,357 #1,285 75 Delores 3,322 #5,722 76 Darlene 3,321 #1,844 77 Gail 3,214 #8,362 78 Jo 3,172 #3,975 79 June 3,141 #150 80 Juanita 3,129 #2,778 81 Kay 3,114 #3,903 82 Edna 3,080 #2,458 83 Josephine 2,978 #53 84 Anne 2,887 #619 85 Wilma 2,871 #3,645 86 Thelma 2,866 #4,661 87 Audrey 2,844 #86 88 Lillian 2,825 #57 89 Ellen 2,805 #1,062 89 Florence 2,805 #391 91 Jeanette 2,802 #2,387 92 Theresa 2,763 #1,548 93 Lorraine 2,740 #1,043 94 Ethel 2,726 #4,172 95 Rosemary 2,681 #251 96 Emma 2,670 #3 97 Pauline 2,666 #2,957 98 Clara 2,662 #63 99 Anita 2,636 #1,341 100 Grace 2,609 #38
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1938, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Robert 62,271 #92 2 James 59,102 #6 3 John 50,517 #23 4 William 42,433 #9 5 Richard 34,385 #234 6 Charles 31,151 #48 7 Donald 26,677 #690 8 David 22,994 #35 9 Thomas 21,381 #34 10 Ronald 20,295 #637 11 George 18,435 #126 12 Joseph 17,742 #29 13 Edward 14,551 #224 14 Kenneth 14,399 #294 15 Paul 13,360 #262 16 Larry 12,394 #1,084 17 Jerry 12,172 #906 18 Frank 10,260 #513 19 Gerald 9,972 #1,204 20 Raymond 9,725 #394 21 Michael 9,077 #21 22 Gary 8,861 #1,073 23 Harold 8,563 #991 24 Billy 8,253 #1,068 25 Jack 8,144 #15 26 Walter 7,560 #251 27 Bobby 7,498 #1,097 28 Joe 7,438 #991 29 Carl 6,849 #1,132 30 Henry 6,557 #5 31 Roger 6,551 #832 32 Arthur 6,525 #87 33 Eugene 6,112 #943 34 Willie 6,081 #1,315 35 Ralph 6,013 #1,046 36 Lawrence 5,873 #518 37 Albert 5,796 #614 38 Fred 5,768 #1,932 39 Daniel 5,583 #22 40 Wayne 5,226 #652 41 Roy 5,041 #525 42 Howard 5,018 #1,002 43 Norman 4,953 #1,196 44 Harry 4,824 #775 45 Jimmy 4,730 #846 46 Anthony 4,689 #46 47 Louis 4,390 #249 48 Peter 4,293 #187 49 Dennis 4,236 #707 50 Earl 4,007 #2,230
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1938, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Francis 3,951 #420 52 Don 3,900 #1,793 52 Marvin 3,900 #699 54 Melvin 3,818 #958 55 Ernest 3,708 #1,038 56 Dale 3,690 #1,409 57 Leonard 3,670 #637 58 Clarence 3,639 #1,499 59 Stanley 3,544 #863 60 Douglas 3,508 #807 61 Leroy 3,491 #883 62 Samuel 3,243 #18 63 Johnny 3,197 #457 64 Philip 3,172 #527 65 Gene 3,149 #2,230 66 Bruce 3,127 #536 67 Bill 3,113 #5,208 68 Herbert 3,014 #2,641 69 Alfred 3,008 #840 70 Russell 2,950 #345 71 Frederick 2,935 #435 72 Ray 2,881 #791 73 Allen 2,834 #578 74 Stephen 2,726 #383 75 Bernard 2,715 #1,362 76 Jimmie 2,693 #3,658 77 Tommy 2,667 #657 78 Gordon 2,657 #1,051 79 Eddie 2,616 #860 80 Lee 2,575 #725 81 Jim 2,497 #3,128 82 Andrew 2,411 #73 83 Glenn 2,367 #1,443 84 Theodore 2,360 #4 85 Leon 2,355 #138 86 Terry 2,336 #1,115 87 Martin 2,313 #335 88 Patrick 2,292 #235 89 Clifford 2,277 #1,352 90 Edwin 2,250 #398 91 Alan 2,241 #191 92 Lloyd 2,215 #1,547 93 Jerome 2,209 #1,256 94 Bob 2,204 #9,714 95 Phillip 2,154 #651 96 Floyd 2,146 #2,230 97 Clyde 2,130 #742 98 Alvin 2,063 #838 99 Harvey 2,051 #251 100 Franklin 2,021 #359
Entered the top 100 in 1938
