Name.Baby Names by year 1940s 1940 Most Popular Baby Names of 1940 Social Security has card records for 2,367,479 people born in the U.S. in 1940. Mary was the top girl name (56,216 babies) and James the top boy name (62,481).
Top 100 names of 1940 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1940, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 56,216 #125 2 Barbara 36,736 #968 3 Patricia 32,665 #1,334 4 Judith 22,385 #788 5 Betty 22,077 #1,113 6 Carol 21,759 #2,239 7 Nancy 19,737 #965 8 Linda 18,370 #902 9 Shirley 17,881 #1,581 10 Sandra 16,153 #1,207 11 Margaret 15,063 #112 12 Dorothy 14,875 #421 13 Joyce 14,801 #1,071 14 Joan 13,292 #1,085 15 Carolyn 12,657 #1,222 16 Judy 11,382 #1,872 17 Sharon 11,121 #1,250 18 Helen 10,203 #461 19 Janet 10,105 #2,778 20 Elizabeth 9,955 #17 21 Virginia 9,554 #525 22 Janice 9,318 #2,514 23 Donna 9,232 #1,962 24 Ruth 8,888 #173 25 Marilyn 8,704 #760 26 Martha 8,695 #712 27 Beverly 8,657 #1,016 28 Frances 8,621 #318 29 Jean 8,063 #2,117 30 Gloria 8,026 #654 31 Doris 7,767 #2,895 32 Alice 7,603 #65 33 Phyllis 7,416 #11,932 34 Karen 7,283 #1,279 35 Ann 7,196 #1,076 36 Susan 6,756 #1,085 37 Peggy 6,128 #8,362 38 Lois 6,125 #1,666 39 Bonnie 5,957 #396 40 Kathleen 5,697 #1,150 41 Marie 5,542 #617 42 Brenda 5,442 #1,525 43 Norma 5,334 #2,002 44 Rose 5,198 #114 45 Diane 5,172 #2,607 46 Geraldine 5,150 #2,438 47 Jane 5,091 #221 48 Evelyn 4,982 #8 49 Carole 4,790 #10,107 50 Elaine 4,782 #304
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1940, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Anna 4,717 #107 52 Wanda 4,708 #5,917 53 Catherine 4,584 #313 54 Joanne 4,418 #2,607 55 Charlotte 4,291 #2 56 Annie 4,216 #182 57 Patsy 4,079 #5,917 58 Mildred 3,938 #1,962 59 Louise 3,928 #514 60 Sarah 3,869 #90 61 Sally 3,803 #1,150 62 Sylvia 3,802 #300 63 Joann 3,789 #3,028 64 Marjorie 3,681 #1,016 65 Gail 3,621 #8,362 66 Ruby 3,619 #64 67 Dolores 3,604 #2,564 68 Eleanor 3,584 #12 69 Loretta 3,502 #606 70 Rita 3,442 #1,285 71 Roberta 3,431 #2,778 72 Jo 3,427 #3,975 73 Irene 3,394 #651 74 Ellen 3,318 #1,062 75 Arlene 3,257 #1,631 76 Jacqueline 3,215 #558 77 Kay 3,200 #3,903 78 Juanita 3,174 #2,778 79 Darlene 3,120 #1,844 80 Marlene 3,118 #1,261 81 Sue 3,104 #8,860 82 June 2,949 #150 83 Delores 2,929 #5,722 84 Anne 2,897 #619 85 Rosemary 2,874 #251 86 Edna 2,835 #2,458 87 Anita 2,828 #1,341 88 Connie 2,795 #3,067 89 Josephine 2,744 #53 90 Jeanette 2,727 #2,387 91 Julia 2,709 #131 91 Katherine 2,709 #186 93 Wilma 2,621 #3,645 94 Emma 2,606 #3 95 Lorraine 2,579 #1,043 96 Rebecca 2,555 #349 97 Lillian 2,525 #57 98 Edith 2,510 #499 99 Audrey 2,501 #86 100 Florence 2,467 #391
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1940, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 James 62,481 #6 2 Robert 61,198 #92 3 John 54,786 #23 4 William 44,779 #9 5 Richard 37,425 #234 6 Charles 31,689 #48 7 David 27,690 #35 8 Thomas 23,991 #34 9 Donald 23,115 #690 10 Ronald 20,741 #637 11 George 18,315 #126 12 Joseph 18,208 #29 13 Larry 17,199 #1,084 14 Jerry 15,213 #906 15 Kenneth 15,132 #294 16 Edward 14,405 #224 17 Paul 14,097 #262 18 Michael 13,228 #21 19 Gary 12,573 #1,073 20 Frank 10,595 #513 21 Gerald 10,236 #1,204 22 Raymond 9,567 #394 23 Harold 8,080 #991 24 Dennis 7,845 #707 25 Walter 7,723 #251 26 Roger 7,598 #832 27 Billy 7,596 #1,068 28 Joe 7,216 #991 29 Jack 7,048 #15 30 Bobby 6,882 #1,097 31 Henry 6,822 #5 32 Carl 6,752 #1,132 33 Arthur 6,510 #87 34 Daniel 6,225 #22 35 Willie 6,176 #1,315 36 Lawrence 6,173 #518 37 Ralph 5,838 #1,046 38 Eugene 5,804 #943 39 Wayne 5,727 #652 40 Fred 5,581 #1,932 41 Albert 5,572 #614 42 Roy 5,565 #525 43 Peter 5,049 #187 44 Jimmy 4,962 #846 45 Howard 4,824 #1,002 46 Anthony 4,769 #46 47 Harry 4,681 #775 48 Norman 4,576 #1,196 49 Stephen 4,423 #383 50 Louis 4,324 #249
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1940, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Johnny 4,006 #457 52 Earl 3,944 #2,230 53 Melvin 3,935 #958 54 Leonard 3,817 #637 55 Bruce 3,789 #536 56 Douglas 3,732 #807 57 Dale 3,699 #1,409 58 Ernest 3,698 #1,038 59 Stanley 3,694 #863 60 Philip 3,674 #527 61 Francis 3,607 #420 62 Don 3,547 #1,793 63 Marvin 3,502 #699 64 Clarence 3,487 #1,499 65 Samuel 3,364 #18 66 Leroy 3,311 #883 67 Bill 3,267 #5,208 68 Frederick 3,096 #435 69 Alfred 3,062 #840 70 Gene 3,060 #2,230 71 Allen 3,029 #578 72 Russell 3,012 #345 73 Terry 2,982 #1,115 74 Patrick 2,883 #235 75 Herbert 2,875 #2,641 76 Tommy 2,827 #657 77 Ray 2,795 #791 78 Jim 2,715 #3,128 79 Phillip 2,628 #651 80 Lee 2,624 #725 81 Eddie 2,576 #860 82 Bernard 2,468 #1,362 83 Glenn 2,465 #1,443 84 Andrew 2,431 #73 85 Martin 2,423 #335 86 Jimmie 2,408 #3,658 87 Franklin 2,391 #359 88 Alan 2,377 #191 89 Leon 2,318 #138 90 Theodore 2,306 #4 91 Gordon 2,296 #1,051 92 Tom 2,287 #2,183 93 Jesse 2,205 #184 94 Clifford 2,185 #1,352 95 Jerome 2,178 #1,256 96 Edwin 2,116 #398 97 Curtis 2,103 #984 98 Harvey 2,088 #251 99 Bob 2,082 #9,714 100 Lloyd 2,067 #1,547
Entered the top 100 in 1940
