Name.Baby Names by year 1940s 1946 Most Popular Baby Names of 1946 Social Security has card records for 3,263,263 people born in the U.S. in 1946. Mary was the top girl name (67,471 babies) and James the top boy name (87,438).
Top 100 names of 1946 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1946, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 67,471 #125 2 Linda 52,710 #902 3 Patricia 46,297 #1,334 4 Barbara 45,126 #968 5 Carol 34,284 #2,239 6 Sandra 31,692 #1,207 7 Nancy 28,345 #965 8 Susan 28,267 #1,085 9 Sharon 27,824 #1,250 10 Judith 22,310 #788 11 Judy 20,477 #1,872 12 Carolyn 19,902 #1,222 13 Donna 19,770 #1,962 14 Betty 19,711 #1,113 15 Karen 19,647 #1,279 16 Kathleen 18,760 #1,150 17 Margaret 18,136 #112 18 Shirley 17,870 #1,581 19 Diane 15,835 #2,607 20 Joyce 15,209 #1,071 21 Janet 14,142 #2,778 22 Janice 14,039 #2,514 23 Dorothy 12,797 #421 24 Brenda 12,690 #1,525 25 Elizabeth 11,753 #17 26 Gloria 11,686 #654 27 Cheryl 11,526 #4,352 28 Joan 11,218 #1,085 29 Marilyn 10,711 #760 30 Beverly 10,430 #1,016 31 Virginia 10,015 #525 32 Martha 9,759 #712 33 Bonnie 9,510 #396 34 Pamela 9,367 #2,239 35 Jane 8,971 #221 36 Helen 8,852 #461 37 Jean 8,554 #2,117 38 Ruth 8,474 #173 39 Frances 8,450 #318 40 Ann 8,077 #1,076 41 Phyllis 8,048 #11,932 42 Diana 7,544 #244 43 Peggy 7,400 #8,362 44 Alice 7,363 #65 45 Connie 7,215 #3,067 46 Cynthia 6,895 #1,013 47 Elaine 6,803 #304 48 Catherine 6,367 #313 49 Gail 6,227 #8,362 50 Christine 6,202 #1,272
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1946, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Doris 5,987 #2,895 52 Suzanne 5,948 #2,387 53 Jo 5,828 #3,975 54 Marie 5,758 #617 55 Lois 5,700 #1,666 56 Rita 5,533 #1,285 57 Joanne 5,506 #2,607 58 Ellen 5,237 #1,062 59 Wanda 5,235 #5,917 60 Rose 5,183 #114 61 Sue 5,144 #8,860 62 Jacqueline 5,083 #558 63 Kathryn 4,999 #729 64 Charlotte 4,970 #2 65 Evelyn 4,890 #8 66 Geraldine 4,849 #2,438 67 Sally 4,842 #1,150 68 Rebecca 4,840 #349 69 Paula 4,724 #853 70 Sheila 4,706 #2,645 71 Darlene 4,662 #1,844 72 Carole 4,621 #10,107 73 Sherry 4,518 #5,410 74 Rosemary 4,486 #251 75 Laura 4,478 #379 76 Dianne 4,278 #5,722 77 Norma 4,266 #2,002 78 Katherine 4,197 #186 79 Kathy 4,179 #3,249 80 Eileen 4,168 #654 81 Anne 4,115 #619 82 Sylvia 4,093 #300 83 Jeanne 4,045 #4,546 84 Anita 4,027 #1,341 85 Patsy 4,017 #5,917 86 Roberta 4,016 #2,778 87 Anna 3,999 #107 88 Maria 3,960 #87 89 Marcia 3,946 #3,389 90 Joann 3,945 #3,028 91 Louise 3,925 #514 92 Sarah 3,910 #90 93 Lorraine 3,886 #1,043 94 Lynn 3,884 #2,542 95 Maureen 3,684 #4,352 95 Theresa 3,684 #1,548 97 Annie 3,651 #182 98 Marsha 3,611 #7,491 99 Glenda 3,568 #5,917 100 Constance 3,419 #1,500
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1946, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 James 87,438 #6 2 Robert 84,136 #92 3 John 79,267 #23 4 William 60,034 #9 5 Richard 58,870 #234 6 David 46,444 #35 7 Michael 41,194 #21 8 Thomas 38,877 #34 9 Charles 38,215 #48 10 Ronald 31,858 #637 11 Larry 28,447 #1,084 12 Gary 26,931 #1,073 13 Donald 26,273 #690 14 Joseph 24,284 #29 15 Kenneth 22,042 #294 16 George 21,575 #126 17 Dennis 21,447 #707 18 Paul 21,063 #262 19 Edward 18,585 #224 20 Jerry 17,567 #906 21 Daniel 12,867 #22 22 Frank 12,667 #513 23 Roger 12,411 #832 24 Stephen 11,832 #383 25 Raymond 11,289 #394 26 Terry 10,678 #1,115 27 Gerald 10,033 #1,204 28 Steven 8,878 #271 29 Wayne 8,807 #652 30 Walter 8,668 #251 31 Lawrence 8,517 #518 32 Bruce 8,459 #536 33 Harold 8,373 #991 34 Douglas 8,336 #807 35 Jack 7,801 #15 36 Arthur 7,537 #87 37 Joe 7,536 #991 38 Peter 7,483 #187 39 Carl 7,380 #1,132 40 Willie 7,339 #1,315 41 Henry 7,317 #5 42 Jimmy 7,128 #846 43 Roy 6,925 #525 44 Anthony 6,771 #46 45 Billy 6,716 #1,068 46 Danny 6,650 #628 47 Johnny 6,611 #457 48 Ralph 6,587 #1,046 49 Alan 6,490 #191 50 Harry 6,027 #775
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1946, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Fred 6,012 #1,932 52 Albert 6,007 #614 53 Bobby 5,771 #1,097 54 Ronnie 5,727 #1,064 55 Howard 5,694 #1,002 56 Gregory 5,672 #593 57 Eugene 5,670 #943 58 Mark 5,331 #244 59 Patrick 5,305 #235 60 Timothy 5,152 #203 61 Philip 5,093 #527 62 Dale 5,024 #1,409 63 Louis 4,918 #249 64 Mike 4,854 #1,231 65 Stanley 4,767 #863 66 Russell 4,741 #345 67 Leonard 4,704 #637 68 Barry 4,624 #1,520 69 Steve 4,570 #1,609 70 Samuel 4,523 #18 71 Ernest 4,395 #1,038 72 Bill 4,354 #5,208 73 Jim 4,336 #3,128 74 Allen 4,294 #578 75 Frederick 4,231 #435 76 Norman 4,161 #1,196 77 Tommy 4,144 #657 78 Jeffrey 4,125 #552 79 Don 4,110 #1,793 80 Francis 4,006 #420 81 Glenn 3,892 #1,443 82 Earl 3,830 #2,230 83 Phillip 3,775 #651 84 Andrew 3,758 #73 85 Eddie 3,746 #860 86 Melvin 3,742 #958 87 Tom 3,624 #2,183 88 Marvin 3,600 #699 89 Clarence 3,567 #1,499 90 Leroy 3,472 #883 91 Lee 3,346 #725 92 Martin 3,333 #335 93 Rodney 3,304 #1,091 94 Alfred 3,238 #840 95 Ray 3,169 #791 96 Keith 2,860 #800 97 Herbert 2,818 #2,641 98 Gene 2,759 #2,230 99 Curtis 2,723 #984 100 Clifford 2,616 #1,352
Entered the top 100 in 1946
