Name.Baby Names by year 1940s 1948 Most Popular Baby Names of 1948 Social Security has card records for 3,525,402 people born in the U.S. in 1948. Linda was the top girl name (96,220 babies) and James the top boy name (88,605).
Top 100 names of 1948 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1948, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Linda 96,220 #902 2 Mary 68,597 #125 3 Barbara 46,826 #968 4 Patricia 46,140 #1,334 5 Susan 35,988 #1,085 6 Sandra 31,063 #1,207 7 Nancy 29,411 #965 8 Carol 28,977 #2,239 9 Sharon 26,143 #1,250 10 Kathleen 23,257 #1,150 11 Donna 22,033 #1,962 12 Karen 21,996 #1,279 13 Margaret 18,873 #112 14 Carolyn 18,623 #1,222 15 Judith 17,787 #788 16 Judy 17,706 #1,872 17 Brenda 17,700 #1,525 18 Betty 16,625 #1,113 19 Diane 16,607 #2,607 20 Shirley 16,121 #1,581 21 Joyce 14,380 #1,071 22 Pamela 14,281 #2,239 23 Janice 14,162 #2,514 24 Janet 13,977 #2,778 25 Cheryl 13,220 #4,352 26 Elizabeth 13,215 #17 27 Cynthia 12,240 #1,013 28 Gloria 11,690 #654 29 Dorothy 11,324 #421 30 Deborah 11,244 #862 31 Beverly 10,795 #1,016 32 Martha 10,011 #712 33 Marilyn 9,937 #760 34 Bonnie 9,817 #396 35 Christine 9,677 #1,272 36 Virginia 9,296 #525 37 Joan 9,275 #1,085 38 Peggy 9,089 #8,362 39 Jane 8,781 #221 40 Helen 8,301 #461 41 Catherine 8,244 #313 42 Frances 8,179 #318 43 Connie 8,055 #3,067 44 Ann 8,025 #1,076 45 Ruth 7,903 #173 46 Phyllis 7,876 #11,932 47 Jean 7,774 #2,117 48 Diana 7,706 #244 49 Alice 6,981 #65 50 Rebecca 6,795 #349
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1948, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Gail 6,603 #8,362 52 Paula 6,600 #853 53 Elaine 6,403 #304 54 Kathryn 6,177 #729 55 Kathy 6,148 #3,249 56 Jo 5,986 #3,975 57 Wanda 5,918 #5,917 58 Jacqueline 5,838 #558 59 Rita 5,835 #1,285 60 Marie 5,786 #617 61 Sherry 5,717 #5,410 62 Rose 5,556 #114 62 Theresa 5,556 #1,548 64 Doris 5,548 #2,895 65 Joanne 5,499 #2,607 66 Suzanne 5,448 #2,387 67 Ellen 5,289 #1,062 68 Katherine 5,169 #186 69 Charlotte 5,164 #2 70 Lois 5,077 #1,666 71 Sheila 5,022 #2,645 72 Sally 5,012 #1,150 73 Laura 4,901 #379 74 Evelyn 4,840 #8 75 Maria 4,817 #87 76 Marsha 4,725 #7,491 77 Darlene 4,692 #1,844 78 Sue 4,675 #8,860 79 Marcia 4,640 #3,389 80 Lynn 4,609 #2,542 81 Vicki 4,365 – 82 Teresa 4,217 #908 83 Geraldine 4,208 #2,438 84 Lynda 4,167 #4,546 85 Sarah 4,159 #90 86 Dianne 4,138 #5,722 87 Anne 4,122 #619 88 Maureen 4,077 #4,352 89 Anna 4,037 #107 90 Rosemary 3,870 #251 91 Eileen 3,838 #654 92 Glenda 3,831 #5,917 93 Constance 3,811 #1,500 94 Joann 3,799 #3,028 95 Jeanne 3,789 #4,546 96 Lorraine 3,745 #1,043 97 Annie 3,721 #182 98 Patsy 3,714 #5,917 99 Louise 3,685 #514 100 Sylvia 3,671 #300
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1948, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 James 88,605 #6 2 Robert 85,478 #92 3 John 82,834 #23 4 William 61,972 #9 5 David 56,627 #35 6 Michael 52,566 #21 7 Richard 50,970 #234 8 Thomas 43,780 #34 9 Charles 38,676 #48 10 Ronald 33,527 #637 11 Larry 33,436 #1,084 12 Gary 28,397 #1,073 13 Joseph 26,801 #29 14 Donald 26,442 #690 15 Kenneth 23,550 #294 16 George 21,926 #126 17 Dennis 21,765 #707 18 Paul 21,252 #262 19 Edward 18,983 #224 20 Stephen 17,061 #383 21 Jerry 16,809 #906 22 Daniel 16,510 #22 23 Steven 15,979 #271 24 Roger 12,818 #832 25 Frank 12,698 #513 26 Terry 12,136 #1,115 27 Raymond 11,612 #394 28 Bruce 11,065 #536 29 Mark 10,267 #244 30 Gerald 9,842 #1,204 31 Lawrence 9,768 #518 32 Gregory 9,724 #593 33 Douglas 9,468 #807 34 Wayne 8,682 #652 35 Walter 8,627 #251 36 Harold 8,144 #991 37 Peter 8,048 #187 38 Timothy 8,043 #203 39 Danny 8,009 #628 40 Willie 7,971 #1,315 41 Anthony 7,878 #46 42 Carl 7,829 #1,132 43 Jack 7,612 #15 44 Arthur 7,576 #87 45 Henry 7,421 #5 46 Alan 7,394 #191 47 Joe 7,288 #991 48 Patrick 7,192 #235 49 Roy 7,067 #525 50 Jimmy 6,927 #846
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1948, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Ralph 6,915 #1,046 52 Johnny 6,862 #457 53 Billy 6,220 #1,068 54 Philip 6,162 #527 55 Albert 6,156 #614 56 Dale 6,091 #1,409 57 Harry 5,945 #775 58 Jeffrey 5,929 #552 59 Ronnie 5,902 #1,064 60 Steve 5,742 #1,609 61 Eugene 5,608 #943 62 Bobby 5,581 #1,097 63 Howard 5,497 #1,002 64 Louis 5,386 #249 65 Stanley 5,383 #863 66 Fred 5,376 #1,932 67 Russell 5,109 #345 68 Mike 5,045 #1,231 69 Phillip 5,018 #651 70 Samuel 5,002 #18 71 Leonard 4,781 #637 72 Allen 4,755 #578 73 Glenn 4,740 #1,443 74 Barry 4,670 #1,520 75 Frederick 4,516 #435 76 Ernest 4,512 #1,038 77 Andrew 4,305 #73 78 Eddie 4,234 #860 79 Tommy 4,220 #657 80 Francis 4,214 #420 81 Melvin 4,057 #958 82 Craig 3,985 #1,644 83 Earl 3,977 #2,230 84 Bill 3,926 #5,208 85 Norman 3,894 #1,196 86 Jim 3,808 #3,128 87 Clarence 3,790 #1,499 88 Martin 3,698 #335 89 Keith 3,660 #800 90 Marvin 3,625 #699 91 Don 3,546 #1,793 92 Rodney 3,466 #1,091 93 Lee 3,445 #725 94 Tom 3,429 #2,183 95 Brian 3,358 #339 96 Alfred 3,245 #840 97 Leroy 3,234 #883 98 Randall 3,179 #1,499 99 Randy 3,141 #1,084 100 Ray 3,134 #791
Entered the top 100 in 1948
