1940s Baby Names

4,671 names were given to children in the United States between 1940 and 1949, ranked below by how many.

A name's place is its total across those ten years. Names that appear in only some of the decade say so, because a name recorded once is a different fact from one recorded every year.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#1
James James is a boy's name of Hebrew origin, an English form of Jacob by way of Late Latin Iacomus.
798,341 in the 1940s
#2
Robert Robert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," from hrod, fame, and beraht, bright.
760,240 in the 1940s
#3
John John is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is gracious," from Yochanan.
713,692 in the 1940s
#5
William William is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protection," from wil, meaning will or desire, and helm, meaning helmet.
557,985 in the 1940s
#7
Richard Richard is a boy's name from Germanic roots meaning strong or brave ruler.
478,652 in the 1940s
#8
David David is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved," from Dawid.
427,414 in the 1940s
#11
Charles Charles is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man," from karl.
363,238 in the 1940s
#12
Thomas Thomas is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," from te'oma.
351,737 in the 1940s
#13
Michael Michael is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "who is like God?" — a rhetorical question expecting the answer that no one is.
338,115 in the 1940s
#15
Ronald Ronald is a boy's name from the Old Norse Rögnvaldr, meaning ruler's counsel, brought to Scotland by Norse settlement.
283,190 in the 1940s
#17
Larry Larry is a boy's name, the short form of Lawrence, from a Roman name meaning of Laurentum.
256,655 in the 1940s
#19
Donald Donald is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall, meaning world ruler.
248,484 in the 1940s
#20
Joseph Joseph is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," from Yosef.
230,953 in the 1940s
#23
Gary Gary is a boy's name that reached the charts by an unusually traceable route: a surname became a steel town in Indiana, the town's name was given to an actor, and the actor made it a first name.
218,409 in the 1940s
#25
George George is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer" or "worker of the earth," from ge, earth, and ergon, work.
210,289 in the 1940s
#26
Kenneth Kenneth is a boy's name anglicizing two separate Gaelic names, one meaning born of fire and one meaning handsome.
199,075 in the 1940s
#28
Paul Paul is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," borne by the apostle whose letters shaped Christian doctrine.
183,902 in the 1940s
#30
Edward Edward is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "wealthy guardian."
175,319 in the 1940s
#33
Jerry Jerry is a name that serves as the short form of at least three unrelated names — Jeremiah from Hebrew, Gerald and Gerard from Germanic — so its meaning depends entirely on which one a family had in mind.
172,238 in the 1940s
#37
Dennis Dennis is a boy's name that traces back to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic release — one of the few widely used Christian names derived from a pagan deity.
162,574 in the 1940s
#43
Frank Frank is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frank."
119,818 in the 1940s
#47
Daniel Daniel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge," from Daniyyel.
113,115 in the 1940s
#49
Raymond Raymond is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning counsel and protection.
109,452 in the 1940s
#50
Roger Roger is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning famous spear.
107,917 in the 1940s
#51
Stephen Stephen is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, borne by the first Christian martyr.
107,050 in the 1940s
#53
Gerald Gerald is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning rule of the spear, and it gave Ireland one of its great Norman dynasties, the FitzGeralds.
103,738 in the 1940s
#59
Terry Terry is a name serving as a short form of Terence and of the Germanic Theodoric, two unrelated names, and it is mixed — about 18 percent of recorded births are female.
90,663 in the 1940s
#60
Willie Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more mixed names on record — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
90,520 in the 1940s
#64
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
84,106 in the 1940s
#65
Harold Harold is a boy's name from Norse and Old English elements meaning army ruler, and it belongs to the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, killed at Hastings in 1066.
82,452 in the 1940s
#67
Steven Steven is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, and the phonetic respelling of Stephen.
81,351 in the 1940s
#68
Douglas Douglas is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic for dark water, originally a river and then a powerful border family.
81,000 in the 1940s
#69
Lawrence Lawrence is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, an ancient Italian town linked to the laurel.
80,717 in the 1940s
#72
Wayne Wayne is an occupational surname meaning a wagon maker, and its life as a given name follows one man — John Wayne, who was born Marion Robert Morrison and renamed by a studio.
75,337 in the 1940s
#73
Arthur Arthur is a boy's name of disputed origin.
74,329 in the 1940s
#74
Joe Joe is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," a short form of Joseph that has become the English word for an ordinary person.
74,186 in the 1940s
#75
Jack Jack is a boy's name of English origin that began as a pet form of John, by way of the medieval nickname Jankin.
74,129 in the 1940s
#77
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
73,055 in the 1940s
#78
Henry Henry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler," from heim, meaning home or estate, and ric, meaning ruler or power.
72,989 in the 1940s
#82
Bruce Bruce is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and Scotland's most famous king carried it as an import — the Bruces came from Normandy, not from Scotland.
72,295 in the 1940s
#84
Peter Peter is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "rock."
69,513 in the 1940s
#85
Billy Billy is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protector."
68,441 in the 1940s
#86
Roy Roy is a boy's name with two independent sources — the Gaelic ruadh, meaning red-haired, and the French roi, meaning king.
66,007 in the 1940s
#87
Ralph Ralph is a boy's name of Norse origin meaning "wolf counsel."
65,163 in the 1940s
#88
Anthony Anthony is a boy's name from the Roman family name Antonius, whose meaning is unknown — it is probably Etruscan rather than Latin.
65,023 in the 1940s
#90
Jimmy Jimmy is a boy's name, the pet form of James, meaning supplanter.
63,889 in the 1940s
#92
Albert Albert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble and bright."
60,561 in the 1940s
#93
Bobby Bobby is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
60,445 in the 1940s

What Made a 1940s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1940 and 1949. A name's position here is how many of them were.

Why Some Names Only Cover Part of the Decade

A name that appears in three of the ten years either arrived partway through or faded out — and either is more interesting than the total on its own. The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.

Where to Go Next

Open any name to see its full curve — most of these have a hundred and forty years of it. Or compare the ends of the same measurement: the most popular names now and the rarest.