1940s Baby Names

4,665 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
#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 genuinely 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
#98
Johnny Johnny is a boy's name, the pet form of John, meaning God is gracious.
57,743 in the 1940s
#99
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
57,535 in the 1940s

What made a 1940s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1940 and 1949, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1940s names" you will find elsewhere is somebody's sense of the period; this one is the register.

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.