1940s Baby Names

7,630 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

#830
Antonia Antonia has no known meaning, and the flower reading given everywhere is a Renaissance invention — humanists attached the Greek anthos to a Roman family name that has never been explained.
2,748 in the 1940s
#833
Lisa Lisa is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a short form of Elisabeth that became a name in its own right.
2,724 in the 1940s
#834
Shelley Shelley means a clearing on a ledge, and it has nothing to do with shells — the poet's surname records a patch of high ground in Suffolk or Sussex, not anything from a beach.
2,709 in the 1940s
#835
Sybil
2,709 in the 1940s
#836
Mavis Mavis is a girl's name from the old word for the song thrush, from French mauvis.
2,707 in the 1940s
#837
Leola
2,694 in the 1940s
#840
Cassandra Cassandra is a girl's name from Greek myth, borne by a prophet cursed to see the future and never be believed.
2,660 in the 1940s
#850
Rosalyn
2,580 in the 1940s
#851
Sonia Sonia is not a name in its own right in Russian — it is the everyday pet form of Sofia, and it means wisdom.
2,571 in the 1940s
#852
Rosanne
2,567 in the 1940s
#853
Arleen
2,566 in the 1940s
#856
Dolly
2,543 in the 1940s
#858
Jannie
2,540 in the 1940s
#859
Jeri
2,534 in the 1940s
#861
Delois
2,513 in the 1940s
#862
Cornelia
2,509 in the 1940s
#867
Clare Clare is the older English spelling and the one the Irish county carries, and its history is British and Irish rather than American — England, Scotland and Ireland all peaked far above the United States.
2,492 in the 1940s
#871
Melva
2,480 in the 1940s
#873
Nola
2,475 in the 1940s
#874
Maryellen
2,463 in the 1940s
#875
Imogene
2,455 in the 1940s
#879
Marlys
2,430 in the 1940s
#882
Candice Candice is not a name but a title — Kandake was the word for the queen mother of Kush, and Acts records one without naming her, so a royal office became a personal name by misreading.
2,405 in the 1940s 7 of 10 years
#887
Elvira
2,381 in the 1940s
#890
Nita
2,377 in the 1940s
#892
Tamara Tamara means date palm, and the tree mattered more than the fruit — in the ancient Near East a date palm was a standing symbol of uprightness and fertility.
2,365 in the 1940s
#893
May May has three separate sources that English cannot tell apart — the month, the hawthorn blossom that opens in it, and a short form of Mary and Margaret.
2,355 in the 1940s
#895
Jolene
2,347 in the 1940s
#896
Angelina Angelina means little angel, and the Greek root behind it means a messenger — the winged being is a later idea layered onto a word for someone carrying news.
2,345 in the 1940s
#897
Margery
2,337 in the 1940s
#898
Effie Effie is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "well-spoken."
2,332 in the 1940s
#899
Sydney Sydney is a name from a French place name — Saint-Denis, contracted by English speakers — and the Australian city was named after a man who bore it.
2,327 in the 1940s
#902
Sherri Sherri looks French and is not — it respells Cherie, meaning darling, but Cherie is not a traditional French given name at all, so the name is an English invention wearing French clothes.
2,325 in the 1940s
#904
Mollie Mollie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, a diminutive of Mary reached through a chain of medieval sound shifts.
2,314 in the 1940s
#906
Madelyn Madelyn is a girl's name and a modern American respelling of Madeline, which descends from Magdalene — meaning "of Magdala," a town on the Sea of Galilee.
2,297 in the 1940s
#907
Ladonna
2,293 in the 1940s
#909
Millie Millie is a girl's name that began as a pet form of longer names — chiefly Millicent, Mildred, Amelia and Camilla — and is now given in its own right.
2,282 in the 1940s
#910
Elnora
2,269 in the 1940s
#912
Cherry
2,266 in the 1940s
#913
Dottie
2,265 in the 1940s
#914
Alta
2,255 in the 1940s
#916
Angie Angie means messenger, and the Greek root behind it named someone carrying news — the wings and choirs of later Christianity all grew from an ordinary occupational word.
2,250 in the 1940s
#917
Elena Elena is a girl's name of Greek origin, the Italian, Spanish, and Russian form of Helen.
2,247 in the 1940s
#918
Merry
2,246 in the 1940s
#919
Kitty
2,235 in the 1940s
#921
Marietta
2,231 in the 1940s
#922
Virgie
2,229 in the 1940s
#923
Jessica Jessica is a girl's name invented by Shakespeare for The Merchant of Venice in 1596.
2,204 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.