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

#103
Gail Gail is a girl's name meaning my father rejoices, clipped from Abigail.
55,157 in the 1940s
#104
Christine Christine is a girl's name from the Latin for a follower of Christ, the French form of Christina.
54,739 in the 1940s
#105
Diana Diana is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "divine" or "heavenly," the Roman goddess of the hunt and the moon.
53,853 in the 1940s
#108
Rose Rose is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the flower, from rosa.
51,871 in the 1940s
#109
Joanne Joanne is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, one of the many feminines of John.
51,776 in the 1940s
#110
Wanda Wanda is a girl's name from Polish, borne by a legendary queen who drowned herself in the Vistula rather than marry a German prince.
50,949 in the 1940s
#112
Carole Carole is a girl's name meaning free man, the French spelling of Carol.
50,464 in the 1940s
#114
Rita Rita is a girl's name meaning pearl, clipped from the end of Margarita rather than the front.
49,992 in the 1940s
#116
Charlotte Charlotte is a girl's name of French origin meaning "free man," the feminine form of Charles, itself from the Germanic name Karl.
49,646 in the 1940s
#120
Evelyn Evelyn is a girl's name of English and French origin meaning "desired" or "wished for".
48,330 in the 1940s
#121
Geraldine Geraldine was invented in a 1537 love poem — the Earl of Surrey coined it for Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, calling her the Fair Geraldine.
48,136 in the 1940s
#124
Jacqueline Jacqueline is a girl's name, the French feminine of Jacques, and it inherits the meaning supplanter from Jacob.
45,680 in the 1940s
#125
Ellen Ellen is a girl's name of Greek origin, a medieval English form of Helen whose meaning has never been settled.
45,550 in the 1940s
#126
Sally Sally is a girl's name meaning princess, a pet form of Sarah reached by medieval rhyming.
45,495 in the 1940s
#127
Rebecca Rebecca is a girl's name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is unsettled, and the standard gloss involves a rope for tying cattle.
45,427 in the 1940s
#128
Kathryn Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's unknown meaning.
44,683 in the 1940s
#131
Deborah Deborah is a girl's name from the Hebrew for bee, borne by the only woman to lead Israel as a judge.
44,140 in the 1940s
#136
Norma Norma is a girl's name that appears to have been invented for an opera — Bellini's Norma of 1831 — and it was the birth name of Marilyn Monroe, who appears elsewhere in these pages under the name that replaced it.
43,206 in the 1940s
#140
Suzanne Suzanne is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "lily," from shoshannah.
41,503 in the 1940s
#142
Anna Anna is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor," the Greek and Latin form of Hannah.
41,444 in the 1940s
#143
Sue Sue means lily, shortened from Susan, and it is one of the steepest falls on record — from 5,306 American births in 1947 to 11, a decline by a factor of roughly 482.
41,082 in the 1940s
#144
Patsy Patsy serves both Patricia and Patrick, and it is 94 percent female on record — the male use survives mainly in Ireland, where Patsy is still an ordinary man's name rather than a woman's name at all.
40,905 in the 1940s
#145
Darlene Darlene is a girl's name built from the English word darling, and it is one of a small group of American twentieth-century coinages that used the -ene ending.
40,461 in the 1940s
#146
Joann Joann is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, a simplified spelling of Joanna.
40,142 in the 1940s
#147
Sarah Sarah is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "princess" or "noblewoman."
40,127 in the 1940s
#148
Katherine Katherine is a girl's name whose meaning is not settled.
40,042 in the 1940s
#153
Paula Paula is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
39,152 in the 1940s
#154
Annie Annie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor."
38,956 in the 1940s
#155
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
38,896 in the 1940s
#156
Roberta Roberta is a girl's name meaning bright fame, the feminine of Robert.
38,203 in the 1940s
#160
Sylvia Sylvia is a girl's name from the Latin for a forest, and the mother of Rome's founders bore it — Rhea Silvia, who was made a Vestal Virgin so she could not produce heirs.
37,422 in the 1940s
#168
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
36,219 in the 1940s
#170
Theresa Theresa is a girl's name of uncertain meaning, the German and English spelling of Teresa.
35,894 in the 1940s
#171
Maria Maria is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the Latin and Greek form of Miryam.
35,876 in the 1940s
#172
Sheila Sheila is the Irish form of Cecilia, meaning blind — and parents outside Ireland should know it became Australian slang for a woman in the nineteenth century, which is why it barely charts there.
35,830 in the 1940s
#174
Laura Laura is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "laurel," the tree whose leaves crowned Roman victors and poets.
35,176 in the 1940s
#175
Kathy Kathy is a girl's name, the pet form of Katherine, and it inherits that name's unknown meaning.
34,844 in the 1940s
#176
Eileen Eileen is a girl's name anglicizing the Irish Eibhlín, and its meaning is unsettled — it may render Helen, or Evelyn, or a native Irish name.
34,803 in the 1940s
#179
Marcia Marcia means dedicated to Mars, and that god's name is also where the month of March comes from — the Roman year began in March, because that was when the campaigning season opened up again after the winter.
34,478 in the 1940s
#181
Rosemary Rosemary is not Rose and Mary joined together — it is the herb, from a Latin phrase meaning dew of the sea.
34,382 in the 1940s
#182
Leslie Leslie is a Scottish place name turned surname turned given name, and it has crossed sexes: about 71 percent of recorded births are female, though the name began firmly male and remains so in Britain.
34,245 in the 1940s
#184
Glenda Glenda is a twentieth-century Welsh invention rather than a traditional name — it joins two ordinary Welsh adjectives, and it does not appear in the historical record before about 1900.
33,465 in the 1940s
#186
Dolores Dolores is a girl's name meaning sorrows — taken from a title of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, which counts seven specific griefs.
33,330 in the 1940s
#187
Mildred Mildred is a girl's name from Old English elements meaning gentle strength, and it is among the least fashionable names of the twentieth century — yet it is reviving, ninety years after its 1920 peak.
33,212 in the 1940s
#188
Lorraine Lorraine is a girl's name from the French region, whose own name means the kingdom of Lothair — a Frankish king's realm that was carved out of Charlemagne's empire and slowly disappeared.
33,183 in the 1940s
#189
Marjorie Marjorie is a girl's name meaning pearl, an English form of Margaret whose modern spelling was pulled toward the herb marjoram by nothing more than a coincidence of sound.
32,978 in the 1940s
#190
Sherry Sherry is a girl's name that appears to have been taken from the wine, whose own name is a corruption of the Spanish town Jerez.
32,947 in the 1940s
#191
Anita Anita is a girl's name, the Spanish diminutive of Ana, meaning grace.
32,646 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.