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

#192
Dianne Dianne means divine, from the Roman goddess of the hunt — and Diana was originally a woodland deity of the Latin countryside, identified with the Greek Artemis only later and never completely.
32,378 in the 1940s
#193
Ruby Ruby is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the red gemstone, from ruber, meaning red.
32,140 in the 1940s
#195
Irene Irene is a girl's name from the Greek word for peace, and the name of the goddess who personified it.
31,968 in the 1940s
#198
Juanita Juanita is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, the Spanish diminutive of Juana.
30,602 in the 1940s
#199
Maureen Maureen is the Irish Máirín, a diminutive of Máire, which is itself the Irish form of Mary.
30,324 in the 1940s
#200
Loretta Loretta comes from an Italian shrine, not from the laurel — Loreto is the town where the Holy House of Nazareth was said to have been carried by angels.
30,204 in the 1940s
#201
Jeanne Jeanne is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious," the French feminine of Jean.
30,203 in the 1940s
#203
Constance Constance is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "steadfastness," one of the abstract virtue names the early Church favored.
30,007 in the 1940s
#205
Marlene Marlene was invented by the woman who made it famous — Marie Magdalene Dietrich contracted her own two names into one.
29,371 in the 1940s
#206
Arlene Arlene has no established origin at all — it appears in the nineteenth century with no traceable parent name, and the Irish pledge reading usually given for it belongs to a different name entirely.
29,175 in the 1940s
#210
Delores Delores means sorrows, and it is a Marian title rather than a wish — Our Lady of Sorrows, named for the seven griefs of the Virgin, which is why a name meaning pain was ever given.
28,617 in the 1940s
#212
Julia Julia is a girl's name of Latin origin, the feminine of the Roman family name Julius.
28,017 in the 1940s
#213
Lynda Lynda means lime tree, from Spanish and Germanic roots that disagree — the pretty reading comes from the Spanish linda, and the tree from a Germanic element, and neither is settled.
28,010 in the 1940s
#214
Marsha Marsha is a phonetic respelling of Marcia, and the name underneath is dedicated to Mars — the same god who gives his name to March, when the Roman year and the campaigning season both began.
27,475 in the 1940s
#215
Charlene Charlene is a girl's name meaning free man, a feminine of Charles.
26,850 in the 1940s
#222
June June is a girl's name of Latin origin taken from the month, which is named for the goddess Juno — the queen of the Roman gods and the protector of marriage and childbirth.
25,451 in the 1940s
#224
Jeanette Jeanette means God is gracious, a French double diminutive of Jeanne.
24,809 in the 1940s
#225
Edna Edna is a girl's name from a Hebrew word meaning delight, and it shares its root with Eden.
24,790 in the 1940s
#228
Josephine Josephine is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the French feminine form of Joseph.
24,424 in the 1940s
#231
Eleanor Eleanor is a girl's name that traces back to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the twelfth-century queen of France and later England, whose own name, Aliénor, is widely explained as "the other Aenor," distinguishing her from her mother, also named Aenor.
23,837 in the 1940s
#232
Yvonne Yvonne is a girl's name from a Germanic word for the yew tree, by way of Breton.
23,762 in the 1940s
#235
Vicki Vicki means victory, shortened from Victoria — and Victoria was a rare name in Britain before the queen, not a traditional one she happened to carry.
23,538 in the 1940s
#237
Vivian Vivian is a name of Latin origin meaning "alive" or "lively," from vivus.
23,169 in the 1940s
#239
Emma Emma is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "whole" or "universal," from the element ermen, found in older names such as Ermintrude.
22,901 in the 1940s
#242
Georgia Georgia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer" or "worker of the earth," the feminine of George, from ge, earth, and ergon, work.
22,514 in the 1940s
#244
Lillian Lillian is a girl's name usually explained as an elaboration of Lily, from the Latin lilium, and sometimes as a variant of Elizabeth by way of the medieval pet form Lilian.
22,405 in the 1940s
#245
Edith Edith is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "prosperous in war."
22,231 in the 1940s
#246
Pauline Pauline is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
21,999 in the 1940s
#249
Wilma Wilma means resolute protection, and The Flintstones did nothing for it.
21,320 in the 1940s
#255
Victoria Victoria is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "victory."
20,805 in the 1940s
#256
Ethel Ethel is a girl's name from an Old English word meaning noble, and it is not a name in its own right in that language — it is the first half of longer names like Ethelred, cut off and used alone.
20,688 in the 1940s
#257
Lucille Lucille is a girl's name from the Latin for light, given to children born at daybreak.
20,526 in the 1940s
#258
Florence Florence is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "blossoming" or "flourishing."
20,480 in the 1940s
#259
Margie Margie means pearl, carried from Margaret — and the Greek behind it may be a loan from an Indo-Iranian source, so the word for the gem traveled a long way before it became a name.
20,355 in the 1940s
#261
Sara Sara is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "princess" or "noblewoman."
20,335 in the 1940s
#262
Thelma Thelma is a girl's name invented for a novel in 1887, and the Greek word it was probably built from means "will" or "volition."
20,333 in the 1940s
#264
Billie Billie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protector."
20,113 in the 1940s
#265
Clara Clara is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "bright" or "clear," from clarus.
20,104 in the 1940s
#266
Audrey Audrey is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "noble strength," from Æthelthryth.
20,013 in the 1940s
#268
Grace Grace is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "favor" or "blessing," from gratia.
19,443 in the 1940s
#270
Teresa Teresa is a girl's name whose meaning is uncertain, though harvester is the usual reading.
19,374 in the 1940s
#273
Claudia Claudia means lame, and it comes from one of Rome's most powerful families.
19,256 in the 1940s
#274
Annette Annette is a girl's name meaning grace, a French diminutive of Anne.
19,249 in the 1940s
#275
Bobbie Bobbie is 83 percent female on record and England and Wales ranks it 523rd on 110 births — far above the United States at 2,072nd, reversing what an American nickname-name would usually do.
19,230 in the 1940s
#276
Gladys Gladys is a girl's name from Welsh, usually taken as a form of Claudia — which would give it the meaning lame.
19,125 in the 1940s
#277
Julie Julie is a girl's name, the French form of Julia, from a Roman family name of uncertain origin.
19,079 in the 1940s
#279
Gwendolyn Gwendolyn means white ring or blessed ring, from Welsh, and the second element is a ring — a torc or armlet, which was the standard Celtic mark of rank.
18,407 in the 1940s
#281
Priscilla Priscilla means ancient or venerable, and it is a diminutive — so the name literally reads as little old one, which was a mark of respect rather than an insult.
18,165 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.