1940s Baby Names
13,557 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.
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#1,153Ophelia Ophelia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "help" or "benefit."1,392 in the 1940s
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#1,159Carter Carter is a name of English origin meaning "one who transports goods by cart."1,378 in the 1940s
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#1,165Elise Elise is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a short form of Elizabeth.1,369 in the 1940s
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#1,174Ava Ava is a girl's name with several proposed origins rather than one settled root.1,346 in the 1940s
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#1,175Claudine Claudine is a French girl's name meaning lame, from a Roman family name.1,345 in the 1940s
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#1,196Royal Royal is a unisex name taken from the English word, from the Latin regalis — of a king.1,313 in the 1940s
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#1,198Elsa Elsa is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a German short form of Elisabeth.1,306 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 The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.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.