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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#1,255Sonny Sonny is a boy's name of English origin meaning exactly what it looks like — son.1,207 in the 1940s
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#1,257Rhea Rhea is a girl's name of Greek origin borne by the Titan who was mother of Zeus.1,206 in the 1940s
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#1,260Colette Colette is a girl's name meaning victory of the people, a French diminutive of Nicole.1,204 in the 1940s
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#1,266Isaiah Isaiah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is salvation," from Yesha'yahu.1,194 in the 1940s
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#1,285Joshua Joshua is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is salvation," from Yehoshua.1,156 in the 1940s
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#1,290Carson Carson is a name of Scottish and Irish origin meaning "son of Carr."1,145 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 The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.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.