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.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#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
#149
Melvin Melvin is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, and the gentle chieftain reading usually given for it is an invention — the source is a Norman family who took their name from Malleville in France.
39,544 in the 1940s
#150
Earl Earl is a boy's name taken from the English noble title, and it is the only rank in the British peerage with a native English name rather than a French one.
39,366 in the 1940s
#151
Allen Allen is a boy's name whose meaning is unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from an unidentified Breton source.
39,266 in the 1940s
#152
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
39,200 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
#157
Bill Bill comes from William, and the B is the point — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Will became Bill, Rob became Bob and Rick became Dick.
37,848 in the 1940s
#158
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
37,781 in the 1940s
#159
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
37,452 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
#161
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
37,422 in the 1940s
#162
Phillip Phillip is a boy's name meaning lover of horses, the doubled-l spelling of Philip.
37,075 in the 1940s
#163
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
36,643 in the 1940s
#164
Don Don is a boy's name shortened from Donald, meaning world ruler.
36,422 in the 1940s
#165
Clarence Clarence is a boy's name taken from an English dukedom, itself named for a Suffolk town.
36,402 in the 1940s
#166
Steve Steve is a boy's name, the short form of Steven or Stephen, meaning crown or garland.
36,380 in the 1940s
#167
Barry Barry is a boy's name from an Irish surname generally traced to a word for a spear, though a Welsh island gives a competing route.
36,332 in the 1940s
#168
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
36,219 in the 1940s
#169
Glenn Glenn is a boy's name from the Gaelic word for a narrow valley, and like Craig and Dale it is a plain landscape noun.
35,953 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
#173
Jim Jim is a boy's name meaning supplanter, shortened from James — which is the same name as Jacob, split into two by Latin.
35,754 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
#177
Mike Mike is a boy's name, the short form of Michael, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God.
34,774 in the 1940s
#178
Andrew Andrew is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "manly" or "brave," from andreios, from aner, a man.
34,768 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
#180
Jeffrey Jeffrey is a boy's name from Germanic roots whose first element is disputed, though the second means peace.
34,463 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
#183
Leroy Leroy is a boy's name that is simply the French for the king, taken as one word.
34,049 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
#185
Kay Kay serves two unrelated sources — the initial of Katherine, and Sir Kay of Arthurian legend, who is Arthur's foster brother and one of the oldest figures in the whole cycle.
33,379 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
#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

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.