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

#241
Victor Victor is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conqueror."
22,615 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
#243
Jessie Jessie is a name that arrives from two unrelated directions — the Scottish pet form of Janet, and a feminine of the Hebrew Jesse.
22,472 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
#247
Pat Pat is one of the most evenly divided names on this site — about 60 percent of recorded births are female, because it shortens both Patricia and Patrick and neither side ever won.
21,637 in the 1940s
#248
Bob Bob comes from Robert, and the B is not a corruption but a system — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Rob gave Bob, Will gave Bill and Rick gave Dick.
21,430 in the 1940s
#249
Wilma Wilma means resolute protection, and The Flintstones did nothing for it.
21,320 in the 1940s
#250
Floyd Floyd is the same name as Lloyd, and the F is a mistake that stuck — English had no way to say the Welsh double L, so it substituted the closest sound it had, and the substitution became a separate name.
21,134 in the 1940s
#251
Lewis Lewis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the English form of Louis.
21,040 in the 1940s
#252
Clyde Clyde took nothing from Bonnie and Clyde.
20,964 in the 1940s
#253
Harvey Harvey is a boy's name of Breton origin meaning "battle worthy."
20,871 in the 1940s
#254
Alvin Alvin means elf-friend, from an Old English name that treats elves as beings whose favor was worth having.
20,835 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
#260
Craig Craig is a boy's name from the Gaelic word for a rock or crag, and one of the few names that is a plain landscape noun rather than a compound.
20,350 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
#263
Vernon Vernon is a Norman place name meaning a place of alders, from a Gaulish word — so a French town gave England a surname that America turned into a first name, three languages deep.
20,225 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
#267
Charlie Charlie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "free man."
19,475 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
#269
Franklin Franklin means a freeholder — a man who owned his land but held no noble rank, a specific medieval class.
19,404 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
#271
Calvin Calvin is a boy's name of French origin meaning "little bald one," from the Latin calvus, bald.
19,339 in the 1940s
#272
Jon Jon is a boy's name meaning God is gracious, and it is both an English shortening of Jonathan and the standard Scandinavian and Catalan form of John — two routes to the same three letters.
19,271 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
#278
Jay Jay is a name serving as an initial-letter shortening for any J name, as a bird name, and as an Indian name meaning victory.
18,968 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
#280
Darrell Darrell does not mean beloved.
18,397 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
#282
Dan Dan means he judged, and it is a full Hebrew name in its own right before it is short for Daniel — one of Jacob's twelve sons, and the tribe that gave its name to the northern border of Israel.
18,073 in the 1940s
#283
Randall Randall is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning shield-wolf.
17,896 in the 1940s
#284
Allan Allan has no settled meaning at all — handsome, little rock and a deer are all proposed for the Breton original, and the name reached England through Brittany rather than through Ireland or Scotland at all.
17,866 in the 1940s
#285
Freddie Freddie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
17,758 in the 1940s
#286
Esther Esther is a girl's name usually connected to the Persian word for star, and possibly to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
17,731 in the 1940s
#287
Joel Joel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin that joins two names for God, and the prophet's book supplied the line quoted at Pentecost.
17,658 in the 1940s
#288
Eva Eva is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "life" or "living."
17,656 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.