Names by decade · United States

The names of the 1940s

Mary for girls and James for boys: the 30 most-given names of the decade, and the share of babies who got each.

Girls

  1. Mary1 in 23
  2. Linda1 in 27
  3. Barbara1 in 34
  4. Patricia1 in 35
  5. Carol1 in 50
  6. Sandra1 in 55
  7. Nancy1 in 57
  8. Sharon1 in 65
  9. Judith1 in 66
  10. Susan1 in 68
  11. Betty1 in 74
  12. Carolyn1 in 80
  13. Margaret1 in 84
  14. Shirley1 in 84
  15. Judy1 in 86
  16. Karen1 in 86
  17. Donna1 in 88
  18. Kathleen1 in 95
  19. Joyce1 in 96
  20. Dorothy1 in 110
  21. Janet1 in 111
  22. Diane1 in 118
  23. Janice1 in 122
  24. Joan1 in 123
  25. Elizabeth1 in 124
  26. Brenda1 in 129
  27. Gloria1 in 138
  28. Virginia1 in 146
  29. Marilyn1 in 146
  30. Martha1 in 152

Boys

  1. James1 in 19
  2. Robert1 in 20
  3. John1 in 21
  4. William1 in 27
  5. Richard1 in 31
  6. David1 in 35
  7. Charles1 in 41
  8. Thomas1 in 42
  9. Michael1 in 44
  10. Ronald1 in 53
  11. Larry1 in 58
  12. Donald1 in 60
  13. Joseph1 in 65
  14. Gary1 in 68
  15. George1 in 71
  16. Kenneth1 in 75
  17. Paul1 in 81
  18. Edward1 in 85
  19. Jerry1 in 89
  20. Dennis1 in 92
  21. Frank1 in 125
  22. Daniel1 in 132
  23. Raymond1 in 136
  24. Roger1 in 138
  25. Stephen1 in 139
  26. Gerald1 in 144
  27. Walter1 in 178
  28. Harold1 in 181
  29. Steven1 in 183
  30. Douglas1 in 184

Year by year, the 1940s

Born in the 1940s?

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