Top Baby Names of 1940 · Kiddos Treehouse

By year

The top names of 1940

Mary led the girls and James the boys, out of 2,302,700 babies in the public record for that year.

← 1939 All years 1941 →

Girls, 1940

#	Name	Babies	Share
1	Mary	56,216	4.92%
2	Barbara	36,736	3.21%
3	Patricia	32,665	2.86%
4	Judith	22,385	1.96%
5	Betty	22,077	1.93%
6	Carol	21,759	1.90%
7	Nancy	19,737	1.73%
8	Linda	18,370	1.61%
9	Shirley	17,881	1.56%
10	Sandra	16,153	1.41%
11	Margaret	15,063	1.32%
12	Dorothy	14,875	1.30%
13	Joyce	14,801	1.29%
14	Joan	13,292	1.16%
15	Carolyn	12,657	1.11%
16	Judy	11,382	1.00%
17	Sharon	11,121	0.97%
18	Helen	10,203	0.89%
19	Janet	10,105	0.88%
20	Elizabeth	9,955	0.87%
21	Virginia	9,554	0.84%
22	Janice	9,318	0.81%
23	Donna	9,232	0.81%
24	Ruth	8,888	0.78%
25	Marilyn	8,704	0.76%
26	Martha	8,695	0.76%
27	Beverly	8,657	0.76%
28	Frances	8,621	0.75%
29	Jean	8,063	0.71%
30	Gloria	8,026	0.70%
31	Doris	7,767	0.68%
32	Alice	7,603	0.66%
33	Phyllis	7,416	0.65%
34	Karen	7,283	0.64%
35	Ann	7,196	0.63%
36	Susan	6,756	0.59%
37	Peggy	6,128	0.54%
38	Lois	6,125	0.54%
39	Bonnie	5,957	0.52%
40	Kathleen	5,697	0.50%
41	Marie	5,542	0.48%
42	Brenda	5,442	0.48%
43	Norma	5,334	0.47%
44	Rose	5,198	0.45%
45	Diane	5,172	0.45%
46	Geraldine	5,150	0.45%
47	Jane	5,091	0.45%
48	Evelyn	4,982	0.44%
49	Carole	4,790	0.42%
50	Elaine	4,782	0.42%

Boys, 1940

#	Name	Babies	Share
1	James	62,481	5.39%
2	Robert	61,198	5.28%
3	John	54,786	4.73%
4	William	44,779	3.86%
5	Richard	37,425	3.23%
6	Charles	31,689	2.73%
7	David	27,690	2.39%
8	Thomas	23,991	2.07%
9	Donald	23,115	1.99%
10	Ronald	20,741	1.79%
11	George	18,315	1.58%
12	Joseph	18,208	1.57%
13	Larry	17,199	1.48%
14	Jerry	15,213	1.31%
15	Kenneth	15,132	1.31%
16	Edward	14,405	1.24%
17	Paul	14,097	1.22%
18	Michael	13,228	1.14%
19	Gary	12,573	1.08%
20	Frank	10,595	0.91%
21	Gerald	10,236	0.88%
22	Raymond	9,567	0.83%
23	Harold	8,080	0.70%
24	Dennis	7,845	0.68%
25	Walter	7,723	0.67%
26	Roger	7,598	0.66%
27	Billy	7,596	0.66%
28	Joe	7,216	0.62%
29	Jack	7,048	0.61%
30	Bobby	6,882	0.59%
31	Henry	6,822	0.59%
32	Carl	6,752	0.58%
33	Arthur	6,510	0.56%
34	Daniel	6,225	0.54%
35	Willie	6,176	0.53%
36	Lawrence	6,173	0.53%
37	Ralph	5,838	0.50%
38	Eugene	5,804	0.50%
39	Wayne	5,727	0.49%
40	Fred	5,581	0.48%
41	Albert	5,572	0.48%
42	Roy	5,565	0.48%
43	Peter	5,049	0.44%
44	Jimmy	4,962	0.43%
45	Howard	4,824	0.42%
46	Anthony	4,769	0.41%
47	Harry	4,681	0.40%
48	Norman	4,576	0.39%
49	Stephen	4,423	0.38%
50	Louis	4,324	0.37%

United States national data, Social Security Administration. The file counts Social Security applications, so its early decades undercount; the share column is a name's part of the names recorded for that sex that year, not of all births. How we use it.

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