Top 100 Most Popular U.S. Baby Names Of 1940

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1940 Popular Names U.S. - Top 100 Baby Names
				Change to 2018						Change to 2018
Girls		Number of Girls	%	Rank	Number	Boys		Number of Boys	%	Rank	Number
1	Mary	56,203	4.758	-125	-53,876	1	James	62,473	5.267	-3	-48,948
2	Barbara	36,734	3.110	-928	-36,449	2	Robert	61,196	5.160	-69	-56,056
3	Patricia	32,664	2.765	-910	-32,371	3	John	54,779	4.619	-24	-45,660
4	Judith	22,382	1.895	-846	-22,064	4	William	44,768	3.775	1	-30,252
5	Betty	22,074	1.869	-1,123	-21,859	5	Richard	37,415	3.155	-183	-35,296
6	Carol	21,761	1.842	-1,782	-21,648	6	Charles	31,684	2.671	-46	-25,080
7	Nancy	19,732	1.670	-832	-19,410	7	David	27,687	2.334	-15	-17,990
8	Linda	18,369	1.555	-718	-17,980	8	Thomas	23,987	2.022	-41	-17,208
9	Shirley	17,878	1.513	-1,455	-17,728	9	Donald	23,106	1.948	-517	-22,573
10	Sandra	16,150	1.367	-965	-15,881	10	Ronald	20,730	1.748	-483	-20,152
11	Margaret	15,058	1.275	-116	-12,746	11	George	18,309	1.544	-116	-15,250
12	Dorothy	14,875	1.259	-574	-14,358	12	Joseph	18,207	1.535	-11	-8,652
13	Joyce	14,802	1.253	-934	-14,524	13	Larry	17,200	1.450	-693	-16,861
14	Joan	13,286	1.125	-1,713	-13,168	14	Jerry	15,200	1.282	-587	-14,749
15	Carolyn	12,654	1.071	-845	-12,342	15	Kenneth	15,134	1.276	-211	-13,479
16	Judy	11,384	0.964	-1,517	-11,243	16	Edward	14,400	1.214	-153	-12,132
17	Sharon	11,118	0.941	-1,110	-10,902	17	Paul	14,101	1.189	-217	-12,476
18	Helen	10,200	0.863	-395	-9,455	18	Michael	13,228	1.115	4	-1,608
19	Janet	10,104	0.855	-1,393	-9,947	19	Gary	12,571	1.060	-655	-12,204
20	Elizabeth	9,952	0.842	7	-1,439	20	Frank	10,595	0.893	-372	-9,792
21	Virginia	9,554	0.809	-519	-8,976	21	Gerald	10,239	0.863	-873	-9,998
22	Janice	9,315	0.789	-1,411	-9,162	22	Raymond	9,568	0.807	-277	-8,419
23	Donna	9,231	0.781	-1,544	-9,094	23	Harold	8,078	0.681	-774	-7,797
24	Ruth	8,885	0.752	-241	-7,651	24	Dennis	7,845	0.661	-532	-7,352
25	Marilyn	8,701	0.737	-585	-8,207	25	Walter	7,724	0.651	-246	-6,421
26	Martha	8,692	0.736	-771	-8,351	26	Roger	7,598	0.641	-610	-7,187
27	Beverly	8,657	0.733	-1,266	-8,482	27	Billy	7,596	0.640	-818	-7,336
28	Frances	8,619	0.730	-417	-7,904	28	Joe	7,222	0.609	-667	-6,877
29	Jean	8,066	0.683	-2,364	-7,991	29	Jack	7,046	0.594	1	1,788
30	Gloria	8,025	0.679	-554	-7,504	30	Bobby	6,882	0.580	-794	-6,614
31	Doris	7,767	0.658	-1,783	-7,656	31	Henry	6,819	0.575	15	3,830
32	Alice	7,602	0.644	-39	-3,959	32	Carl	6,754	0.569	-668	-6,412
33	Phyllis	7,416	0.628	-6,942	-7,399	33	Arthur	6,508	0.549	-197	-4,866
34	Karen	7,283	0.617	-601	-6,815	34	Daniel	6,221	0.525	19	4,952
35	Ann	7,195	0.609	-948	-6,928	35	Willie	6,173	0.520	-899	-5,949
36	Susan	6,755	0.572	-1,043	-6,521	36	Lawrence	6,171	0.520	-462	-5,598
37	Peggy	6,127	0.519	-5,517	-6,104	37	Ralph	5,835	0.492	-914	-5,618
38	Lois	6,126	0.519	-1,655	-6,004	38	Eugene	5,798	0.489	-824	-5,546
39	Bonnie	5,958	0.504	-652	-5,541	39	Wayne	5,726	0.483	-734	-5,427
40	Kathleen	5,697	0.482	-854	-5,396	40	Fred	5,585	0.471	-1,610	-5,488
41	Marie	5,542	0.469	-535	-5,012	41	Albert	5,571	0.470	-411	-4,914
42	Brenda	5,441	0.461	-970	-5,186	42	Roy	5,565	0.469	-500	-5,051
43	Norma	5,334	0.452	-2,228	-5,254	43	Peter	5,048	0.426	-168	-3,236
44	Rose	5,198	0.440	-79	-2,766	44	Jimmy	4,961	0.418	-609	-4,571
45	Diane	5,173	0.438	-2,428	-5,102	45	Howard	4,825	0.407	-923	-4,612
46	Geraldine	5,152	0.436	-1,673	-5,033	46	Anthony	4,766	0.402	8	3,237
47	Jane	5,090	0.431	-244	-3,967	47	Harry	4,678	0.394	-573	-4,251
48	Evelyn	4,984	0.422	38	5,392	48	Norman	4,575	0.386	-1,176	-4,424
49	Carole	4,789	0.405	-9,843	-4,779	49	Stephen	4,422	0.373	-235	-3,186
50	Elaine	4,782	0.405	-584	-4,314	50	Louis	4,324	0.365	-213	-2,956

United States name popularity data is provided by the Social Security Administration and is based on Social Security card applications.

Data for a given year is not made available until well into the next year.

Data reflects what was recorded and has not been edited for errors, so for example the gender associated with a name may be incorrect.

The more babies that are given a particular name, the higher the popularity ranking. If multiple names have the same usage, the tie is broken by assigning popularity rank in alphabetical order. Therefore in the case of names with fewer occurrences, names with the same number of occurrences may have vastly different rankings because they will be interranked alphabetically.

To safeguard privacy, the SSA does not include names with less than 5 occurrences.

Please note, we update the data each May when the SSA releases new figures. All data changes at that time, including previous years, which will change minutely based on new information.