Popular 1940s names, and how old they are now

Babies born in the 1940s are 77 to 86 years old in 2026. Social Security recorded about 29 million of them under names it lists, and by our estimate 50% are still alive: about 15 million people.

The decade's top names were Mary for girls and James for boys. Of the top ten for each, 10 still go to at least 1,000 babies a year.

Top 1940s girl names

Most popular girl names of the 1940s
#	Name	Born 1940s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	640,080	360,000	66
2	Linda	531,660	320,000	70
3	Barbara	425,271	240,000	72
4	Patricia	411,412	240,000	68
5	Carol	292,333	170,000	72
6	Sandra	265,538	150,000	66
7	Nancy	252,061	140,000	68
8	Sharon	221,237	130,000	68
9	Judith	218,037	120,000	72
10	Susan	212,016	130,000	66
11	Betty	194,623	110,000	76
12	Carolyn	181,858	100,000	67
13	Margaret	173,028	99,000	61
14	Shirley	171,780	96,000	75
15	Judy	167,719	96,000	72
16	Karen	167,700	98,000	63
17	Donna	165,523	97,000	68
18	Kathleen	152,981	92,000	64
19	Joyce	151,494	85,000	72
20	Dorothy	132,257	73,000	72
21	Janet	130,755	75,000	68
22	Diane	122,878	73,000	68
23	Janice	118,893	69,000	70
24	Joan	117,708	65,000	73
25	Elizabeth	116,551	67,000	44
26	Brenda	112,415	67,000	63
27	Gloria	105,055	60,000	66
28	Virginia	99,000	55,000	66
29	Marilyn	98,977	56,000	69
30	Martha	95,384	54,000	66
31	Beverly	95,122	54,000	70
32	Helen	90,742	50,000	66
33	Bonnie	86,886	50,000	66
34	Ruth	85,666	48,000	62
35	Frances	85,448	48,000	67
36	Jean	80,363	45,000	69
37	Ann	76,797	44,000	65
38	Phyllis	76,143	43,000	74
39	Pamela	73,121	46,000	64
40	Jane	72,537	42,000	62
41	Alice	72,392	41,000	53
42	Peggy	72,122	41,000	71
43	Cheryl	70,959	44,000	65
44	Doris	64,144	35,000	75
45	Catherine	62,086	36,000	54
46	Elaine	60,105	34,000	64
47	Cynthia	58,061	36,000	60
48	Marie	57,521	32,000	62
49	Lois	56,854	32,000	75
50	Connie	56,604	34,000	67

Top 1940s boy names

Most popular boy names of the 1940s
#	Name	Born 1940s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	James	795,775	350,000	54
2	Robert	758,126	330,000	58
3	John	711,614	310,000	55
4	William	556,478	240,000	51
5	Richard	477,476	210,000	60
6	David	426,372	190,000	52
7	Charles	361,772	160,000	54
8	Thomas	350,775	150,000	53
9	Michael	336,568	160,000	49
10	Ronald	282,489	120,000	64
11	Larry	255,908	110,000	65
12	Donald	247,834	110,000	64
13	Joseph	230,285	100,000	45
14	Gary	217,772	98,000	65
15	George	209,013	90,000	57
16	Kenneth	198,553	87,000	57
17	Paul	183,364	80,000	57
18	Edward	174,801	75,000	56
19	Jerry	167,257	71,000	63
20	Dennis	162,114	73,000	63
21	Frank	119,417	51,000	59
22	Daniel	112,778	51,000	42
23	Raymond	109,076	47,000	56
24	Roger	107,602	47,000	63
25	Stephen	106,812	50,000	54
26	Gerald	103,342	44,000	64
27	Walter	83,728	36,000	58
28	Harold	82,176	35,000	66
29	Steven	81,204	39,000	52
30	Douglas	80,760	36,000	59
31	Lawrence	80,461	35,000	60
32	Terry	76,965	36,000	62
33	Wayne	75,131	33,000	63
34	Arthur	73,968	32,000	54
35	Jack	73,919	32,000	34
36	Carl	72,739	31,000	60
37	Henry	72,488	31,000	34
38	Willie	72,422	31,000	64
39	Bruce	72,097	33,000	63
40	Joe	72,015	31,000	61
41	Peter	69,330	30,000	51
42	Billy	67,833	28,000	61
43	Roy	65,648	28,000	60
44	Ralph	64,983	28,000	65
45	Anthony	64,825	28,000	40
46	Jimmy	63,523	28,000	57
47	Albert	60,278	26,000	57
48	Bobby	58,890	25,000	60
49	Eugene	57,275	24,000	63
50	Johnny	57,200	25,000	54

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in the 1940s, from Social Security's records. “Alive today” estimates how many of those babies are still living, using SSA's cohort life tables. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1940s babies. How we calculate this