Name.Baby Names by year 1940s 1942 Most Popular Baby Names of 1942 Social Security has card records for 2,798,748 people born in the U.S. in 1942. Mary was the top girl name (63,256 babies) and James the top boy name (77,182).
Top 100 names of 1942 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1942, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 63,256 #125 2 Barbara 44,739 #968 3 Patricia 39,465 #1,334 4 Linda 31,613 #902 5 Carol 30,272 #2,239 6 Sandra 24,994 #1,207 7 Judith 24,792 #788 8 Nancy 23,327 #965 9 Betty 21,659 #1,113 10 Carolyn 19,978 #1,222 11 Sharon 19,648 #1,250 12 Shirley 17,750 #1,581 13 Joyce 16,728 #1,071 14 Margaret 16,549 #112 15 Judy 15,667 #1,872 16 Karen 15,387 #1,279 17 Dorothy 15,037 #421 18 Joan 14,514 #1,085 19 Janet 13,065 #2,778 20 Donna 12,987 #1,962 21 Susan 12,015 #1,085 22 Elizabeth 11,186 #17 23 Virginia 10,803 #525 24 Kathleen 10,696 #1,150 25 Janice 10,286 #2,514 26 Helen 10,016 #461 27 Marilyn 9,906 #760 28 Diane 9,551 #2,607 29 Martha 9,513 #712 30 Frances 9,471 #318 31 Gloria 9,450 #654 32 Beverly 9,411 #1,016 33 Ruth 9,315 #173 34 Bonnie 8,823 #396 35 Carole 8,407 #10,107 36 Jean 8,257 #2,117 37 Phyllis 7,793 #11,932 38 Ann 7,666 #1,076 39 Alice 7,382 #65 40 Brenda 7,241 #1,525 41 Doris 7,176 #2,895 42 Peggy 6,580 #8,362 43 Marie 6,559 #617 44 Lois 6,406 #1,666 45 Elaine 5,986 #304 46 Jane 5,707 #221 47 Geraldine 5,437 #2,438 48 Joanne 5,342 #2,607 49 Catherine 5,267 #313 50 Rose 5,253 #114
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1942, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Charlotte 5,022 #2 52 Norma 4,971 #2,002 53 Evelyn 4,940 #8 54 Wanda 4,792 #5,917 55 Rita 4,706 #1,285 56 Sally 4,655 #1,150 57 Patsy 4,559 #5,917 58 Joann 4,506 #3,028 59 Anna 4,488 #107 60 Gail 4,445 #8,362 61 Louise 4,343 #514 62 Annie 4,293 #182 63 Dolores 4,267 #2,564 64 Ellen 4,197 #1,062 65 Jo 4,175 #3,975 66 Roberta 4,105 #2,778 67 Sarah 4,100 #90 68 Diana 3,857 #244 69 Jacqueline 3,831 #558 70 Connie 3,825 #3,067 71 Mildred 3,808 #1,962 72 Sylvia 3,728 #300 73 Sue 3,631 #8,860 74 Marjorie 3,625 #1,016 75 Kay 3,622 #3,903 76 Anne 3,526 #619 77 Ruby 3,519 #64 78 Darlene 3,517 #1,844 79 Loretta 3,406 #606 80 Irene 3,383 #651 81 Katherine 3,376 #186 82 Kathryn 3,350 #729 83 Arlene 3,331 #1,631 84 Marlene 3,253 #1,261 85 Rebecca 3,241 #349 86 Delores 3,171 #5,722 87 Eleanor 3,165 #12 88 Eileen 3,108 #654 89 Glenda 3,089 #5,917 90 Juanita 3,074 #2,778 91 Lorraine 3,010 #1,043 92 Rosemary 3,005 #251 93 Anita 2,998 #1,341 94 Sheila 2,973 #2,645 95 Julia 2,906 #131 96 Christine 2,900 #1,272 97 Maria 2,817 #87 98 Theresa 2,799 #1,548 99 Edna 2,764 #2,458 100 Josephine 2,748 #53
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1942, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 James 77,182 #6 2 Robert 71,845 #92 3 John 66,043 #23 4 William 54,890 #9 5 Richard 43,593 #234 6 David 35,905 #35 7 Charles 35,854 #48 8 Thomas 31,100 #34 9 Ronald 27,138 #637 10 Donald 23,955 #690 11 Joseph 22,429 #29 12 Larry 22,099 #1,084 13 Michael 21,728 #21 14 George 21,275 #126 15 Kenneth 18,210 #294 16 Jerry 17,488 #906 17 Edward 17,470 #224 18 Gary 17,068 #1,073 19 Paul 16,492 #262 20 Dennis 13,281 #707 21 Frank 12,248 #513 22 Gerald 11,484 #1,204 23 Douglas 11,233 #807 24 Raymond 11,116 #394 25 Roger 9,174 #832 26 Walter 8,682 #251 27 Harold 8,582 #991 28 Daniel 8,507 #22 29 Arthur 8,027 #87 30 Lawrence 7,639 #518 31 Henry 7,561 #5 32 Stephen 7,503 #383 33 Joe 7,383 #991 34 Jack 7,365 #15 35 Billy 7,313 #1,068 36 Carl 7,268 #1,132 37 Willie 7,094 #1,315 38 Ralph 6,637 #1,046 39 Peter 6,587 #187 40 Albert 6,496 #614 41 Wayne 6,484 #652 42 Roy 6,311 #525 43 Bobby 6,248 #1,097 44 Anthony 6,210 #46 45 Eugene 6,092 #943 46 Fred 6,088 #1,932 47 Jimmy 5,949 #846 48 Harry 5,629 #775 49 Howard 5,571 #1,002 50 Bruce 5,385 #536
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1942, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Louis 5,151 #249 52 Terry 4,810 #1,115 53 Norman 4,683 #1,196 54 Philip 4,604 #527 55 Johnny 4,588 #457 56 Stanley 4,587 #863 57 Leonard 4,370 #637 58 Francis 4,297 #420 59 Samuel 4,190 #18 60 Melvin 4,188 #958 61 Ernest 4,079 #1,038 62 Earl 4,050 #2,230 63 Dale 3,863 #1,409 64 Patrick 3,804 #235 65 Bill 3,794 #5,208 66 Marvin 3,792 #699 67 Clarence 3,741 #1,499 68 Frederick 3,738 #435 69 Leroy 3,717 #883 70 Russell 3,676 #345 71 Allen 3,571 #578 72 Don 3,564 #1,793 73 Tommy 3,532 #657 74 Jim 3,514 #3,128 75 Steven 3,505 #271 76 Alfred 3,408 #840 77 Phillip 3,373 #651 78 Ronnie 3,363 #1,064 79 Barry 3,209 #1,520 80 Andrew 3,142 #73 81 Alan 3,134 #191 82 Gene 3,127 #2,230 83 Herbert 3,113 #2,641 84 Ray 3,067 #791 85 Martin 3,045 #335 86 Eddie 3,019 #860 87 Lee 2,923 #725 88 Glenn 2,888 #1,443 89 Tom 2,875 #2,183 90 Bernard 2,724 #1,362 91 Theodore 2,665 #4 92 Gordon 2,606 #1,051 93 Leon 2,550 #138 94 Jimmie 2,541 #3,658 95 Clifford 2,533 #1,352 96 Lloyd 2,462 #1,547 97 Warren 2,423 #240 98 Curtis 2,420 #984 99 Victor 2,397 #209 100 Jesse 2,396 #184
Entered the top 100 in 1942
