Name Legacy

Baby names in Arkansas, 1940s

1940–1949 · 418,485 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Arkansas across the 1940s, with 15,356 births in the decade. The state recorded 418,485 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Arkansas in the 1940s

Names given far more often here than nationally in these years. The multiplier is conservative — it is the low end of the plausible range, so a name carried by a handful of births does not outrank one carried by hundreds.

NameBirthsvs national
Theodis12218×
Doyne2611×
Leodis21
Earma29
Leotis29
Odis135
Ruthie396
Floy60

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1James15,356
#2Mary11,386
#3Linda8,882
#4Charles7,651
#5John7,586
#6Robert7,365
#7William6,785
#8Betty6,512
#9Jerry6,343
#10Larry6,056
#11Barbara5,871
#12Carolyn5,275
#13Shirley4,998
#14Billy4,539
#15Patricia4,249
#16Jimmy4,078
#17David4,065
#18Willie3,677
#19Bobby3,659
#20Donald3,368
#21Dorothy3,241
#22Brenda3,178
#23Thomas3,163
#24Richard3,092
#25Gary2,996

Other decades in Arkansas

All Arkansas names, 2025

Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. State records begin in 1910. Names given to fewer than five babies in a state in a year are withheld at source. namelegacy.org