Name Legacy

Baby names in Florida, 1940s

1940–1949 · 450,818 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Florida across the 1940s, with 15,319 births in the decade. The state recorded 450,818 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Florida 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
Altamese4838×
Altamease1012×
Claretha6111×
Alphonso28510×
Rutha94
Myrtice55
Elouise179
Nathaniel669

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1James15,319
#2Robert12,164
#3John11,489
#4Mary11,184
#5William10,455
#6Linda9,059
#7Charles7,415
#8Barbara7,287
#9Patricia7,251
#10Richard5,909
#11David5,536
#12Betty5,285
#13Thomas4,932
#14Sandra4,769
#15Willie4,616
#16George4,325
#17Michael4,200
#18Carolyn3,800
#19Shirley3,789
#20Ronald3,738
#21Donald3,480
#22Joseph3,453
#23Larry3,354
#24Carol3,130
#25Sharon3,129

Other decades in Florida

All Florida 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