Name Legacy

Baby names in Indiana, 1940s

1940–1949 · 709,829 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Indiana across the 1940s, with 21,259 births in the decade. The state recorded 709,829 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Indiana 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
Madonna205
Devon60
Max848
Rex628
Cinda88
Becky640
Nila80
Tonya84

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1James21,259
#2Robert18,789
#3John18,011
#4Linda16,440
#5David15,364
#6Mary14,993
#7William13,689
#8Larry12,728
#9Richard12,635
#10Michael12,502
#11Sharon10,048
#12Patricia9,982
#13Thomas9,712
#14Charles9,649
#15Barbara9,617
#16Ronald9,248
#17Nancy8,774
#18Sandra8,756
#19Judith8,596
#20Donald8,012
#21Carol7,694
#22Jerry7,480
#23Carolyn6,719
#24Karen6,502
#25Gary5,846

Other decades in Indiana

All Indiana 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