Name Legacy

Baby names in Maryland, 1940s

1940–1949 · 388,849 recorded births

John was the most common name given in Maryland across the 1940s, with 12,221 births in the decade. The state recorded 388,849 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Maryland 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
Purnell13
Ellsworth51
Alverta19
Ellwood21
Carroll465
Eleanora27
Tyrone253
Linwood128

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1John12,221
#2James12,049
#3Robert11,662
#4William11,230
#5Mary10,714
#6Charles8,492
#7Barbara7,539
#8Patricia7,309
#9Linda7,026
#10Richard6,710
#11Thomas5,613
#12David5,181
#13Joseph5,163
#14Ronald4,721
#15George4,577
#16Michael4,438
#17Nancy4,183
#18Carol3,769
#19Donald3,715
#20Margaret3,653
#21Edward3,507
#22Sandra3,289
#23Carolyn3,117
#24Sharon3,109
#25Joyce2,978

Other decades in Maryland

All Maryland 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