Name Legacy

Baby names in Massachusetts, 1940s

1940–1949 · 805,562 recorded births

Robert was the most common name given in Massachusetts across the 1940s, with 31,971 births in the decade. The state recorded 805,562 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Massachusetts 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
Antone17512×
Normand30710×
Domenic164
Armand323
Eliot65
Kevin2,040
Maura112
Claire1,879

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1Robert31,971
#2John30,641
#3Richard24,519
#4William19,917
#5James19,146
#6Mary16,141
#7David15,894
#8Patricia14,564
#9Paul14,374
#10Linda13,235
#11Thomas12,241
#12Joseph12,152
#13Carol11,844
#14Barbara11,690
#15Judith11,002
#16Michael10,522
#17Nancy9,987
#18Susan9,924
#19Edward9,504
#20Sandra8,763
#21Charles8,397
#22Ronald8,341
#23Kathleen7,968
#24George7,854
#25Peter7,439

Other decades in Massachusetts

All Massachusetts 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