Name Legacy

Baby names in Missouri, 1940s

1940–1949 · 696,736 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Missouri across the 1940s, with 20,744 births in the decade. The state recorded 696,736 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Missouri 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
Glennon14124×
Lindell135
Junior271
Hadley15
Leta100
Delmar134
Cleta48
Orville230

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1James20,744
#2Mary18,482
#3Robert17,952
#4John17,029
#5Linda14,905
#6William13,272
#7Larry11,575
#8Barbara11,243
#9Richard10,920
#10David10,869
#11Charles10,709
#12Patricia10,211
#13Michael9,436
#14Sharon9,138
#15Gary9,025
#16Ronald8,769
#17Carol8,354
#18Donald8,033
#19Thomas7,406
#20Jerry7,062
#21Sandra6,872
#22Judith6,598
#23Carolyn6,343
#24Kenneth6,198
#25Donna6,176

Other decades in Missouri

All Missouri 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