Name Legacy

Baby names in New York, 1940s

1940–1949 · 2,445,452 recorded births

Robert was the most common name given in New York across the 1940s, with 80,648 births in the decade. The state recorded 2,445,452 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to New York 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
Milagros160
Moshe71
Vincenza143
Carmine753
Dominick1,529
Nilsa21
Nilda163
Ronni243

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1Robert80,648
#2John77,375
#3Richard56,285
#4James54,744
#5William51,073
#6Barbara45,465
#7Patricia43,493
#8Mary43,372
#9Michael40,406
#10Linda39,147
#11Thomas38,715
#12Joseph38,527
#13David33,993
#14Carol33,225
#15Susan27,882
#16Charles25,344
#17Edward23,368
#18Ronald23,182
#19Nancy21,029
#20George20,910
#21Paul20,783
#22Kathleen20,762
#23Judith20,571
#24Joan19,536
#25Peter18,976

Other decades in New York

All New York 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