Name Legacy

Baby names in Pennsylvania, 1940s

1940–1949 · 1,862,511 recorded births

John was the most common name given in Pennsylvania across the 1940s, with 65,407 births in the decade. The state recorded 1,862,511 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Pennsylvania 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
Regis64111×
Benuel14
Nevin185
Romayne56
Elam50
Annamarie247
Clair578
Romaine132

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1John65,407
#2Robert62,868
#3James52,409
#4William49,352
#5Mary42,774
#6Richard37,767
#7Patricia33,578
#8Barbara33,531
#9Thomas32,745
#10Joseph31,993
#11Linda31,280
#12David31,248
#13Carol27,950
#14Charles25,689
#15Ronald24,307
#16Michael21,498
#17Nancy21,194
#18Sandra19,871
#19Edward19,036
#20George18,827
#21Judith18,317
#22Donald18,039
#23Margaret15,815
#24Susan15,210
#25Paul14,859

Other decades in Pennsylvania

All Pennsylvania 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