Name Legacy

Baby names in South Dakota, 1940s

1940–1949 · 113,952 recorded births

Robert was the most common name given in South Dakota across the 1940s, with 2,953 births in the decade. The state recorded 113,952 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to South Dakota 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
Marlys19117×
Arlys2815×
Lavonne17412×
Lyle334
Arlo23
Darwin117
Mavis104
Merlyn37

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1Robert2,953
#2James2,933
#3Mary2,703
#4Richard2,371
#5Linda2,275
#6David2,219
#7Larry2,089
#8John2,067
#9Dennis1,886
#10Gary1,796
#11Sharon1,762
#12Carol1,716
#13Ronald1,690
#14Barbara1,555
#15Donald1,544
#16William1,434
#17Patricia1,411
#18Karen1,408
#19Judy1,308
#20Thomas1,274
#21Michael1,268
#22Sandra1,218
#23Roger1,191
#24Donna1,137
#25Kenneth1,081

Other decades in South Dakota

All South Dakota 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