Name Legacy

Baby names in Virginia, 1940s

1940–1949 · 623,136 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Virginia across the 1940s, with 22,669 births in the decade. The state recorded 623,136 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Virginia 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
Ryland10018×
Waverly13417×
Ashby6014×
Saford913×
Linwood59411×
Alease5410×
Nannie305
Percell48

Top 25 in the 1940s

RankNameBirths
#1James22,669
#2William16,910
#3Mary15,535
#4Robert15,437
#5John14,023
#6Linda11,946
#7Barbara10,701
#8Charles10,443
#9Patricia8,398
#10Betty8,179
#11Thomas7,378
#12Richard7,298
#13David7,295
#14Shirley6,939
#15Carolyn6,528
#16Brenda6,525
#17Nancy6,515
#18George6,250
#19Joyce5,594
#20Sandra5,575
#21Donald5,074
#22Larry5,037
#23Margaret4,853
#24Ronald4,744
#25Joseph4,459

Other decades in Virginia

All Virginia 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