Popular Names of 1938

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1938, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1938
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	56,225	125
2	Barbara	39,277	968
3	Patricia	27,560	1,336
4	Betty	25,506	1,113
5	Shirley	23,766	1,586
6	Carol	19,421	2,242
7	Nancy	18,951	967
8	Dorothy	16,358	421
9	Margaret	15,330	112
10	Joan	14,303	1,087
11	Joyce	12,698	1,074
12	Judith	10,878	790
13	Helen	10,837	462
14	Sandra	10,806	1,210
15	Carolyn	10,586	1,222
16	Janet	9,870	2,791
17	Elizabeth	9,803	17
18	Beverly	9,770	1,018
19	Marilyn	9,745	761
20	Donna	9,693	1,965

Table 2. Male names, 1938
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Robert	62,271	92
2	James	59,102	6
3	John	50,517	23
4	William	42,433	9
5	Richard	34,385	234
6	Charles	31,151	48
7	Donald	26,677	690
8	David	22,994	35
9	Thomas	21,381	34
10	Ronald	20,295	638
11	George	18,435	126
12	Joseph	17,742	29
13	Edward	14,551	224
14	Kenneth	14,399	294
15	Paul	13,360	262
16	Larry	12,394	1,085
17	Jerry	12,172	907
18	Frank	10,260	514
19	Gerald	9,972	1,206
20	Raymond	9,725	395

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As recorded on the Social Security card application. Names given to fewer than five babies of a sex in a year are not published, so the file is a floor.