Popular Names of 1941

The 20 most popular names given to female and to male babies born in 1941, as recorded, with each name’s rank in 2025.

Table 1. Female names, 1941
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	Mary	58,048	125
2	Barbara	39,543	968
3	Patricia	36,905	1,336
4	Carol	24,187	2,242
5	Linda	23,721	902
6	Judith	23,320	790
7	Betty	20,905	1,113
8	Nancy	20,885	967
9	Sandra	19,500	1,210
10	Shirley	16,954	1,586
11	Carolyn	16,273	1,222
12	Margaret	15,696	112
13	Joyce	15,684	1,074
14	Dorothy	14,566	421
15	Sharon	14,272	1,256
16	Judy	13,968	1,874
17	Joan	13,380	1,087
18	Janet	11,136	2,791
19	Karen	10,831	1,281
20	Donna	10,446	1,965

Table 2. Male names, 1941
Rank	Name	Number	Rank in 2025
1	James	66,751	6
2	Robert	64,247	92
3	John	57,520	23
4	William	47,798	9
5	Richard	39,112	234
6	Charles	32,742	48
7	David	30,553	35
8	Thomas	26,641	34
9	Ronald	24,407	638
10	Donald	22,641	690
11	Larry	20,134	1,085
12	Joseph	19,808	29
13	George	19,260	126
14	Jerry	16,799	907
15	Kenneth	16,143	294
16	Michael	15,935	21
17	Edward	15,580	224
18	Paul	15,166	262
19	Gary	14,568	1,073
20	Gerald	10,942	1,206

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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.