Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1940

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby girl names are since 1940. These names are taken directly from the Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States.

The table below shows the top 50 most popular baby girl names since 1940, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1940.

Rank Name Count
1 Mary 1,994,705
2 Jennifer 1,468,897
3 Linda 1,415,158
4 Patricia 1,266,015
5 Elizabeth 1,207,323
6 Susan 1,075,931
7 Jessica 1,046,820
8 Barbara 1,009,411
9 Karen 969,369
10 Lisa 965,284
11 Sarah 916,483
12 Ashley 851,634
13 Kimberly 841,264
14 Sandra 827,069
15 Michelle 813,014
16 Emily 809,036
17 Nancy 783,839
18 Amanda 769,141
19 Melissa 754,112
20 Deborah 736,517
21 Stephanie 735,927
22 Donna 720,426
23 Rebecca 707,044
24 Cynthia 693,019
25 Sharon 689,952
26 Amy 674,912
27 Carol 668,828
28 Laura 661,888
29 Angela 648,115
30 Kathleen 621,737
31 Brenda 602,657
32 Pamela 592,016
33 Nicole 590,699
34 Samantha 582,541
35 Debra 549,937
36 Margaret 546,391
37 Heather 524,744
38 Emma 524,723
39 Christine 522,982
40 Rachel 522,424
41 Katherine 510,715
42 Julie 501,235
43 Diane 492,988
44 Olivia 490,710
45 Maria 490,631
46 Victoria 475,000
47 Kelly 472,301
48 Lauren 471,959
49 Christina 465,561
50 Carolyn 450,436

More Popular Baby Names

You can also use the links below to research more about the most popular baby names.

Top 1000 most popular boy names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Top 1000 most popular girl names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Historical Data for Baby Names

If you're interested to see how the trends and popularity of baby names have changed, you can use the links below to view the historical data by decade.

Most popular first names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular boy names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular girl names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Data Source(s)

All of the data on this page is sourced from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and excludes any names with fewer than 5 occurrences in any geographic area.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

  • "Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1940". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 31, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1940/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1940". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1940/. Accessed 31 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1940. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1940/.