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 1,996,802
2 Jennifer 1,469,521
3 Linda 1,415,504
4 Patricia 1,266,236
5 Elizabeth 1,214,287
6 Susan 1,076,137
7 Jessica 1,047,437
8 Barbara 1,009,682
9 Karen 969,565
10 Lisa 965,573
11 Sarah 919,263
12 Ashley 853,485
13 Kimberly 842,648
14 Sandra 827,299
15 Emily 815,497
16 Michelle 813,832
17 Nancy 784,101
18 Amanda 769,822
19 Melissa 754,934
20 Deborah 736,813
21 Stephanie 736,580
22 Donna 720,527
23 Rebecca 708,109
24 Cynthia 693,331
25 Sharon 690,151
26 Amy 676,320
27 Carol 668,908
28 Laura 662,757
29 Angela 649,431
30 Kathleen 621,964
31 Brenda 602,844
32 Pamela 592,109
33 Nicole 591,691
34 Samantha 585,127
35 Debra 549,976
36 Margaret 548,571
37 Emma 539,158
38 Heather 524,924
39 Rachel 523,671
40 Christine 523,198
41 Katherine 512,442
42 Olivia 507,283
43 Julie 501,642
44 Maria 493,462
45 Diane 493,070
46 Victoria 479,763
47 Lauren 472,941
48 Kelly 472,647
49 Christina 465,952
50 Carolyn 450,628

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 28, 2024. 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 28 March, 2024

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