Most popular baby names of 1949

The top three baby names remained remarkably stable between 1948 and 1949, with no changes in the leading positions. James, Robert, and John continued their dominance as the most popular boys' names in America, maintaining their exact same rankings from the previous year. Similarly, the girls' top three remained unchanged with Linda, Mary, and Patricia holding their positions firmly, though Barbara dropped from 3rd to 4th place, allowing Patricia to claim the third spot.

Looking at the top ten girls' names in 1949, there's been some notable movement within this elite group. Kathleen climbed one position to 9th place, while Sharon dropped slightly from 9th to 10th. Sandra and Nancy remained steady at 6th and 7th respectively, showing their enduring appeal. Susan held firmly at 5th place, and Carol maintained her position at 8th. An interesting pattern among these popular girls' names is the prevalence of names ending with the "a" sound (Linda, Sandra) or the "ee" sound (Mary, Nancy) – suggesting parents were drawn to these melodic endings.

The boys' top ten shows Michael making significant progress, climbing from 6th place in 1948 to 5th place in 1949, overtaking David who moved down to 6th. Larry made an impressive jump into the top ten, reaching 10th place in 1949 after being ranked 11th the previous year. The remainder of the boys' top ten maintained remarkable stability with Charles, Thomas, and Richard holding steady at 9th, 8th, and 7th places respectively. Traditional, biblical names continued to dominate the boys' list, with six of the top ten names (James, Robert, John, William, Michael, and Thomas) having strong biblical or royal connections.

The broader naming patterns reveal Americans' continued preference for classic, shorter names in the immediate post-war period. For girls, names with soft endings remained fashionable, with many top 50 names ending in "a" (Linda, Sandra, Barbara) or "y/ie" (Mary, Shirley, Betty). For boys, traditional Anglo-Saxon and biblical names continued their strong showing. Interestingly, diminutive forms of names appeared frequently in the top 100 for both genders – names like Judy alongside Judith for girls, and Jimmy alongside James for boys. This perhaps reflects the more casual, optimistic spirit of American culture in the late 1940s as the country settled into peacetime prosperity.

Top baby names of 1949