Names That Peaked In 1939
These names hit their all-time highest U.S. ranking in 1939 and have never ranked as high since — the sound of that moment, frozen in the data. (The #1 names that year were Mary and Robert — reigning champions usually peak in a different year than they reign.)
| Save name | Name & meaning | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,148#294 | Down 51 rank positions in five years | 1957 | |||
| 201#1,158 | Up 11 rank positions in five years | 1947 | |||
| 75#2,391 | Up 173 rank positions in five years | 1939 | |||
| 293#841 | Up 303 rank positions in five years | 1948 | |||
| 40#3,061 | Down 704 rank positions in five years | 1955 | |||
| 17#5,433 | Down 866 rank positions in five years | 1960 | |||
| 10#9,903 | new | 1938 | |||
| 19#6,144 | Down 2,456 rank positions in five years | 1939 | |||
| 13#6,577 | Up 3,321 rank positions in five years | 1947 | |||
| 6#14,780 | Down 1,415 rank positions in five years | 1962 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1948 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1942 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1959 | |||
| 8#11,550 | Up 203 rank positions in five years | 1951 | |||
| 6#11,667 | Down 4,737 rank positions in five years | 1939 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1939 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1955 | |||
| 16#5,628 | Up 2,497 rank positions in five years | 1939 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1947 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1939 | |||
| 14#6,237 | Down 435 rank positions in five years | 1939 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1939 | |||
| 7#12,245 | new | 1945 | |||
| 16#5,795 | Up 1,599 rank positions in five years | 1939 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1939 |
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How this list is built
A name “peaked” in 1939 when that year holds its best-ever position in the national rankings — rank, not raw count, because raw counts track how many babies were born and would pile every “peak” into the boom years. To qualify, a name must have reached the top 1,000 at its height and have at least 500 all-time applications. Lists are ordered by that peak rank.
Ranks come from U.S. births, counted separately for girls and boys. “Unranked” today means fewer than 5 applications in the latest year — uncommon, never invalid.