1940s spelling families

Counted together, the Steven family spellings would rank #17 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Stephen, ranked #25 on its own.

Yearly data for the Steven family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1940–1949

Year	Steven	Stephen	Combined
1940	1,569	4,423	5,992
1941	2,468	5,811	8,279
1942	3,505	7,503	11,008
1943	4,267	7,932	12,199
1944	5,113	7,793	12,906
1945	5,974	8,641	14,615
1946	8,878	11,832	20,710
1947	13,528	15,328	28,856
1948	15,979	17,061	33,040
1949	19,923	20,488	40,411

Steven family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1940s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Steven	81,204	#29	43.2%
Stephen	106,812	#25	56.8%

Why these are grouped: Steven and Stephen are established U.S. spelling forms with a shared conventional pronunciation in most use; the family view keeps both underlying records visible.

Counted together, the Catherine family spellings would rank #20 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Catherine, ranked #45 on its own.

Yearly data for the Catherine family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1940–1949

Year	Catherine	Katherine	Katharine	Kathryn	Cathryn	Combined
1940	4,584	2,709	160	2,438	81	9,972
1941	4,884	3,004	223	2,869	94	11,074
1942	5,267	3,376	259	3,350	113	12,365
1943	5,427	3,616	280	3,647	127	13,097
1944	5,256	3,525	256	3,855	122	13,014
1945	5,031	3,393	282	3,971	135	12,812
1946	6,367	4,197	300	4,999	160	16,023
1947	7,889	4,884	350	6,091	248	19,462
1948	8,244	5,169	334	6,177	265	20,189
1949	9,137	6,039	345	7,184	292	22,997

Catherine family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1940s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Catherine	62,086	#45	41.1%
Katherine	39,912	#77	26.4%
Katharine	2,789	#459	1.8%
Kathryn	44,581	#67	29.5%
Cathryn	1,637	#596	1.1%

Why these are grouped: Catherine, Katherine, Katharine, Kathryn, and qualifying Cathryn forms are established orthographic variants; this reviewed grouping combines separately ranked spellings without treating their bearers as interchangeable.

Counted together, the Elizabeth family spellings would rank #24 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Elizabeth, ranked #25 on its own.

Yearly data for the Elizabeth family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1940–1949

Year	Elizabeth	Elisabeth	Combined
1940	9,955	114	10,069
1941	10,267	138	10,405
1942	11,186	149	11,335
1943	11,644	146	11,790
1944	11,034	150	11,184
1945	10,343	148	10,491
1946	11,753	146	11,899
1947	13,440	207	13,647
1948	13,215	175	13,390
1949	13,714	182	13,896

Elizabeth family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1940s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Elizabeth	116,551	#25	98.7%
Elisabeth	1,555	#614	1.3%

Why these are grouped: Elizabeth and Elisabeth are established English and continental spelling forms of the same name; they remain separate records and are grouped only for demographic comparison.

Counted together, the Philip family spellings would rank #27 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Philip, ranked #57 on its own.

Yearly data for the Philip family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1940–1949

Year	Philip	Phillip	Combined
1940	3,674	2,628	6,302
1941	4,166	2,871	7,037
1942	4,604	3,373	7,977
1943	4,473	3,251	7,724
1944	3,992	3,002	6,994
1945	4,112	3,081	7,193
1946	5,093	3,775	8,868
1947	6,235	4,789	11,024
1948	6,162	5,018	11,180
1949	6,224	5,201	11,425

Philip family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1940s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Philip	48,735	#57	56.9%
Phillip	36,989	#77	43.1%

Why these are grouped: Philip and Phillip are established one-l and two-l spellings; grouping them reveals a combined footprint hidden by separate conventional ranks.

Counted together, the Sarah family spellings would rank #46 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Sarah, ranked #76 on its own.

Yearly data for the Sarah family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1940–1949

Year	Sarah	Sara	Combined
1940	3,869	2,087	5,956
1941	3,982	2,071	6,053
1942	4,100	2,191	6,291
1943	3,990	2,020	6,010
1944	3,857	1,903	5,760
1945	3,592	1,803	5,395
1946	3,910	2,035	5,945
1947	4,223	2,174	6,397
1948	4,159	2,020	6,179
1949	4,295	1,971	6,266

Sarah family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1940s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Sarah	39,977	#76	66.3%
Sara	20,275	#134	33.7%

Why these are grouped: Sarah and Sara differ by the established final-h spelling convention; the reviewed family shows their combined footprint while preserving both separate SSA entries.

Counted together, the Jeffrey family spellings would rank #74 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Jeffrey, ranked #88 on its own.

Yearly data for the Jeffrey family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1940–1949

Year	Jeffrey	Jeffery	Combined
1940	799	128	927
1941	1,502	204	1,706
1942	2,055	281	2,336
1943	2,171	313	2,484
1944	2,325	336	2,661
1945	2,782	352	3,134
1946	4,125	552	4,677
1947	5,665	744	6,409
1948	5,929	795	6,724
1949	6,987	1,049	8,036

Jeffrey family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1940s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Jeffrey	34,340	#88	87.8%
Jeffery	4,754	#288	12.2%

Why these are grouped: Jeffrey and Jeffery are direct transposition spellings recorded separately by SSA; Geoffrey is deliberately excluded as a less certain semantic match.