[Ads-l] Antedating of "Baby Boom" (Post-World War II)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Tracing "baby boom" is difficult as Fred notes, and I hesitated to
post on this topic last night. The OED entry for "baby boom" sense one
begins with an 1879 citation. There have been many baby booms.

[Begin OED baby boom sense 1]
1. A temporary notable increase in the birth rate of a population.
[End OED baby boom sense 1]

The citation Fred found in "The Iola Register" is interesting because
it used the phrase "the Baby Boom". Unfortunately, the full context
indicated that the phrase did not correspond to the postwar baby boom;
instead, it referred to a baby boom that began in 1940:

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-iola-register-babyboom/208596998/

[Begin excerpt from The Iola Register]
Population has rapidly increased--about 8,000,000 since 1940.
The baby boom is creating a demand for milk out of proportion to
population increases that will be sustained for several years.
[End excerpt from The Iola Register]

The OED entry for "baby boom" sense two begins with a 1948 citation.
The OED sense two refers to the period after World War II which
officially ended on September 2, 1945.

[Begin OED baby boom sense 2]
2. spec. With the. The marked and sustained increase in the birth rate
occurring between the mid 1940s and the mid 1960s, following the
Second World War (1939–45). …
[End OED baby boom sense 2]

Any citation for sense two before the end of World War II must be
predictive. Last night I found a citation using "baby boom" to refer
to a predicted postwar baby boom. This citation appeared on the same
day as the excellent citation Dave found, and it used the same text.

I hesitated to post this citation because it did not use the phrase
"the baby boom," and it seemed the OED required "the". I do not know
whether the OED editors would find this citation helpful.

Date: February 04, 1945
Newspaper: The Hammond Times
Newspaper Location: Hammond, Indiana
Article: Birth Rate Declines; Expect Post-War Boom  (U.P.)
Quote Page 1, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-postwar/208546372/

[Begin excerpt]
The commerce department reported Saturday that the nation's birth
rate, which rose 30 per cent above pre-war levels in the year after
Pearl Harbor, now is declining and will stay that way until the end of
hostilities precipitates another baby boom.
...
John D. Durand of the census bureau said a post-war boom "will be an
almost inevitable result of the reunion of families after the war and
the marriage of those servicemen who have postponed their weddings for
the duration."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Oct 19, 2026 at 7:56 AM Shapiro, Fred
<00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> I had always thought that "the Baby Boom" referred to the  period from 1947 to 1961.  But in searching for antedatings I was surprised to find a lot of references to an earlier baby boom, a boom during the war rather than after it.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Sent: Monday, October 19, 2026 07:03
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Baby Boom" (Post-World War II)
>
>
> Here's an earlier one applying the term prospectively to the expected post-war increase in the birthrate. This one appears to be a transitional usage of "baby boom" to mean *any* increase in the birthrate to *the* post-WWII one.
>
>
> “Baby Boom Over.” Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee), 4 February 1945, 4/3. Newspapers.com.
>
> "The Commerce Department reported Saturday night that the Nation’s birth rate, which rose 30 per cent above prewar levels in the year after Pearl Harbor, now is declining and will stay that way until the end of hostilities precipitates another baby boom."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Shapiro, Fred" <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2026 10:09am
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] Antedating of "Baby Boom" (Post-World War II)
>
>
>
> Baby Boom (OED, 2., 1948)
>
> 1946 Iola (Kansas) Register 1 May 1 / 2 (Newspapers.com)
>
> The baby boom is creating a demand for milk out of proportion to population increases that will be sustained for several years.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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