Popular Baby Names of the 1950s

Baby Names

Obie Editorial Team

The following table shows the 200 most popular given names for male and female babies born during the 1950s. For each rank and sex, the table shows the name and the number of occurrences of that name. The 200 most popular names were taken from a universe that includes 20,501,466 male births and 19,727,902 female births.

Popular names of the 1950s
  MalesFemales
RankNameNumberNameNumber
1 James 842,850 Mary 625,382
2 Michael 836,700 Linda 564,095
3 Robert 829,567 Patricia 459,464
4 John 797,067 Susan 437,613
5 David 769,196 Deborah 430,398
6 William 590,615 Barbara 345,584
7 Richard 534,841 Debra 341,225
8 Thomas 453,911 Karen 332,403
9 Mark 382,281 Nancy 286,700
10 Charles 360,739 Donna 270,264
11 Steven 333,391 Cynthia 263,328
12 Gary 329,533 Sandra 251,488
13 Joseph 299,695 Pamela 237,321
14 Donald 273,228 Sharon 232,738
15 Ronald 270,819 Kathleen 224,244
16 Kenneth 262,529 Carol 222,573
17 Paul 252,939 Diane 210,551
18 Larry 245,332 Brenda 209,189
19 Daniel 243,461 Cheryl 171,333
20 Stephen 207,064 Janet 167,452
21 Dennis 203,986 Elizabeth 165,594
22 Timothy 198,137 Kathy 157,891
23 Edward 188,177 Margaret 149,528
24 Jeffrey 184,490 Janice 133,566
25 George 180,812 Carolyn 124,013
26 Gregory 178,279 Denise 123,746
27 Kevin 158,932 Judy 118,011
28 Douglas 148,051 Rebecca 115,654
29 Terry 140,539 Joyce 114,921
30 Anthony 136,561 Teresa 114,240
31 Jerry 136,406 Christine 113,302
32 Bruce 136,281 Catherine 108,788
33 Randy 120,433 Shirley 108,766
34 Brian 112,269 Judith 108,709
35 Frank 112,167 Betty 103,172
36 Scott 111,763 Beverly 97,745
37 Roger 110,016 Lisa 95,819
38 Raymond 108,827 Laura 95,506
39 Peter 102,666 Theresa 89,574
40 Patrick 96,773 Connie 88,782
41 Keith 91,176 Ann 87,019
42 Lawrence 91,029 Julie 86,687
43 Wayne 88,008 Gloria 86,667
44 Danny 86,516 Gail 85,600
45 Alan 83,914 Joan 85,146
46 Gerald 82,520 Paula 84,843
47 Ricky 79,081 Peggy 84,256
48 Carl 78,675 Cindy 83,968
49 Christopher 78,150 Martha 83,160
50 Dale 75,455 Bonnie 82,983
51 Walter 72,095 Jane 82,884
52 Craig 69,443 Cathy 82,696
53 Willie 66,373 Robin 82,405
54 Johnny 65,692 Debbie 82,091
55 Arthur 65,649 Diana 80,190
56 Steve 64,168 Marilyn 80,139
57 Joe 62,561 Kathryn 77,761
58 Randall 62,368 Dorothy 74,467
59 Jack 62,355 Wanda 72,414
60 Russell 62,342 Jean 72,240
61 Henry 62,188 Vicki 71,969
62 Harold 62,081 Sheila 70,139
63 Roy 61,752 Virginia 69,759
64 Andrew 60,931 Sherry 68,316
65 Philip 60,800 Katherine 66,829
66 Ralph 60,358 Rose 66,697
67 Billy 59,203 Lynn 66,022
68 Glenn 58,654 Jo 63,941
69 Stanley 57,096 Ruth 62,493
70 Jimmy 54,814 Maria 62,337
71 Rodney 54,752 Darlene 61,855
72 Barry 54,746 Jacqueline 60,451
73 Samuel 53,726 Rita 60,240
74 Eric 53,267 Rhonda 59,795
75 Bobby 53,207 Phyllis 57,758
76 Albert 52,787 Helen 57,558
77 Phillip 52,401 Vickie 56,847
78 Ronnie 51,226 Kim 56,072
79 Martin 50,926 Lori 56,056
80 Mike 48,312 Ellen 55,355
81 Eugene 48,220 Elaine 54,207
82 Louis 47,860 Joanne 53,531
83 Howard 47,804 Anne 52,376
84 Allen 47,263 Valerie 52,224
85 Curtis 46,269 Alice 52,054
86 Jeffery 45,818 Frances 51,176
87 Frederick 44,237 Suzanne 50,305
88 Leonard 43,496 Marie 49,252
89 Harry 43,268 Victoria 49,106
90 Micheal 40,915 Kimberly 48,955
91 Tony 40,774 Anita 47,572
92 Ernest 39,619 Laurie 46,946
93 Eddie 38,550 Michelle 46,775
94 Fred 37,415 Sally 46,696
95 Darrell 37,217 Terri 46,429
96 Jay 36,942 Marcia 43,711
97 Melvin 36,118 Terry 43,179
98 Matthew 35,812 Jennifer 43,067
99 Lee 35,789 Leslie 43,036
100 Vincent 35,318 Doris 42,882
101 Tommy 34,913 Maureen 42,803
102 Francis 34,739 Wendy 42,649
103 Marvin 34,665 Michele 41,947
104 Dean 34,534 Anna 41,662
105 Rick 34,365 Marsha 41,549
106 Victor 33,870 Angela 40,343
107 Norman 33,706 Sarah 39,959
108 Earl 32,604 Sylvia 39,512
109 Jose 31,358 Jill 39,053
110 Calvin 30,517 Dawn 38,891
111 Ray 29,873 Sue 38,840
112 Clifford 29,830 Evelyn 38,379
113 Alfred 29,701 Roberta 37,907
114 Jerome 29,687 Jeanne 37,659
115 Bradley 29,479 Charlotte 36,987
116 Clarence 29,433 Eileen 36,549
117 Don 29,424 Lois 36,181
118 Theodore 29,016 Colleen 35,903
119 Jon 28,917 Stephanie 35,557
120 Rickey 27,927 Annette 35,340
121 Joel 27,834 Glenda 35,209
122 Jesse 26,622 Yvonne 35,034
123 Jim 26,194 Dianne 34,481
124 Edwin 26,166 Tina 33,986
125 Dan 25,995 Beth 33,981
126 Bernard 25,856 Lorraine 33,573
127 Chris 25,856 Constance 33,514
128 Jonathan 25,796 Renee 32,943
129 Gordon 25,701 Charlene 32,710
130 Glen 25,366 Joann 32,645
131 Jeff 24,918 Julia 32,443
132 Warren 24,590 Gwendolyn 31,935
133 Leroy 24,555 Norma 30,793
134 Herbert 24,266 Regina 30,780
135 Duane 24,121 Amy 30,586
136 Bill 23,867 Sheryl 30,376
137 Benjamin 23,820 Loretta 30,369
138 Tom 23,728 Carla 29,422
139 Alvin 23,050 Andrea 29,367
140 Nicholas 22,598 Tammy 29,180
141 Tim 22,207 Irene 26,957
142 Mitchell 21,949 Jan 26,157
143 Marc 21,914 Louise 25,843
144 Leslie 21,360 Juanita 25,638
145 Leon 21,318 Marlene 25,233
146 Kim 21,189 Penny 25,110
147 Dwight 20,824 Rosemary 24,984
148 Bryan 20,628 Becky 24,831
149 Lloyd 20,596 Kay 24,641
150 Vernon 20,106 Joy 24,508
151 Gene 19,672 Geraldine 24,217
152 Reginald 19,317 Jeanette 23,982
153 Lonnie 19,158 Gayle 23,723
154 Guy 19,137 Annie 23,679
155 Gilbert 18,815 Vivian 23,531
156 Garry 18,765 Claudia 23,140
157 Juan 18,744 Lynda 22,685
158 Karl 18,712 Melissa 22,290
159 Kent 18,672 Audrey 22,212
160 Kurt 18,632 Lynne 22,188
161 Todd 18,564 Patsy 21,723
162 Jackie 18,418 Melinda 21,501
163 Greg 18,230 Vicky 21,327
164 Lewis 18,108 Toni 21,304
165 Wesley 18,067 June 21,094
166 Clyde 17,871 Belinda 20,938
167 Floyd 17,842 Marjorie 20,925
168 Neil 17,693 Arlene 20,650
169 Allan 17,678 Patti 20,595
170 Donnie 17,140 Ruby 20,546
171 Perry 17,059 Sara 20,480
172 Franklin 17,001 Yolanda 19,932
173 Lester 16,543 Rosa 19,867
174 Brad 16,473 Christina 19,843
175 Manuel 16,351 Melanie 19,841
176 Kirk 16,206 Delores 19,365
177 Carlos 15,792 Jackie 19,303
178 Leo 15,523 Vanessa 19,159
179 Jimmie 15,521 Carmen 18,930
180 Randolph 15,481 Monica 18,703
181 Charlie 15,256 Janis 18,667
182 Robin 15,209 Holly 18,632
183 Dana 15,142 Marianne 18,466
184 Darryl 15,084 Dolores 18,309
185 Dave 14,836 Shelley 18,215
186 Ted 14,711 Veronica 17,614
187 Milton 14,554 Mildred 17,560
188 Daryl 14,488 Dana 17,107
189 Kerry 14,394 Eva 17,100
190 Freddie 14,386 Rachel 16,770
191 Brent 14,323 Shelia 16,754
192 Harvey 14,237 Roxanne 16,599
193 Gerard 14,203 Carole 16,533
194 Stuart 14,069 Lillian 16,501
195 Johnnie 14,029 Josephine 16,403
196 Herman 13,813 Carrie 16,179
197 Lynn 13,753 Patty 16,107
198 Rex 13,482 Sherri 16,102
199 Arnold 13,184 Doreen 16,079
200 Kelly 13,117 Grace 15,908

 

Source: 100% sample based on Social Security card application data as of the end of February 2011.
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