Most Popular Baby Names of the 1950s

Across the 1950s, Mary was the most popular girls' name, given to 625,606 babies, and James led the boys with 843,768.

That's out of 19,234,376 girls and 20,217,136 boys counted between 1950 and 1959, under 11,660 different girls' names and 7,328 boys' names.

Number one, year by year

Most popular names each year, 1950 to 1959
Year	Girls	Boys
1950	Linda	James
1951	Linda	James
1952	Linda	James
1953	Mary	Robert
1954	Mary	Michael
1955	Mary	Michael
1956	Mary	Michael
1957	Mary	Michael
1958	Mary	Michael
1959	Mary	Michael

Top 100 names of the 1950s

Top girls' names, 1950–1959
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1940s
1	Mary	625,606	same
2	Linda	564,364	same
3	Patricia	459,681	up 1
4	Susan	437,774	up 6
5	Deborah	430,537	up 63
6	Barbara	345,722	down 3
7	Debra	341,348	not top 100 in 1940s
8	Karen	332,531	up 8
9	Nancy	286,812	down 2
10	Donna	270,338	up 7
11	Cynthia	263,432	up 36
12	Sandra	251,591	down 6
13	Pamela	237,398	up 26
14	Sharon	232,807	down 6
15	Kathleen	224,342	up 3
16	Carol	222,656	down 11
17	Diane	210,624	up 5
18	Brenda	209,241	up 8
19	Cheryl	171,387	up 24
20	Janet	167,520	up 1
21	Elizabeth	165,656	up 4
22	Kathy	157,930	up 66
23	Margaret	149,582	down 10
24	Janice	133,620	down 1
25	Carolyn	124,067	down 13
26	Denise	123,783	not top 100 in 1940s
27	Judy	118,060	down 12
28	Rebecca	115,690	up 38
29	Joyce	114,984	down 10
30	Teresa	114,283	not top 100 in 1940s
31	Christine	113,340	up 20
32	Catherine	108,839	up 13
33	Shirley	108,807	down 19
34	Judith	108,758	down 25
35	Betty	103,204	down 24
36	Beverly	97,790	down 5
37	Lisa	95,824	not top 100 in 1940s
38	Laura	95,526	up 49
39	Theresa	89,608	up 45
40	Connie	88,799	up 10
41	Ann	87,047	down 4
42	Gloria	86,705	down 15
43	Julie	86,689	not top 100 in 1940s
44	Gail	85,618	up 9
45	Joan	85,179	down 21
46	Paula	84,869	up 32
47	Peggy	84,293	down 5
48	Cindy	83,979	not top 100 in 1940s
49	Martha	83,190	down 19
50	Bonnie	83,013	down 17
51	Jane	82,919	down 11
52	Cathy	82,719	not top 100 in 1940s
53	Robin	82,423	not top 100 in 1940s
54	Debbie	82,097	not top 100 in 1940s
55	Diana	80,234	down 3
56	Marilyn	80,161	down 27
57	Kathryn	77,803	up 10
58	Dorothy	74,475	down 38
59	Wanda	72,448	down 3
60	Jean	72,263	down 24
61	Vicki	71,980	not top 100 in 1940s
62	Sheila	70,174	up 23
63	Virginia	69,783	down 35
64	Sherry	68,322	up 33
65	Katherine	66,855	up 12
66	Rose	66,688	down 11
67	Lynn	66,049	not top 100 in 1940s
68	Jo	63,939	down 8
69	Ruth	62,538	down 35
70	Maria	62,458	up 16
71	Darlene	61,886	up 2
72	Jacqueline	60,459	down 9
73	Rita	60,265	down 15
74	Rhonda	59,816	not top 100 in 1940s
75	Phyllis	57,764	down 37
76	Helen	57,580	down 44
77	Vickie	56,857	not top 100 in 1940s
78	Kim	56,080	not top 100 in 1940s
79	Lori	56,070	not top 100 in 1940s
80	Ellen	55,392	down 16
81	Elaine	54,232	down 35
82	Joanne	53,568	down 28
83	Anne	52,404	same
84	Valerie	52,230	not top 100 in 1940s
85	Alice	52,074	down 44
86	Frances	51,200	down 51
87	Suzanne	50,330	down 17
88	Marie	49,263	down 40
89	Victoria	49,127	not top 100 in 1940s
90	Kimberly	48,958	not top 100 in 1940s
91	Anita	47,588	up 8
92	Laurie	46,964	not top 100 in 1940s
93	Michelle	46,779	not top 100 in 1940s
94	Sally	46,706	down 29
95	Terri	46,431	not top 100 in 1940s
96	Marcia	43,733	down 6
97	Terry	43,194	not top 100 in 1940s
98	Jennifer	43,075	not top 100 in 1940s
99	Leslie	43,049	not top 100 in 1940s
100	Doris	42,898	down 56

Top boys' names, 1950–1959
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1940s
1	James	843,768	same
2	Michael	837,471	up 7
3	Robert	830,395	down 1
4	John	797,922	down 1
5	David	769,963	up 1
6	William	591,228	down 2
7	Richard	535,461	down 2
8	Thomas	454,385	same
9	Mark	382,589	up 45
10	Charles	361,177	down 3
11	Steven	333,666	up 18
12	Gary	329,933	up 2
13	Joseph	300,012	same
14	Donald	273,574	down 2
15	Ronald	271,139	down 5
16	Kenneth	262,819	same
17	Paul	253,202	same
18	Larry	245,698	down 7
19	Daniel	243,727	up 3
20	Stephen	207,276	up 5
21	Dennis	204,267	down 1
22	Timothy	198,324	up 41
23	Edward	188,323	down 5
24	Jeffrey	184,668	up 64
25	George	181,031	down 10
26	Gregory	178,457	up 38
27	Kevin	159,010	not top 100 in 1940s
28	Douglas	148,205	up 2
29	Terry	140,724	up 3
30	Anthony	136,647	up 15
31	Jerry	136,567	down 12
32	Bruce	136,457	up 7
33	Randy	120,537	not top 100 in 1940s
34	Brian	112,336	not top 100 in 1940s
35	Frank	112,321	down 14
36	Scott	111,819	not top 100 in 1940s
37	Roger	110,158	down 13
38	Raymond	108,928	down 15
39	Peter	102,747	up 2
40	Patrick	96,851	up 18
41	Keith	91,235	up 59
42	Lawrence	91,110	down 11
43	Wayne	88,092	down 10
44	Danny	86,640	up 16
45	Alan	83,976	up 10
46	Gerald	82,626	down 20
47	Ricky	79,170	not top 100 in 1940s
48	Carl	78,752	down 12
49	Christopher	78,333	not top 100 in 1940s
50	Dale	75,567	up 9
51	Walter	72,197	down 24
52	Craig	69,481	not top 100 in 1940s
53	Willie	66,460	down 15
54	Johnny	65,786	down 4
55	Arthur	65,716	down 21
56	Steve	64,212	up 23
57	Joe	62,620	down 17
58	Randall	62,450	not top 100 in 1940s
59	Russell	62,406	up 10
60	Jack	62,387	down 25
61	Henry	62,230	down 24
62	Harold	62,183	down 34
63	Roy	61,847	down 20
64	Andrew	60,972	up 23
65	Philip	60,853	down 8
66	Ralph	60,440	down 22
67	Billy	59,277	down 25
68	Glenn	58,714	up 15
69	Stanley	57,164	down 8
70	Jimmy	54,892	down 24
71	Rodney	54,817	not top 100 in 1940s
72	Barry	54,812	up 10
73	Samuel	53,767	down 8
74	Eric	53,295	not top 100 in 1940s
75	Bobby	53,281	down 27
76	Albert	52,829	down 29
77	Phillip	52,457	same
78	Ronnie	51,302	down 12
79	Martin	50,994	up 12
80	Mike	48,345	up 6
81	Eugene	48,281	down 32
82	Louis	47,933	down 26
83	Howard	47,852	down 30
84	Allen	47,322	down 10
85	Curtis	46,324	up 14
86	Jeffery	45,879	not top 100 in 1940s
87	Frederick	44,288	down 14
88	Leonard	43,551	down 26
89	Harry	43,335	down 37
90	Micheal	40,908	not top 100 in 1940s
91	Tony	40,782	not top 100 in 1940s
92	Ernest	39,680	down 24
93	Eddie	38,598	down 8
94	Fred	37,445	down 43
95	Darrell	37,257	not top 100 in 1940s
96	Jay	36,969	not top 100 in 1940s
97	Melvin	36,165	down 26
98	Lee	35,826	down 6
99	Matthew	35,796	not top 100 in 1940s
100	Vincent	35,351	not top 100 in 1940s

Names that peaked in the 1950s

These were among the decade's top 1,000 and reached their highest share of babies in a year between 1950 and 1959. The year each one peaked is in brackets.

Girls

Patricia (1951)
Susan (1954)
Deborah (1954)
Debra (1955)
Karen (1956)
Donna (1959)
Cynthia (1957)
Pamela (1954)
Diane (1955)
Brenda (1950)

Boys

David (1955)
Thomas (1951)
Steven (1955)
Gary (1951)
Kenneth (1951)
Stephen (1951)
Terry (1954)
Bruce (1951)
Randy (1956)
Peter (1957)

Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.