1950s Baby Names

5,178 names were given to children in the United States between 1950 and 1959, ranked below by how many.

A name's place is its total across those ten years. Names that appear in only some of the decade say so, because a name recorded once is a different fact from one recorded every year.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#1
James James is a boy's name of Hebrew origin, an English form of Jacob by way of Late Latin Iacomus.
846,311 in the 1950s
#2
Michael Michael is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "who is like God?" — a rhetorical question expecting the answer that no one is.
839,784 in the 1950s
#3
Robert Robert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," from hrod, fame, and beraht, bright.
832,594 in the 1950s
#4
John John is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is gracious," from Yochanan.
799,918 in the 1950s
#5
David David is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved," from Dawid.
771,543 in the 1950s
#7
William William is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protection," from wil, meaning will or desire, and helm, meaning helmet.
592,617 in the 1950s
#9
Richard Richard is a boy's name from Germanic roots meaning strong or brave ruler.
536,610 in the 1950s
#11
Thomas Thomas is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," from te'oma.
455,339 in the 1950s
#14
Mark Mark is a boy's name of Latin origin, most likely meaning "of Mars," borne by the evangelist who wrote the earliest gospel.
383,235 in the 1950s
#15
Charles Charles is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man," from karl.
362,602 in the 1950s
#18
Steven Steven is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, and the phonetic respelling of Stephen.
334,277 in the 1950s
#20
Gary Gary is a boy's name that reached the charts by an unusually traceable route: a surname became a steel town in Indiana, the town's name was given to an actor, and the actor made it a first name.
330,690 in the 1950s
#21
Joseph Joseph is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," from Yosef.
300,765 in the 1950s
#23
Donald Donald is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic Dòmhnall, meaning world ruler.
274,325 in the 1950s
#24
Ronald Ronald is a boy's name from the Old Norse Rögnvaldr, meaning ruler's counsel, brought to Scotland by Norse settlement.
271,854 in the 1950s
#27
Kenneth Kenneth is a boy's name anglicizing two separate Gaelic names, one meaning born of fire and one meaning handsome.
263,535 in the 1950s
#28
Paul Paul is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," borne by the apostle whose letters shaped Christian doctrine.
253,817 in the 1950s
#30
Larry Larry is a boy's name, the short form of Lawrence, from a Roman name meaning of Laurentum.
246,693 in the 1950s
#31
Daniel Daniel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge," from Daniyyel.
244,223 in the 1950s
#38
Stephen Stephen is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, borne by the first Christian martyr.
207,627 in the 1950s
#39
Dennis Dennis is a boy's name that traces back to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic release — one of the few widely used Christian names derived from a pagan deity.
204,785 in the 1950s
#40
Timothy Timothy is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "honoring God."
198,780 in the 1950s
#41
Edward Edward is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "wealthy guardian."
188,880 in the 1950s
#42
Jeffrey Jeffrey is a boy's name from Germanic roots whose first element is disputed, though the second means peace.
185,040 in the 1950s
#43
Terry Terry is a name serving as a short form of Terence and of the Germanic Theodoric, two unrelated names, and it is mixed — about 18 percent of recorded births are female.
183,918 in the 1950s
#44
George George is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "farmer" or "worker of the earth," from ge, earth, and ergon, work.
182,054 in the 1950s
#45
Gregory Gregory is a boy's name from the Greek for watchful or alert.
178,951 in the 1950s
#49
Kevin Kevin is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "gentle birth," and its saint founded Glendalough and by tradition lived to 120.
159,697 in the 1950s
#52
Douglas Douglas is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic for dark water, originally a river and then a powerful border family.
148,503 in the 1950s
#53
Jerry Jerry is a name that serves as the short form of at least three unrelated names — Jeremiah from Hebrew, Gerald and Gerard from Germanic — so its meaning depends entirely on which one a family had in mind.
139,095 in the 1950s
#54
Anthony Anthony is a boy's name from the Roman family name Antonius, whose meaning is unknown — it is probably Etruscan rather than Latin.
137,192 in the 1950s
#55
Bruce Bruce is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and Scotland's most famous king carried it as an import — the Bruces came from Normandy, not from Scotland.
136,786 in the 1950s
#59
Randy Randy is a boy's name, the short form of Randall or Randolph, meaning shield-wolf.
122,475 in the 1950s
#65
Frank Frank is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frank."
112,698 in the 1950s
#66
Brian Brian is a boy's name of Irish origin whose meaning is unsettled — noble and high are both proposed, and neither is secure.
112,529 in the 1950s
#67
Scott Scott is a boy's name meaning a Scot, from the surname given to people from Scotland.
112,035 in the 1950s
#68
Roger Roger is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning famous spear.
110,440 in the 1950s
#70
Raymond Raymond is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning counsel and protection.
109,298 in the 1950s
#74
Peter Peter is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "rock."
102,931 in the 1950s
#77
Patrick Patrick is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "nobleman."
97,135 in the 1950s
#80
Keith Keith is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, probably from a Brittonic word for a wood.
91,546 in the 1950s
#81
Lawrence Lawrence is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, an ancient Italian town linked to the laurel.
91,386 in the 1950s
#84
Wayne Wayne is an occupational surname meaning a wagon maker, and its life as a given name follows one man — John Wayne, who was born Marion Robert Morrison and renamed by a studio.
88,366 in the 1950s
#87
Danny Danny is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge," a diminutive of Daniel.
86,933 in the 1950s
#93
Dale Dale is a name from the Old English word for a valley, and like Craig and Heather it is a plain landscape noun rather than a compound.
84,208 in the 1950s
#94
Alan Alan is a boy's name of Breton origin whose meaning has never been established.
84,118 in the 1950s
#99
Gerald Gerald is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning rule of the spear, and it gave Ireland one of its great Norman dynasties, the FitzGeralds.
82,975 in the 1950s
#105
Ricky Ricky is a boy's name, the pet form of Richard or Ricardo, meaning strong ruler.
79,644 in the 1950s

What Made a 1950s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1950 and 1959. A name's position here is how many of them were.

Why Some Names Only Cover Part of the Decade

A name that appears in three of the ten years either arrived partway through or faded out — and either is more interesting than the total on its own. The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.

Where to Go Next

Open any name to see its full curve — most of these have a hundred and forty years of it. Or compare the ends of the same measurement: the most popular names now and the rarest.