1950s Baby Names

5,155 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 genuinely disputed, though the second means peace.
185,040 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 genuinely 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
#106
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
79,064 in the 1950s

What made a 1950s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1950 and 1959, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1950s names" you will find elsewhere is somebody's sense of the period; this one is the register.

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.