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

#215
Melvin Melvin is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, and the gentle chieftain reading usually given for it is an invention — the source is a Norman family who took their name from Malleville in France.
36,455 in the 1950s
#218
Matthew Matthew is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of Yahweh," from Mattityahu.
35,860 in the 1950s
#220
Vincent Vincent is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conquering," from vincere, to conquer.
35,455 in the 1950s
#223
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
35,314 in the 1950s
#225
Dean Dean is a boy's name with two English origins.
34,892 in the 1950s
#226
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
34,869 in the 1950s
#228
Rick Rick means brave ruler, shortened from Richard — and the medieval habit of rhyming pet names is why Rick also produced Dick, which is the same name with a different first letter.
34,411 in the 1950s
#231
Victor Victor is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conqueror."
34,038 in the 1950s
#232
Norman Norman means a Northman — a Viking.
33,928 in the 1950s
#236
Earl Earl is a boy's name taken from the English noble title, and it is the only rank in the British peerage with a native English name rather than a French one.
32,832 in the 1950s
#241
Chris Chris shortens two unrelated Greek names — Christopher, which means bearing Christ, and Christine, which means belonging to Christ.
32,265 in the 1950s
#243
Jan Jan is 66 percent female on record because two unrelated uses collide — it is the ordinary man's name for John across Dutch, Polish and Czech, and a woman's short form of Janet and Janice in English.
31,892 in the 1950s
#244
Jose Jose is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the Spanish and Portuguese form of Joseph.
31,728 in the 1950s
#247
Calvin Calvin is a boy's name of French origin meaning "little bald one," from the Latin calvus, bald.
30,741 in the 1950s
#251
Ray Ray is a boy's name that serves as a short form of Raymond and as the English word for a beam of light.
30,345 in the 1950s
#252
Clifford Clifford is a boy's name from an English place name meaning a ford by a cliff — a river crossing below a steep bank.
30,014 in the 1950s
#253
Alfred Alfred is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "elf counsel."
29,890 in the 1950s
#254
Jerome Jerome is a boy's name meaning sacred name, and it belongs to the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin — the version Western Europe read for over a thousand years.
29,880 in the 1950s
#256
Clarence Clarence is a boy's name taken from an English dukedom, itself named for a Suffolk town.
29,669 in the 1950s
#257
Don Don is a boy's name shortened from Donald, meaning world ruler.
29,605 in the 1950s
#258
Bradley Bradley is a boy's name from an English place name meaning broad meadow.
29,562 in the 1950s
#261
Jon Jon is a boy's name meaning God is gracious, and it is both an English shortening of Jonathan and the standard Scandinavian and Catalan form of John — two routes to the same three letters.
29,154 in the 1950s
#262
Theodore Theodore is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God," formed from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
29,144 in the 1950s
#264
Rickey Rickey means strong ruler, and its peak is the largest in this group — 3,818 American births in 1958, against 45 in the most recent year on record.
28,179 in the 1950s
#265
Joel Joel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin that joins two names for God, and the prophet's book supplied the line quoted at Pentecost.
28,097 in the 1950s
#267
Jesse Jesse is a name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is debated.
26,921 in the 1950s
#268
Edwin Edwin is a boy's name from Old English meaning rich friend, borne by a Northumbrian king whose fortress may have given Edinburgh its name.
26,310 in the 1950s
#269
Jim Jim is a boy's name meaning supplanter, shortened from James — which is the same name as Jacob, split into two by Latin.
26,286 in the 1950s
#270
Dan Dan means he judged, and it is a full Hebrew name in its own right before it is short for Daniel — one of Jacob's twelve sons, and the tribe that gave its name to the northern border of Israel.
26,081 in the 1950s
#272
Bernard Bernard is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning brave as a bear.
25,992 in the 1950s
#273
Jonathan Jonathan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh has given," from Yehonatan.
25,869 in the 1950s
#274
Gordon Gordon is a Scottish surname turned given name, from a place in Berwickshire whose meaning is not settled — spacious fort is the usual gloss but it is a guess.
25,795 in the 1950s
#276
Glen Glen means a narrow valley, and it is one of very few Gaelic words that English borrowed wholesale rather than adapting to its own sounds.
25,603 in the 1950s
#281
Jeff Jeff means peace, shortened from Geoffrey — but the first element of that compound is disputed between three different Germanic words, so only the peace half of the name is agreed on by the sources.
24,959 in the 1950s
#283
Leroy Leroy is a boy's name that is simply the French for the king, taken as one word.
24,774 in the 1950s
#285
Warren Warren is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and it is the second-strongest revival on record — it peaked in 1921 and now ranks 240th in the United States on 1,493 births, a century later.
24,685 in the 1950s
#287
Herbert Herbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright army.
24,407 in the 1950s
#289
Duane Duane means the little dark one, from an Irish surname built on the word for black — and that same root also gives us Dublin, which means the black pool that the city originally grew up around.
24,272 in the 1950s
#291
Benjamin Benjamin is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son of the right hand," from Binyamin.
23,928 in the 1950s
#292
Bill Bill comes from William, and the B is the point — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Will became Bill, Rob became Bob and Rick became Dick.
23,909 in the 1950s
#294
Tom Tom is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," a short form of Thomas used as a full name across Europe.
23,808 in the 1950s
#296
Alvin Alvin means elf-friend, from an Old English name that treats elves as beings whose favor was worth having.
23,250 in the 1950s
#299
Nicholas Nicholas is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "victory of the people," from nike, victory, and laos, the people.
22,666 in the 1950s
#303
Tim Tim means honoring God, and France ranks it 277th — far above the United States at 3,221st, which is the reverse of what an English short form would normally do.
22,245 in the 1950s
#305
Mitchell Mitchell is a boy's name from a medieval English form of Michael, meaning who is like God — though a second and quite separate source exists from an old word simply meaning big.
22,040 in the 1950s
#306
Marc Marc is a boy's name from a Roman name probably meaning dedicated to Mars, the god of war, and it is the source of the month of March.
22,000 in the 1950s
#309
Leon Leon is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "lion."
21,468 in the 1950s
#315
Dwight Dwight descends from Dionysus, the Greek god of wine — through the medieval woman's name Diot, a pet form of Dionysia, which is an unusually indirect route for a masculine surname.
20,938 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.