1950s Baby Names

9,057 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

#1,018
Lauri
2,515 in the 1950s
#1,019
Lavonne
2,515 in the 1950s
#1,020
Elsa Elsa is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a German short form of Elisabeth.
2,514 in the 1950s
#1,021
Alfreda
2,507 in the 1950s
#1,022
Cathie
2,504 in the 1950s
#1,023
Lucia Lucia is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "light," the feminine of Lucius from lux.
2,501 in the 1950s
#1,024
Blair Blair is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "plain" or "field."
2,499 in the 1950s
#1,027
Angelina Angelina means little angel, and the Greek root behind it means a messenger — the winged being is a later idea layered onto a word for someone carrying news.
2,488 in the 1950s
#1,028
Etta Etta is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler."
2,480 in the 1950s
#1,030
Lesa
2,472 in the 1950s
#1,036
Josie Josie is a girl's name that began as a pet form of Josephine, and so means "he will add," inherited from the Hebrew Yosef.
2,443 in the 1950s
#1,037
Sadie Sadie is a girl's name that began as a pet form of Sarah, the Hebrew name meaning "princess" or "noblewoman."
2,437 in the 1950s
#1,038
Nona
2,434 in the 1950s
#1,039
Dolly
2,422 in the 1950s
#1,040
Deana
2,407 in the 1950s
#1,042
Patrica
2,403 in the 1950s
#1,044
Beverley
2,401 in the 1950s
#1,046
Essie Essie shortens two names with nothing in common — Esther, whose root is probably Babylonian, and Estelle, which is the Latin for a star.
2,389 in the 1950s
#1,049
Geralyn
2,385 in the 1950s
#1,050
Lela Lela means night on the Arabic reading, and that connects it to one of the oldest love stories in the world — Layla and Majnun, retold in Persian verse eight centuries ago.
2,382 in the 1950s
#1,052
Debrah
2,373 in the 1950s
#1,054
Valorie
2,362 in the 1950s
#1,059
Melodie
2,352 in the 1950s
#1,060
Elva
2,346 in the 1950s
#1,061
Delois
2,346 in the 1950s
#1,063
Eve Eve is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "living one," the name given to the first woman in Genesis.
2,335 in the 1950s
#1,064
Clarice
2,324 in the 1950s
#1,067
Greta
2,309 in the 1950s
#1,073
Kathrine
2,288 in the 1950s
#1,074
Geri
2,280 in the 1950s
#1,076
Deirdre
2,274 in the 1950s
#1,077
Helena Helena is a girl's name of Greek origin whose meaning is unresolved, and its saint is credited with finding the True Cross.
2,273 in the 1950s
#1,079
Caryn
2,265 in the 1950s
#1,081
Roxie
2,257 in the 1950s
#1,085
Fern Fern seed was believed to make you invisible, and Shakespeare has a character say so — ferns produce spores rather than visible seeds, so the seed itself was thought to be unseeable.
2,234 in the 1950s
#1,088
Laureen
2,221 in the 1950s
#1,089
Marcie
2,217 in the 1950s
#1,090
Elvira
2,212 in the 1950s
#1,091
Ina
2,210 in the 1950s
#1,093
Marietta
2,208 in the 1950s
#1,094
Nikki Nikki means victory of the people, and both halves of the Greek are collective — nike is the victory and laos is the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
2,206 in the 1950s
#1,095
Eula Eula means well-spoken, and the Greek behind it is precise — eu plus lalein, to speak well, so the name praises how someone talks rather than what they say or think.
2,201 in the 1950s
#1,097
Cleo Cleo is a name of Greek origin meaning "glory" or "fame."
2,196 in the 1950s
#1,098
Cheryle
2,194 in the 1950s
#1,101
Corrine
2,189 in the 1950s
#1,102
Angelia
2,187 in the 1950s
#1,103
Edwina
2,187 in the 1950s
#1,104
Nettie Nettie is a suffix that became a name — it is the tail end of Antoinette, Jeanette and Annette, cut loose and used on its own, so it began as the part of a name that carried no meaning at all.
2,185 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.