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

#97
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
83,395 in the 1950s
#98
Jane Jane is a girl's name from the Hebrew for God is gracious, the English feminine of John.
83,095 in the 1950s
#100
Cathy Cathy is a girl's name, a pet form of Catherine whose meaning has never been established.
82,859 in the 1950s
#101
Debbie Debbie is a girl's name meaning bee, a pet form of Deborah.
82,295 in the 1950s
#102
Diana Diana is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "divine" or "heavenly," the Roman goddess of the hunt and the moon.
80,403 in the 1950s
#103
Marilyn Marilyn is a girl's name usually read as a blend of Mary and Lyn.
80,328 in the 1950s
#108
Kathryn Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's unknown meaning.
77,933 in the 1950s
#111
Dorothy Dorothy is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God."
74,712 in the 1950s
#113
Wanda Wanda is a girl's name from Polish, borne by a legendary queen who drowned herself in the Vistula rather than marry a German prince.
72,636 in the 1950s
#115
Vicki Vicki means victory, shortened from Victoria — and Victoria was a rare name in Britain before the queen, not a traditional one she happened to carry.
72,108 in the 1950s
#116
Sheila Sheila is the Irish form of Cecilia, meaning blind — and parents outside Ireland should know it became Australian slang for a woman in the nineteenth century, which is why it barely charts there.
70,329 in the 1950s
#117
Virginia Virginia is a girl's name from a Roman family name, and the American state was named before the name became common in America — both honoring Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.
69,956 in the 1950s
#119
Sherry Sherry is a girl's name that appears to have been taken from the wine, whose own name is a corruption of the Spanish town Jerez.
68,500 in the 1950s
#120
Katherine Katherine is a girl's name whose meaning is not settled.
67,002 in the 1950s
#121
Rose Rose is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the flower, from rosa.
66,891 in the 1950s
#125
Leslie Leslie is a Scottish place name turned surname turned given name, and it has crossed sexes: about 71 percent of recorded births are female, though the name began firmly male and remains so in Britain.
64,430 in the 1950s
#128
Maria Maria is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the Latin and Greek form of Miryam.
62,808 in the 1950s
#130
Ruth Ruth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin usually given as "companion" or "friend," though the derivation is not secure.
62,668 in the 1950s
#136
Darlene Darlene is a girl's name built from the English word darling, and it is one of a small group of American twentieth-century coinages that used the -ene ending.
62,024 in the 1950s
#140
Jacqueline Jacqueline is a girl's name, the French feminine of Jacques, and it inherits the meaning supplanter from Jacob.
60,589 in the 1950s
#141
Rita Rita is a girl's name meaning pearl, clipped from the end of Margarita rather than the front.
60,390 in the 1950s
#142
Rhonda Rhonda is a girl's name from a Welsh river valley, and the great spear reading usually given for it is wrong — the Rhondda is named for its own noisiness, not for a weapon.
59,940 in the 1950s
#145
Phyllis Phyllis is a girl's name from the Greek for foliage, borne by a mythological princess who was turned into an almond tree.
57,882 in the 1950s
#146
Helen Helen is a girl's name from Greek whose meaning is not settled, though torch and shining are the usual readings.
57,749 in the 1950s
#148
Vickie Vickie is an American name that now charts only in France — it peaked at 6,957 US births in 1956 and has left the American rankings entirely, surviving at 6,405th in a market it was never native to.
57,040 in the 1950s
#149
Lori Lori is a girl's name, a short form of Laura meaning laurel.
56,168 in the 1950s
#150
Ellen Ellen is a girl's name of Greek origin, a medieval English form of Helen whose meaning has never been settled.
55,507 in the 1950s
#155
Elaine Elaine is a girl's name, the Old French form of Helen, whose meaning was never established.
54,320 in the 1950s
#157
Joanne Joanne is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, one of the many feminines of John.
53,639 in the 1950s
#162
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
52,498 in the 1950s
#163
Valerie Valerie is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "strong" or "healthy," from the verb valere, meaning to be strong or to be well.
52,346 in the 1950s
#164
Alice Alice is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble," arrived at by a long contraction of Adelaide.
52,230 in the 1950s
#165
Frances Frances is a girl's name meaning a Frank, or a free one, and the feminine of Francis.
51,604 in the 1950s
#167
Suzanne Suzanne is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "lily," from shoshannah.
50,414 in the 1950s
#168
Kimberly Kimberly is a girl's name that reached America by way of a South African diamond town, which was itself named after a British colonial secretary.
50,196 in the 1950s
#170
Marie Marie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the French form of Mary, and the largest name in the birth records with more than 2.8 million births on record.
49,416 in the 1950s
#171
Victoria Victoria is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "victory."
49,218 in the 1950s
#176
Anita Anita is a girl's name, the Spanish diminutive of Ana, meaning grace.
47,698 in the 1950s
#178
Laurie Laurie is a name meaning laurel, and it is mixed by country — masculine in Britain as a short form of Laurence, feminine in America as a short form of Laura.
47,249 in the 1950s
#179
Michelle Michelle is a girl's name, the French feminine of Michel, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God.
46,896 in the 1950s
#180
Sally Sally is a girl's name meaning princess, a pet form of Sarah reached by medieval rhyming.
46,805 in the 1950s
#182
Terri Terri shortens Teresa, whose meaning has never been established — harvester, summer and a Greek island are all proposed and none of them is settled.
46,604 in the 1950s
#185
Marcia Marcia means dedicated to Mars, and that god's name is also where the month of March comes from — the Roman year began in March, because that was when the campaigning season opened up again after the winter.
43,801 in the 1950s
#188
Jennifer Jennifer is a girl's name, the Cornish form of the Welsh Gwenhwyfar, the name of King Arthur's queen.
43,159 in the 1950s
#189
Doris Doris is a girl's name from Greek mythology, where she is a sea nymph and the mother of the fifty Nereids.
43,109 in the 1950s
#190
Maureen Maureen is the Irish Máirín, a diminutive of Máire, which is itself the Irish form of Mary.
42,901 in the 1950s
#191
Wendy Wendy is usually credited to J.
42,786 in the 1950s
#193
Anna Anna is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor," the Greek and Latin form of Hannah.
41,834 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.