1950s Baby Names

15,671 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

#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
#242
Gwendolyn Gwendolyn means white ring or blessed ring, from Welsh, and the second element is genuinely a ring — a torc or armlet, which was the standard Celtic mark of rank.
32,049 in the 1950s
#243
Jan Jan is 66 percent female in our records 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
#245
Norma Norma is a girl's name that appears to have been invented for an opera — Bellini's Norma of 1831 — and it was the birth name of Marilyn Monroe, who appears elsewhere in these pages under the name that replaced it.
30,927 in the 1950s
#246
Regina Regina is the Latin word for a queen, taken unchanged, and it is still the legal abbreviation in British courts — every criminal case against a defendant is formally Regina versus the accused.
30,867 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
#248
Amy Amy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "beloved," and unusually the name is a past participle — someone who has been loved rather than someone lovable.
30,631 in the 1950s
#249
Loretta Loretta comes from an Italian shrine, not from the laurel — Loreto is the town where the Holy House of Nazareth was said to have been carried by angels.
30,474 in the 1950s
#250
Sheryl Sheryl respells Cheryl, which is itself a twentieth-century invention — it appears in American records around 1920 with no traceable parent, and the meanings offered for it were supplied afterwards.
30,445 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
#255
Andrea Andrea is a name meaning "manly" or "brave," from the Greek aner.
29,795 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
#259
Carla Carla is a girl's name meaning free man, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo.
29,490 in the 1950s
#260
Tammy Tammy is a girl's name meaning palm tree, a pet form of Tamara.
29,342 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
#263
Kelly Kelly is a name from the Irish surname Ó Ceallaigh, borne almost entirely by men for most of its history and now 86 percent female in our data.
28,492 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 we have.
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
#266
Irene Irene is a girl's name from the Greek word for peace, and the name of the goddess who personified it.
27,080 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
#271
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
26,012 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
#275
Juanita Juanita is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, the Spanish diminutive of Juana.
25,742 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
#277
Marlene Marlene was invented by the woman who made it famous — Marie Magdalene Dietrich contracted her own two names into one.
25,281 in the 1950s
#278
Penny Penny is a girl's name of Greek origin, a diminutive of Penelope, whose own name is bound up with a duck.
25,210 in the 1950s
#279
Rosemary Rosemary is not Rose and Mary joined together — it is the herb, from a Latin phrase meaning dew of the sea.
25,068 in the 1950s
#280
Kay Kay serves two unrelated sources — the initial of Katherine, and Sir Kay of Arthurian legend, who is Arthur's foster brother and one of the oldest figures in the whole cycle.
24,966 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 actually agreed on by the sources.
24,959 in the 1950s
#282
Becky Becky means to bind, shortened from Rebecca, and the Hebrew is genuinely uncertain — a knotted cord and a snare are both proposed, and the reading has never been settled.
24,870 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
#284
Joy Joy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning exactly what it says, taken from the English word.
24,701 in the 1950s
#285
Warren Warren is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and it is the second-strongest revival we hold — it peaked in 1921 and now ranks 240th in the United States on 1,493 births, a century later.
24,685 in the 1950s
#286
Gayle Gayle carries 67,694 lifetime births and now charts in none of our six markets — one of the largest names on this site to have fallen entirely out of current use.
24,517 in the 1950s
#287
Herbert Herbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright army.
24,407 in the 1950s
#288
Geraldine Geraldine was invented in a 1537 love poem — the Earl of Surrey coined it for Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, calling her the Fair Geraldine.
24,294 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.