1960s Baby Names

10,954 names were given to children in the United States between 1960 and 1969, 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

#488
Arlene Arlene has no established origin at all — it appears in the nineteenth century with no traceable parent name, and the Irish pledge reading usually given for it belongs to a different name entirely.
11,259 in the 1960s
#489
Grace Grace is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "favor" or "blessing," from gratia.
11,237 in the 1960s
#492
Jacquelyn Jacquelyn means supplanter, and the chain is long — it is an American respelling of Jacqueline, the French feminine of Jacques, which is James, which is Jacob.
11,147 in the 1960s
#494
Samantha Samantha is a girl's name of uncertain origin, first recorded in America in the eighteenth century.
11,051 in the 1960s
#496
Jenny Jenny began as a pet form of Jane, not Jennifer — the two attached to each other only in the twentieth century, and Jennifer was almost unknown outside Cornwall before 1900.
11,011 in the 1960s
#497
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
11,006 in the 1960s
#499
Sonja Sonja means wisdom, and the great church of Constantinople carries the same word — Hagia Sophia was dedicated to Holy Wisdom as an aspect of God, not to any saint of that name.
10,976 in the 1960s
#501
Nina Nina is a girl's name with several unrelated origins.
10,924 in the 1960s
#503
Bernadette Bernadette is a girl's name meaning brave as a bear, and its bearer was a fourteen-year-old miller's daughter whose visions at Lourdes in 1858 turned a Pyrenean grotto into one of the most visited places on earth.
10,754 in the 1960s
#504
Lillian Lillian is a girl's name usually explained as an elaboration of Lily, from the Latin lilium, and sometimes as a variant of Elizabeth by way of the medieval pet form Lilian.
10,663 in the 1960s
#505
Lorie
10,656 in the 1960s
#506
Marla
10,632 in the 1960s
#507
Carole Carole is a girl's name meaning free man, the French spelling of Carol.
10,573 in the 1960s
#510
Marjorie Marjorie is a girl's name meaning pearl, an English form of Margaret whose modern spelling was pulled toward the herb marjoram by nothing more than a coincidence of sound.
10,521 in the 1960s
#511
Bobbie Bobbie is 83 percent female on record and England and Wales ranks it 523rd on 110 births — far above the United States at 2,072nd, reversing what an American nickname-name would usually do.
10,454 in the 1960s
#512
Gayle Gayle carries 67,694 lifetime births and now charts in no market — one of the largest names on this site to have fallen entirely out of current use.
10,404 in the 1960s
#514
Priscilla Priscilla means ancient or venerable, and it is a diminutive — so the name literally reads as little old one, which was a mark of respect rather than an insult.
10,361 in the 1960s
#517
Ruby Ruby is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the red gemstone, from ruber, meaning red.
10,277 in the 1960s
#518
Dina Dina is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "judged" or "vindicated," borne by Jacob's daughter in one of the harshest stories in Genesis.
10,246 in the 1960s
#519
Trina
10,202 in the 1960s
#521
Esther Esther is a girl's name usually connected to the Persian word for star, and possibly to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
10,139 in the 1960s
#522
Claudia Claudia means lame, and it comes from one of Rome's most powerful families.
10,043 in the 1960s
#523
Rochelle Rochelle means little rock, and it is a place rather than a person — La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast was a Huguenot stronghold, and the name reached English through the town rather than any saint.
9,970 in the 1960s
#524
Antoinette Antoinette means little Antoine, and the meaning usually given for the parent name — flower — is a false etymology.
9,958 in the 1960s
#526
Candace Candace is a job title mistaken for a name — Kandake was the word for the queen mother of Kush, and Acts uses it as though it were personal, so a Sudanese royal office became an American given name.
9,886 in the 1960s
#529
Geraldine Geraldine was invented in a 1537 love poem — the Earl of Surrey coined it for Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, calling her the Fair Geraldine.
9,824 in the 1960s
#531
Gretchen Gretchen means little pearl, and German uses her name for a kind of question — a Gretchenfrage is the awkward essential one you cannot dodge, after the question she puts to Faust about religion.
9,745 in the 1960s
#533
Dolores Dolores is a girl's name meaning sorrows — taken from a title of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, which counts seven specific griefs.
9,709 in the 1960s
#535
Annie Annie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor."
9,689 in the 1960s
#537
Debora
9,649 in the 1960s
#538
Nora Nora is a girl's name that developed as a short form of longer names, chiefly Honora and Eleanor, and is now used independently.
9,582 in the 1960s
#544
Molly Molly is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, a pet form of Mary whose meaning has never been settled — the candidates are "bitter" and "beloved."
9,364 in the 1960s
#546
Josephine Josephine is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the French feminine form of Joseph.
9,358 in the 1960s
#547
Billie Billie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protector."
9,343 in the 1960s
#550
Maryann Maryann joins two names whose own meanings are unsettled — Mary has never been securely derived from the Hebrew, and Ann means grace, so only half of the compound has a firm reading.
9,238 in the 1960s
#552
Joanna Joanna means God is gracious, and it charts in all seven markets — the United States 306th, Ireland 367th, Scotland 395th, Northern Ireland 432nd, England and Wales 514th and France 721st.
9,208 in the 1960s
#553
Dena
9,184 in the 1960s
#557
Edith Edith is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "prosperous in war."
9,018 in the 1960s
#558
Pauline Pauline is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
8,958 in the 1960s
#560
Mona Mona in Mona Lisa is not a name — it contracts ma donna, my lady, so the painting's title is closer to Madam Lisa than to anyone called Mona.
8,805 in the 1960s
#564
Hope Hope is a girl's name of Old English origin taken from the virtue, from hopian.
8,764 in the 1960s
#566
Lucy Lucy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "light," from lux.
8,677 in the 1960s
#570
Betsy Betsy is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath."
8,563 in the 1960s
#571
Tiffany Tiffany is a medieval name meaning manifestation of God, given to girls born at Epiphany — a old name that now reads as thoroughly modern.
8,524 in the 1960s
#572
Delores Delores means sorrows, and it is a Marian title rather than a wish — Our Lady of Sorrows, named for the seven griefs of the Virgin, which is why a name meaning pain was ever given.
8,470 in the 1960s
#575
Alisa
8,426 in the 1960s
#578
Cherie
8,379 in the 1960s
#579
Leticia Leticia means joy, and Napoleon's mother carried it — Letizia Ramolino outlived her son and was styled Madame Mère de l'Empereur, a title created for her alone.
8,348 in the 1960s

What Made a 1960s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1960 and 1969. 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.