1960s Baby Names

1,658 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

#49
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.
156,059 in the 1960s
#60
Tracy Tracy is a Norman place name that became a surname, then a boys' name, then overwhelmingly a girls' name — about 81 percent of the births in our records are female.
132,957 in the 1960s
#62
Robin Robin is a name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
129,175 in the 1960s
#64
Terry Terry is a name serving as a short form of Terence and of the Germanic Theodoric, two unrelated names, and it is genuinely mixed — about 18 percent of the births in our records are female.
129,127 in the 1960s
#77
Kim Kim is a name that arrives from three unrelated directions — an English place name, Kipling's 1901 novel, and the most common Korean surname in the world.
101,576 in the 1960s
#113
Leslie Leslie is a Scottish place name turned surname turned given name, and it has crossed sexes: about 71 percent of the births in our records are female, though the name began firmly male and remains so in Britain.
68,177 in the 1960s
#114
Chris Chris shortens two unrelated Greek names — Christopher, which means bearing Christ, and Christine, which means belonging to Christ.
67,612 in the 1960s
#124
Dana Dana is a name with several unrelated sources — a Danish origin, a Hebrew feminine of Daniel, and an Irish mother goddess.
61,128 in the 1960s
#131
Lynn Lynn is a name from a Welsh and Gaelic word for a lake or a pool below a waterfall.
58,304 in the 1960s
#178
Stacy Stacy comes from Eustace or Anastasia, two unrelated names, and its meanings are correspondingly different — fruitful or resurrection.
43,736 in the 1960s
#179
Shannon Shannon is a name from Ireland's longest river, and it is 86 percent female in our records.
43,701 in the 1960s
#182
Willie Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more genuinely mixed names in our records — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
43,443 in the 1960s
#183
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
43,300 in the 1960s
#200
Jean Jean is a unisex name in our data: the French form of John, meaning "God is gracious," and separately a Scottish feminine form of Jane.
39,111 in the 1960s
#218
Jamie Jamie is a unisex name of Hebrew origin, a Scottish diminutive of James meaning "supplanter" or "holder of the heel."
35,724 in the 1960s
#219
Jackie Jackie is the third most evenly divided name on this site — 48.9 percent of the births in our records are female, behind only Emerson and Riley among names with more than 50,000 births.
35,712 in the 1960s
#264
Kerry Kerry is 53 percent female in our records — the fourth-closest to an even split on this site, behind only Emerson, Riley and Jackie.
27,509 in the 1960s
#272
Jody Jody serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why it is 64 percent female rather than resolving to one side — three unrelated parents pulling in different directions.
26,941 in the 1960s
#289
Sandy Sandy shortens Alexander and Alexandra, meaning defender of the people — and in Scotland it is the standard familiar form of Alexander, which is why it reads as Scottish rather than merely short.
24,676 in the 1960s
#384
Kelley Kelley is the same Irish name as Kellie, spelled differently, and the two split its births between them — this one peaked in 1968 and that one in 1969, a year apart at nearly the same size.
16,117 in the 1960s
#399
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.
15,224 in the 1960s
#426
Marty
13,830 in the 1960s
#449
Jessie Jessie is a name that arrives from two unrelated directions — the Scottish pet form of Janet, and a feminine of the Hebrew Jesse.
12,898 in the 1960s
#451
Joey Joey is a name of Hebrew origin meaning "God will increase."
12,855 in the 1960s
#472
Angel Angel is a name of Greek origin meaning "messenger," from angelos.
11,936 in the 1960s
#475
Johnnie Johnnie means God is gracious, a pet form of John.
11,813 in the 1960s
#481
Leigh Leigh means a woodland clearing, and the same word is hiding at the end of dozens of modern names — the -leigh in Kayleigh and Ashlyn's cousins is this word, borrowed for its sound rather than its sense.
11,473 in the 1960s
#482
Donnie Donnie ranks 563rd in Ireland and 1804th in the United States, so the country with a fraction of the births ranks it three times higher — a pattern we see when a name goes home.
11,430 in the 1960s
#487
Kris
11,310 in the 1960s
#490
Jimmie Jimmie means supplanter, shortened from James, and about 17 percent of the births in our records are female — a much higher share than most nickname-names of this shape, which usually resolve firmly to one side or the other.
11,167 in the 1960s
#509
Marion Marion is a French diminutive of Mary that has crossed sexes twice over — it is 81 percent female in our records, yet its most famous bearer was John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison.
10,555 in the 1960s
#511
Bobbie Bobbie is 83 percent female in our records and England and Wales ranks it 523rd on 110 births — far above the United States at 2072nd, reversing what an American nickname-name would usually do.
10,454 in the 1960s
#513
Charlie Charlie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "free man."
10,387 in the 1960s
#520
Robbie Robbie is a unisex name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," a diminutive of Robert.
10,142 in the 1960s
#542
Frankie Frankie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frenchman."
9,438 in the 1960s
#547
Billie Billie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protector."
9,343 in the 1960s
#559
Pat Pat is one of the most evenly divided names on this site — about 60 percent of the births in our records are female, because it shortens both Patricia and Patrick and neither side ever won.
8,930 in the 1960s
#583
Jaime Jaime is 41 percent female in our records, one of the most genuinely divided names on this site — Spanish reads it as James, and English hears it as a spelling of Jamie.
8,292 in the 1960s
#590
Cary
8,100 in the 1960s
#605
Patrice Patrice is masculine in French and feminine in English — the same spelling, opposite sexes on either side of the Channel.
7,803 in the 1960s
#620
Loren Loren means from Laurentum, a town rather than a plant — the laurel reading came second, and the town itself was probably named for its laurels, so the connection is real but runs the long way round.
7,435 in the 1960s
#623
Sidney Sidney is a name of Old English origin meaning "wide meadow."
7,415 in the 1960s
#655
Guadalupe Guadalupe is half Arabic and half Latin — wadi, a valley or river, joined to a word for a wolf.
6,639 in the 1960s
#661
Claude Claude is a name from a Roman family name meaning lame, one of very few widely used names with an unflattering literal sense.
6,507 in the 1960s
#676
Darcy Darcy is a name of Norman French origin meaning "from Arcy," a place in Normandy.
6,199 in the 1960s
#693
Lesley Lesley is the Scottish spelling and Scotland proves it — a peak of 341 births there in 1974, far above what the country's size would predict against an American high of 981.
5,985 in the 1960s
#697
Noel Noel means Christmas, and its American peak was 2014 — the most recent peak of any name in this group by a wide margin.
5,952 in the 1960s
#705
Mickey
5,868 in the 1960s

What made a 1960s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1960 and 1969, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1960s 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.