1960s Baby Names

18,229 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

#241
Holly Holly is a girl's name of Old English origin taken from the tree, from holegn.
32,297 in the 1960s
#242
Rose Rose is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the flower, from rosa.
32,006 in the 1960s
#243
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 6405th in a market it was never native to.
31,890 in the 1960s
#244
Marc Marc is a boy's name from a Roman name probably meaning dedicated to Mars, the god of war, and it is the source of the month of March.
31,494 in the 1960s
#245
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
31,254 in the 1960s
#246
Carrie Carrie is a girl's name, a pet form of Caroline meaning free man through Charles.
31,249 in the 1960s
#247
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
30,942 in the 1960s
#248
Stanley Stanley is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "stony clearing."
30,185 in the 1960s
#249
Veronica Veronica is a girl's name from a Latin phrase meaning true image, and the saint behind it was invented to explain a relic — the cloth came first, and the woman was named after it.
30,131 in the 1960s
#250
Yvonne Yvonne is a girl's name from a Germanic word for the yew tree, by way of Breton.
30,095 in the 1960s
#251
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
29,865 in the 1960s
#252
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.
29,658 in the 1960s
#253
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
29,500 in the 1960s
#254
Tom Tom is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin," a short form of Thomas used as a full name across Europe.
29,264 in the 1960s
#255
Helen Helen is a girl's name from Greek whose meaning is not settled, though torch and shining are the usual readings.
29,204 in the 1960s
#256
Howard Howard is a boy's name whose origin is genuinely contested — high guardian, brave heart and even a keeper of pigs have all been proposed.
28,843 in the 1960s
#257
Sylvia Sylvia is a girl's name from the Latin for a forest, and the mother of Rome's founders bore it — Rhea Silvia, who was made a Vestal Virgin so she could not produce heirs.
28,750 in the 1960s
#258
Leonard Leonard is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "lion-strong," and its saint is the patron of prisoners and of women in labor.
28,606 in the 1960s
#259
Yolanda Yolanda means violet, and the flower reaches it through a chain of respellings — the Greek Iolanthe became Violante in Italian by association with viola, and Spanish then rendered that form as the Yolanda we know.
28,568 in the 1960s
#260
April April is a girl's name taken from the month, whose Latin name probably means to open — the month when buds open.
28,381 in the 1960s
#261
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
28,350 in the 1960s
#262
Kurt Kurt means bold counsel, shortened from Konrad — and the courteous reading commonly given is a false friend, coming from an unrelated French word that only sounds similar.
28,301 in the 1960s
#263
Elaine Elaine is a girl's name, the Old French form of Helen, whose meaning was never established.
27,545 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
#265
Sheri Sheri means darling, and it is French by way of a misreading — English took the adjective chérie as though it were a name, which is why it has no history as one in France itself.
27,387 in the 1960s
#266
Brent Brent means burned land, from ground cleared by fire — a place name recording a specific agricultural practice rather than a hill or a holy site, which are the two readings usually offered for it.
27,242 in the 1960s
#267
Marilyn Marilyn is a girl's name usually read as a blend of Mary and Lyn.
27,105 in the 1960s
#268
Jodi Jodi serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why the wider Jody family never settled on one sex — three unrelated Hebrew parents pulling in different directions.
27,100 in the 1960s
#269
Ernest Ernest is a boy's name from a Germanic word meaning serious or resolute, and it is far stronger in Europe than in America — 252nd in England and Wales and 276th in France against 1042nd in the United States.
27,095 in the 1960s
#270
Alice Alice is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble," arrived at by a long contraction of Adelaide.
27,049 in the 1960s
#271
Dwayne Dwayne means the little dark one, from an Irish surname built on the word for black — the same root that gives Dublin its name, which means the black pool the city grew around.
26,950 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
#273
Rachel Rachel is a girl's name from Hebrew meaning ewe, borne by Jacob's wife in Genesis.
26,881 in the 1960s
#274
Aaron Aaron is a boy's name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is not established.
26,285 in the 1960s
#275
Brett Brett means a Breton — someone from Brittany, which is named for the Britons who fled there when the Anglo-Saxons arrived.
26,131 in the 1960s
#276
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.
26,113 in the 1960s
#277
Rick Rick means brave ruler, shortened from Richard — and the medieval habit of rhyming pet names is why Rick also produced Dick, which is the same name with a different first letter.
25,787 in the 1960s
#278
Phyllis Phyllis is a girl's name from the Greek for foliage, borne by a mythological princess who was turned into an almond tree.
25,772 in the 1960s
#279
Benjamin Benjamin is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "son of the right hand," from Binyamin.
25,753 in the 1960s
#280
Frances Frances is a girl's name meaning a Frank, or a free one, and the feminine of Francis.
25,269 in the 1960s
#281
Bill Bill comes from William, and the B is the point — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Will became Bill, Rob became Bob and Rick became Dick.
25,184 in the 1960s
#282
Reginald Reginald means counsel-power, and England and Wales ranks it 229th on 217 births against 1285th in the United States — one of the sharpest British-versus-American splits in this group.
25,152 in the 1960s
#283
Toni Toni has no established meaning, because Antonia does not — the Roman family name Antonius is probably Etruscan, and the flower reading attached to Anthony is a Renaissance invention.
25,090 in the 1960s
#284
Shelley Shelley means a clearing on a ledge, and it has nothing to do with shells — the poet's surname records a patch of high ground in Suffolk or Sussex, not anything from a beach.
25,089 in the 1960s
#285
Crystal Crystal is a girl's name from the Greek for ice, taken from the mineral rather than from any personal name.
25,057 in the 1960s
#286
Joann Joann is a girl's name meaning God is gracious, a simplified spelling of Joanna.
24,969 in the 1960s
#287
Eileen Eileen is a girl's name anglicizing the Irish Eibhlín, and its meaning is genuinely unsettled — it may render Helen, or Evelyn, or a native Irish name.
24,926 in the 1960s
#288
Charlene Charlene is a girl's name meaning free man, a feminine of Charles.
24,718 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.