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

#385
Luis Luis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior."
16,039 in the 1960s
#386
Chad Chad is a boy's name from a seventh-century English saint, and it has since become an American internet stereotype and, separately, the name of a country and a disputed ballot.
15,952 in the 1960s
#387
Daryl Daryl completes a set of three — Darrell, Darryl and Daryl are one Norman place name split across three spellings, and all three appear in this group, carrying about 328,000 births between them.
15,914 in the 1960s
#388
Vicky Vicky means victory, and it is one of the clearest cases on this site of a monarch making a name — Victoria was rare in English before the queen and ordinary for a century afterward.
15,903 in the 1960s
#389
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.
15,896 in the 1960s
#390
Lonnie Lonnie shortens Alonzo and Alphonso, meaning noble and ready — and the Germanic original reached Spain with the Visigoths, so a name that reads as American South is Gothic by descent.
15,887 in the 1960s
#391
Dave Dave ranks 2,217th in England and Wales and 2,469th in the United States, so the short form outranks its American peak market in a country that never recorded more than fifteen in a year.
15,808 in the 1960s
#392
Lynda Lynda means lime tree, from Spanish and Germanic roots that disagree — the pretty reading comes from the Spanish linda, and the tree from a Germanic element, and neither is settled.
15,705 in the 1960s
#393
Nathan Nathan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he gave," from Natan.
15,584 in the 1960s
#394
Irene Irene is a girl's name from the Greek word for peace, and the name of the goddess who personified it.
15,499 in the 1960s
#395
Guy Guy is a boy's name from a Germanic word probably meaning wood or wide, and one of very few names to have become an ordinary English noun — through Guy Fawkes, whose effigies gave the word its modern sense.
15,410 in the 1960s
#396
Perry Perry means at the pear tree, from an English place name — and it is reviving, at 1,373rd in the United States and 1,681st in England and Wales.
15,356 in the 1960s
#397
Robyn Robyn is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
15,353 in the 1960s
#398
Leroy Leroy is a boy's name that is simply the French for the king, taken as one word.
15,330 in the 1960s
#399
Jan Jan is 66 percent female on record 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
#400
Rosa Rosa is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "rose."
15,142 in the 1960s
#401
Christy Christy serves both Christine and Christopher, so it is used for both sexes — 98 percent of recorded births are female, but the masculine use remains ordinary in Ireland.
14,951 in the 1960s
#402
Maurice Maurice is a boy's name from a Latin word meaning a Moor, originally describing someone from Roman North Africa. It is reviving, and it peaked in 1920 — a century-long gap of the same kind we see in Walter and Frances.
14,870 in the 1960s
#403
Erik Erik is a boy's name meaning ever-ruler or sole ruler, from Old Norse.
14,842 in the 1960s
#404
Doreen Doreen has two possible parents and neither is settled — an Irish Doireann whose own meaning is disputed, or Dora with an Irish diminutive attached, which would make it a nineteenth-century construction.
14,707 in the 1960s
#405
Constance Constance is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "steadfastness," one of the abstract virtue names the early Church favored.
14,704 in the 1960s
#406
Rene Rene is a name from the Latin for reborn, given at baptism to mark spiritual rebirth.
14,675 in the 1960s
#407
Marcus Marcus is a boy's name of Latin origin most likely meaning "of Mars," and it was one of only about eighteen first names Roman men used.
14,659 in the 1960s
#408
Rosemary Rosemary is not Rose and Mary joined together — it is the herb, from a Latin phrase meaning dew of the sea.
14,652 in the 1960s
#409
Alvin Alvin means elf-friend, from an Old English name that treats elves as beings whose favor was worth having.
14,629 in the 1960s
#410
Tara Tara is a girl's name from the hill in County Meath where the High Kings were inaugurated, and its meaning is a place of assembly.
14,583 in the 1960s
#411
Vernon Vernon is a Norman place name meaning a place of alders, from a Gaulish word — so a French town gave England a surname that America turned into a first name, three languages deep.
14,526 in the 1960s
#412
Gilbert Gilbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright pledge, and it founded the only medieval religious order native to England.
14,516 in the 1960s
#413
Bridget Bridget means exalted one, and it belonged to a goddess before a saint — Brigid was the Irish deity of poetry, smithcraft and healing, and the saint absorbed her feast, her fire and her attributes.
14,483 in the 1960s
#414
Patti Patti and Patty peaked one year apart at almost exactly the same size — 3,121 births in 1958 and 3,123 in 1959 — which is about as close as two spellings of one name get on record.
14,356 in the 1960s
#415
Alexander Alexander is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," from alexein, to defend, and aner, man.
14,279 in the 1960s
#416
Shane Shane is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious," and it exists because English speakers wrote down how Ulster pronounced Seán.
14,257 in the 1960s
#417
Lora Lora means from Laurentum, and the laurel is one step removed — the Roman town was named for its bay trees, and the personal name says which town you came from rather than which plant crowned you.
14,221 in the 1960s
#418
Vivian Vivian is a name of Latin origin meaning "alive" or "lively," from vivus.
14,111 in the 1960s
#419
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 on record.
14,097 in the 1960s
#420
Stuart Stuart means steward, and the office was literally the sty warden — keeper of the pigs — which rose to run the royal household and then supplied the name of a dynasty.
14,013 in the 1960s
#421
Franklin Franklin means a freeholder — a man who owned his land but held no noble rank, a specific medieval class.
13,990 in the 1960s
#422
Leon Leon is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "lion."
13,952 in the 1960s
#423
Gene Gene means well-born, shortened from Eugene — and it has nothing at all to do with genes in biology, which is a separate word coined in 1909 from a different Greek root entirely, by a Danish botanist.
13,936 in the 1960s
#424
Darin
13,855 in the 1960s
#425
Gregg
13,851 in the 1960s
#426
Marty
13,830 in the 1960s
#427
Bob Bob comes from Robert, and the B is not a corruption but a system — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Rob gave Bob, Will gave Bill and Rick gave Dick.
13,820 in the 1960s
#428
Herbert Herbert is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning bright army.
13,792 in the 1960s
#429
Jessica Jessica is a girl's name invented by Shakespeare for The Merchant of Venice in 1596.
13,726 in the 1960s
#430
Neil Neil means champion or cloud, from Irish, and it traveled to Iceland with the Vikings and back to England with the Normans — so the English Neil arrived by way of Scandinavia and France.
13,690 in the 1960s
#431
Darrin
13,687 in the 1960s
#432
Mario Mario is a boy's name from a Roman family name of uncertain meaning, and the video game character was named after a real landlord — Mario Segale, who owned the warehouse Nintendo rented in Seattle.
13,636 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.