Midcentury Names

The names of the 1940s, 50s and 60s — currently in the dead zone, too recent to read as vintage and too dated to read as current. This is the group to watch: the hundred-year rule says it is next.

Rankings for

64 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Steven Steven is a boy's name from the Greek for crown or garland, and the phonetic respelling of Stephen.
Greek #271 in US
Jeffrey Jeffrey is a boy's name from Germanic roots whose first element is genuinely disputed, though the second means peace.
Germanic #552 in US
Allen Allen is a boy's name whose meaning is genuinely unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from an unidentified Breton source.
Breton #579 in US
Ronald Ronald is a boy's name from the Old Norse Rögnvaldr, meaning ruler's counsel, brought to Scotland by Norse settlement.
Norse #638 in US
Wayne Wayne is an occupational surname meaning a wagon maker, and its life as a given name follows one man — John Wayne, who was born Marion Robert Morrison and renamed by a studio.
English #653 in US
Dennis Dennis is a boy's name that traces back to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic release — one of the few widely used Christian names derived from a pagan deity.
Greek #708 in US
Keith Keith is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, probably from a Brittonic word for a wood.
Scottish #800 in US
Roger Roger is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning famous spear.
Germanic #834 in US
Jerry Jerry is a name that serves as the short form of at least three unrelated names — Jeremiah from Hebrew, Gerald and Gerard from Germanic — so its meaning depends entirely on which one a family had in mind.
English #907 in US
Ricky Ricky is a boy's name, the pet form of Richard or Ricardo, meaning strong ruler.
Germanic #949 in US
Curtis Curtis is a boy's name from a Norman French nickname meaning courteous, and it is one of very few names that describes manners rather than birth, appearance or trade.
French #984 in US
Kelvin Kelvin is the only name on this site that is also an SI unit, and the order runs river to man to measurement — a Glasgow river gave a physicist his title, and the title was given to the scale of absolute temperature.
Scottish #1,036 in US
Gary Gary is a boy's name that reached the charts by an unusually traceable route: a surname became a steel town in Indiana, the town's name was given to an actor, and the actor made it a first name.
English #1,074 in US
Randy Randy is a boy's name, the short form of Randall or Randolph, meaning shield-wolf.
Germanic #1,088 in US
Larry Larry is a boy's name, the short form of Lawrence, from a Roman name meaning of Laurentum.
Latin #1,090 in US
Rodney Rodney is a boy's name from an English place name, and its rise as a given name follows a single admiral — George Rodney, who broke the French line at the Saintes in 1782.
English #1,091 in US
Gerald Gerald is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning rule of the spear, and it gave Ireland one of its great Norman dynasties, the FitzGeralds.
Germanic #1,208 in US
Mike Mike is a boy's name, the short form of Michael, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God.
Hebrew #1,233 in US
Kenny Kenny sits on top of two different Gaelic names that English collapsed into one — Cináed, born of fire, and Coinneach, handsome.
Scottish #1,270 in US
Dale Dale is a name from the Old English word for a valley, and like Craig and Heather it is a plain landscape noun rather than a compound.
English #1,409 in US
Randall Randall is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning shield-wolf.
Germanic #1,499 in US
Barry Barry is a boy's name from an Irish surname generally traced to a word for a spear, though a Welsh island gives a competing route.
Irish #1,526 in US
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 our gap band, carrying about 328,000 births between them.
French #1,538 in US
Jeffery Jeffery is a boy's name whose first element is genuinely disputed, though the second means peace.
Germanic #1,562 in US
Terrence Terrence descends from a Roman playwright who was born enslaved in North Africa — Terence was freed by his owner, wrote six comedies that survive complete, and shaped Latin prose style for centuries.
Latin #1,585 in US
Steve Steve is a boy's name, the short form of Steven or Stephen, meaning crown or garland.
Greek #1,615 in US
Todd Todd is a boy's name from a northern English dialect word for a fox, given as a nickname to someone crafty or red-haired.
English #1,619 in US
Kent Kent is the oldest recorded place name in England — Cantium appears in Greek writing before the Roman invasion, and its meaning was already uncertain to the Romans who wrote it down.
English #1,658 in US
Darrell Darrell does not mean beloved.
French #1,698 in US
Don Don is a boy's name shortened from Donald, meaning world ruler.
Scottish #1,794 in US
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.
Spanish #1,846 in US
Neal Neal has no agreed meaning — champion, cloud and passionate are all proposed for the Irish Niall and none is established.
Irish #1,909 in US
Pete Pete means rock, and it began as a joke about a man's character — Jesus renames Simon as Cephas, the Aramaic for a stone, and the pun works in Greek but not in English.
English #2,371 in US
Dave Dave ranks 2217th in England and Wales and 2469th 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.
Hebrew #2,469 in US
Kirk Kirk means church, and it is Norse rather than English — the Vikings brought the word to northern England and Scotland, which is why Scots say kirk where English says church.
Scottish #2,568 in US
Duane Duane means the little dark one, from an Irish surname built on the word for black — and that same root also gives us Dublin, which means the black pool that the city originally grew up around.
Irish #2,603 in US
Terence Terence has no known meaning, and its most famous bearer was a slave — the playwright Terence was North African, brought to Rome, freed, and became one of the two Latin comic dramatists whose work survives.
Latin #2,763 in US
Dwight Dwight descends from Dionysus, the Greek god of wine — through the medieval woman's name Diot, a pet form of Dionysia, which is an unusually indirect route for a masculine surname.
English #2,766 in US
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.
English #2,829 in US
Alain Alain is a boy's name, the French form of Alan, and its meaning is genuinely unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from a Breton source that has never been identified.
French #2,862 in US
Carlton Carlton means the settlement of the free peasants, and the word for those peasants became an insult — ceorl gave English churl and churlish, so the name preserves a class that the language later turned against.
English #2,898 in US
Brice Brice means speckled, and the fourth-century saint who carried it was a difficult man — Brictius succeeded Martin of Tours after years of insulting him publicly, and was driven out before being restored.
French #2,982 in US
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.
English #3,075 in US
Jim Jim is a boy's name meaning supplanter, shortened from James — which is the same name as Jacob, split into two by Latin.
English #3,160 in US
Tim Tim means honoring God, and France ranks it 277th — far above the United States at 3221st, which is the reverse of what an English short form would normally do.
English #3,221 in US
Randolph Randolph means shield-wolf, and the shield in it is specifically the rim — the Germanic rand names the edge of the shield rather than the whole thing, which is the part that met an enemy's blade.
English #5,043 in US
Thierry Thierry is a boy's name meaning ruler of the people, the French form of the Germanic Theodoric — and it is the same name as Terry, which reached English by a different route.
French #5,106 in US
Jean-Luc Jean-Luc joins God is gracious to a name meaning from Lucania, an Italian region — so the second half is a place, not the light it is usually said to mean.
French #5,132 in US

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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