Midcentury Unisex 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

9 names, most popular first in the United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

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
Jackie Jackie is the third most evenly divided name on this site — 48.9 percent of recorded births are female, behind only Emerson and Riley among names with more than 50,000 births.
English #2,166 in US
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.
Latin #3,011 in US
Kay Kay serves two unrelated sources — the initial of Katherine, and Sir Kay of Arthurian legend, who is Arthur's foster brother and one of the oldest figures in the whole cycle.
English #3,916 in US
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.
English #4,263 in US
Jacky Jacky is 98 percent male on record, which is the reverse of the English Jackie — France took it as a boy's name and kept it, while English-speaking countries made it a woman's.
French #11,096 in US
Martine Martine is a girl's name meaning of Mars, the French feminine of Martin.
French #11,505 in US
Daniele Daniele means God is my judge, and it is masculine in Italy and feminine in France — the same spelling, opposite sexes, and birth records are 99 percent female because the French use dominates.
French #13,878 in US
Lorry Lorry is a unisex name that began as a pet form of Laurence, from the Latin Laurentius, "from Laurentum."
Latin, English 1,605 births

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Midcentury Unisex Names

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