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

166 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.
Boy 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.
Boy Germanic #552 in US
Jacqueline Jacqueline is a girl's name, the French feminine of Jacques, and it inherits the meaning supplanter from Jacob.
Girl French #558 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.
Boy 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.
Boy 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.
Boy 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.
Boy Greek #708 in US
Marilyn Marilyn is a girl's name usually read as a blend of Mary and Lyn.
Girl English #760 in US
Keith Keith is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, probably from a Brittonic word for a wood.
Boy Scottish #800 in US
Roger Roger is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning famous spear.
Boy Germanic #834 in US
Paula Paula is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
Girl Latin #853 in US
Deborah Deborah is a girl's name from the Hebrew for bee, borne by the only woman to lead Israel as a judge.
Girl Hebrew #865 in US
Linda Linda is a girl's name usually read as beautiful in Spanish or as a Germanic element meaning soft or tender.
Girl Spanish #902 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.
Boy English #907 in US
Darla Darla is a girl's name coined in twentieth-century America from the word darling.
Girl English #942 in US
Ricky Ricky is a boy's name, the pet form of Richard or Ricardo, meaning strong ruler.
Boy Germanic #949 in US
Barbara Barbara is a girl's name from the Greek for foreign or strange, the feminine of the word that gives us barbarian.
Girl Greek #969 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.
Boy French #984 in US
Cynthia Cynthia is a girl's name that began as a title for the moon goddess — it means she of Mount Cynthus, the peak on Delos where Artemis was said to have been born.
Girl Greek #1,013 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.
Boy 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.
Boy English #1,074 in US
Randy Randy is a boy's name, the short form of Randall or Randolph, meaning shield-wolf.
Boy Germanic #1,088 in US
Susan Susan is a girl's name from a Hebrew word for lily, taken in turn from an Egyptian word for lotus.
Girl Hebrew #1,090 in US
Larry Larry is a boy's name, the short form of Lawrence, from a Roman name meaning of Laurentum.
Boy 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.
Boy English #1,091 in US
Renee Renee is a girl's name from the Latin for reborn, given at baptism to mark spiritual rebirth.
Girl French #1,101 in US
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.
Unisex English #1,116 in US
Kathleen Kathleen is a girl's name anglicizing the Irish Caitlín, a form of Catherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
Girl Irish #1,158 in US
Sandra Sandra is a girl's name that began as an Italian short form of Alessandra and became independent in the twentieth century.
Girl Italian #1,207 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.
Boy Germanic #1,208 in US
Carolyn Carolyn is a girl's name, an English elaboration of Caroline meaning free man through Charles.
Girl English #1,222 in US
Mike Mike is a boy's name, the short form of Michael, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God.
Boy Hebrew #1,233 in US
Sharon Sharon is a girl's name taken from a place rather than a person — the fertile coastal plain of Sharon in Israel, known from the rose of Sharon in the Song of Songs.
Girl Hebrew #1,252 in US
Kenny Kenny sits on top of two different Gaelic names that English collapsed into one — Cináed, born of fire, and Coinneach, handsome.
Boy Scottish #1,270 in US
Christine Christine is a girl's name from the Latin for a follower of Christ, the French form of Christina.
Girl Latin #1,272 in US
Karen Karen is a girl's name, the Danish form of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning.
Girl Danish #1,284 in US
Patricia Patricia is a girl's name from the Latin for noble or patrician, the feminine of Patrick.
Girl Latin #1,338 in US
Wendy Wendy is usually credited to J.
Girl English #1,345 in US
Anita Anita is a girl's name, the Spanish diminutive of Ana, meaning grace.
Girl Spanish #1,347 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.
Boy English #1,409 in US
Annette Annette is a girl's name meaning grace, a French diminutive of Anne.
Girl French #1,449 in US
Randall Randall is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning shield-wolf.
Boy 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.
Boy Irish #1,526 in US
Brenda Brenda is a girl's name from an Old Norse word for a sword or a torch, and it appears to have been invented for a novel — Walter Scott used it in The Pirate in 1822, and no earlier use is recorded.
Girl Norse #1,528 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.
Boy French #1,538 in US
Jeffery Jeffery is a boy's name whose first element is genuinely disputed, though the second means peace.
Boy 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.
Boy Latin #1,585 in US
Steve Steve is a boy's name, the short form of Steven or Stephen, meaning crown or garland.
Boy Greek #1,615 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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