Popular 1950s names, and how old they are now

Babies born in the 1950s are 67 to 76 years old in 2026. Social Security recorded about 39 million of them under names it lists, and by our estimate 72% are still alive: about 28 million people.

The decade's top names were Mary for girls and James for boys. Of the top ten for each, 11 still go to at least 1,000 babies a year.

Top 1950s girl names

Most popular girl names of the 1950s
#	Name	Born 1950s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	625,606	490,000	66
2	Linda	564,364	430,000	70
3	Patricia	459,681	360,000	68
4	Susan	437,774	340,000	66
5	Deborah	430,537	340,000	66
6	Barbara	345,722	270,000	72
7	Debra	341,348	270,000	66
8	Karen	332,531	260,000	63
9	Nancy	286,812	220,000	68
10	Donna	270,338	210,000	68
11	Cynthia	263,432	210,000	60
12	Sandra	251,591	200,000	66
13	Pamela	237,398	190,000	64
14	Sharon	232,807	180,000	68
15	Kathleen	224,342	170,000	64
16	Carol	222,656	170,000	72
17	Diane	210,624	160,000	68
18	Brenda	209,241	160,000	63
19	Cheryl	171,387	140,000	65
20	Janet	167,520	130,000	68
21	Elizabeth	165,656	130,000	44
22	Kathy	157,930	120,000	65
23	Margaret	149,582	120,000	61
24	Janice	133,620	100,000	70
25	Carolyn	124,067	96,000	67
26	Denise	123,783	98,000	59
27	Judy	118,060	91,000	72
28	Rebecca	115,690	90,000	48
29	Joyce	114,984	89,000	72
30	Teresa	114,283	91,000	59
31	Christine	113,340	88,000	57
32	Catherine	108,839	85,000	54
33	Shirley	108,807	84,000	75
34	Judith	108,758	84,000	72
35	Betty	103,204	80,000	76
36	Beverly	97,790	76,000	70
37	Lisa	95,824	77,000	56
38	Laura	95,526	75,000	51
39	Theresa	89,608	71,000	61
40	Connie	88,799	69,000	67
41	Ann	87,047	68,000	65
42	Gloria	86,705	67,000	66
43	Julie	86,689	69,000	55
44	Gail	85,618	66,000	71
45	Joan	85,179	66,000	73
46	Paula	84,869	66,000	62
47	Peggy	84,293	66,000	71
48	Cindy	83,979	68,000	57
49	Martha	83,190	64,000	66
50	Bonnie	83,013	64,000	66

Top 1950s boy names

Most popular boy names of the 1950s
#	Name	Born 1950s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	James	843,768	550,000	54
2	Michael	837,471	550,000	49
3	Robert	830,395	550,000	58
4	John	797,922	520,000	55
5	David	769,963	510,000	52
6	William	591,228	390,000	51
7	Richard	535,461	350,000	60
8	Thomas	454,385	300,000	53
9	Mark	382,589	260,000	56
10	Charles	361,177	240,000	54
11	Steven	333,666	220,000	52
12	Gary	329,933	220,000	65
13	Joseph	300,012	200,000	45
14	Donald	273,574	180,000	64
15	Ronald	271,139	180,000	64
16	Kenneth	262,819	170,000	57
17	Paul	253,202	170,000	57
18	Larry	245,698	160,000	65
19	Daniel	243,727	160,000	42
20	Stephen	207,276	140,000	54
21	Dennis	204,267	130,000	63
22	Timothy	198,324	130,000	50
23	Edward	188,323	120,000	56
24	Jeffrey	184,668	120,000	53
25	George	181,031	120,000	57
26	Gregory	178,457	120,000	54
27	Kevin	159,010	110,000	45
28	Douglas	148,205	98,000	59
29	Terry	140,724	93,000	62
30	Anthony	136,647	92,000	40
31	Jerry	136,567	89,000	63
32	Bruce	136,457	90,000	63
33	Randy	120,537	81,000	57
34	Brian	112,336	77,000	48
35	Frank	112,321	74,000	59
36	Scott	111,819	76,000	53
37	Roger	110,158	72,000	63
38	Raymond	108,928	72,000	56
39	Peter	102,747	68,000	51
40	Patrick	96,851	64,000	47
41	Keith	91,235	61,000	54
42	Lawrence	91,110	59,000	60
43	Wayne	88,092	58,000	63
44	Danny	86,640	57,000	57
45	Alan	83,976	55,000	49
46	Gerald	82,626	54,000	64
47	Ricky	79,170	54,000	56
48	Carl	78,752	52,000	60
49	Christopher	78,333	53,000	41
50	Dale	75,567	50,000	64

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in the 1950s, from Social Security's records. “Alive today” estimates how many of those babies are still living, using SSA's cohort life tables. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1950s babies. How we calculate this