Popular names of 1947, and how old they are now

People born in 1947 turn 79 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.6 million births in 1947 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 58% of them are still alive: about 2.1 million people.

The year's top names were Linda for girls and James for boys. Babies born that year are Baby Boomers (see Boomer names).

12 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1947: Linda, James, Robert, John, William, Barbara, Charles, Larry, Ronald, Sandra, Nancy and Sharon.

Top girl names of 1947

Most popular girl names of 1947
#	Name	Born 1947	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Linda	99,692	64,000	70
2	Mary	71,690	46,000	66
3	Patricia	51,278	33,000	68
4	Barbara	48,800	31,000	72
5	Sandra	34,779	22,000	66
6	Carol	33,543	22,000	72
7	Nancy	32,445	21,000	68
8	Susan	31,952	21,000	66
9	Sharon	28,533	18,000	68
10	Donna	23,517	15,000	68
11	Kathleen	22,095	14,000	64
12	Judith	21,996	14,000	72
13	Karen	21,648	14,000	63
14	Judy	21,037	14,000	72
15	Carolyn	20,742	13,000	67
16	Margaret	20,101	13,000	61
17	Betty	18,966	12,000	76
18	Diane	17,775	11,000	68
19	Shirley	17,648	11,000	75
20	Joyce	15,915	10,000	72
21	Brenda	15,830	10,000	63
22	Janice	15,409	9,900	70
23	Janet	15,236	9,800	68
24	Cheryl	13,890	9,000	65
25	Elizabeth	13,440	8,700	44
26	Dorothy	12,753	8,200	72
27	Gloria	12,627	8,100	66
28	Pamela	12,398	8,000	64
29	Marilyn	11,881	7,700	69
30	Joan	11,277	7,300	73
31	Beverly	11,205	7,200	70
32	Martha	10,651	6,900	66
33	Cynthia	10,530	6,800	60
34	Virginia	10,407	6,700	66
35	Bonnie	10,214	6,600	66
36	Jane	9,943	6,400	62
37	Phyllis	9,187	5,900	74
38	Helen	8,979	5,800	66
39	Frances	8,943	5,800	67
40	Jean	8,940	5,800	69
41	Ann	8,894	5,700	65
42	Peggy	8,877	5,700	71
43	Connie	8,645	5,600	67
44	Ruth	8,482	5,500	62
45	Christine	8,379	5,400	57
46	Catherine	7,889	5,100	54
47	Alice	7,849	5,100	53
48	Diana	7,622	4,900	52
49	Gail	7,242	4,700	71
50	Elaine	7,059	4,600	64

Top boy names of 1947

Most popular boy names of 1947
#	Name	Born 1947	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	James	94,767	48,000	54
2	Robert	91,655	47,000	58
3	John	88,324	45,000	55
4	William	67,002	34,000	51
5	Richard	58,532	30,000	60
6	David	57,810	29,000	52
7	Michael	50,506	26,000	49
8	Thomas	44,842	23,000	53
9	Charles	40,781	21,000	54
10	Larry	34,946	18,000	65
11	Ronald	34,899	18,000	64
12	Gary	30,029	15,000	65
13	Donald	28,260	14,000	64
14	Joseph	27,520	14,000	45
15	Kenneth	24,586	12,000	57
16	George	23,916	12,000	57
17	Dennis	23,686	12,000	63
18	Paul	22,796	12,000	57
19	Edward	20,539	10,000	56
20	Jerry	18,794	9,500	63
21	Stephen	15,328	7,800	54
22	Daniel	15,189	7,700	42
23	Frank	13,994	7,100	59
24	Steven	13,528	6,900	52
25	Roger	12,760	6,500	63
26	Terry	12,751	6,500	62
27	Raymond	12,352	6,300	56
28	Gerald	10,750	5,500	64
29	Bruce	10,524	5,300	63
30	Wayne	10,169	5,200	63
31	Douglas	9,895	5,000	59
32	Lawrence	9,582	4,900	60
33	Gregory	9,327	4,700	54
34	Walter	9,218	4,700	58
35	Harold	8,904	4,500	66
36	Peter	8,590	4,400	51
37	Jack	8,507	4,300	34
38	Arthur	8,255	4,200	54
39	Danny	8,069	4,100	57
40	Carl	8,050	4,100	60
41	Anthony	8,014	4,100	40
42	Willie	7,997	4,100	64
43	Joe	7,904	4,000	61
44	Jimmy	7,881	4,000	57
45	Alan	7,823	4,000	49
46	Henry	7,807	4,000	34
47	Mark	7,773	3,900	56
48	Roy	7,560	3,800	60
49	Johnny	7,441	3,800	54
50	Ralph	7,389	3,700	65

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1947, from Social Security's records. “Alive today” estimates how many of them are still living, using SSA's cohort life tables for people born in 1947. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1947 babies. How we calculate this