Popular names of 1950, and how old they are now

People born in 1950 turn 76 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.5 million births in 1950 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 64% of them are still alive: about 2.3 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).

7 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1950: Constance, Glenda, Bonita, Ilene, Nona, Jacque and Roseanne.

Top girl names of 1950

Most popular girl names of 1950
#	Name	Born 1950	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Linda	80,433	57,000	70
2	Mary	65,481	47,000	66
3	Patricia	47,944	34,000	68
4	Barbara	41,556	30,000	72
5	Susan	38,017	27,000	66
6	Nancy	29,617	21,000	68
7	Deborah	29,063	21,000	66
8	Sandra	28,896	21,000	66
9	Carol	26,163	19,000	72
10	Kathleen	25,706	18,000	64
11	Sharon	24,612	18,000	68
12	Karen	24,132	17,000	63
13	Donna	21,629	15,000	68
14	Brenda	20,799	15,000	63
15	Margaret	18,110	13,000	61
16	Diane	17,636	13,000	68
17	Pamela	16,202	12,000	64
18	Janet	16,193	12,000	68
19	Shirley	15,891	11,000	75
20	Carolyn	15,588	11,000	67
21	Judith	15,352	11,000	72
22	Janice	15,012	11,000	70
23	Cynthia	14,447	10,000	60
24	Elizabeth	14,334	10,000	44
25	Judy	14,207	10,000	72
26	Betty	13,615	9,700	76
27	Joyce	13,415	9,600	72
28	Christine	12,673	9,000	57
29	Cheryl	11,823	8,400	65
30	Gloria	11,037	7,900	66
31	Beverly	10,503	7,500	70
32	Martha	9,839	7,000	66
33	Bonnie	9,746	7,000	66
34	Catherine	9,655	6,900	54
35	Dorothy	9,551	6,800	72
36	Rebecca	9,425	6,700	48
37	Marilyn	9,285	6,600	69
38	Kathy	9,090	6,500	65
39	Jane	8,964	6,400	62
40	Joan	8,860	6,300	73
41	Peggy	8,532	6,100	71
42	Gail	8,350	6,000	71
43	Virginia	8,312	5,900	66
44	Connie	8,145	5,800	67
45	Ann	7,921	5,700	65
46	Kathryn	7,863	5,600	51
47	Diana	7,447	5,300	52
48	Jean	7,432	5,300	69
49	Ruth	7,128	5,100	62
50	Helen	7,061	5,000	66

Top boy names of 1950

Most popular boy names of 1950
#	Name	Born 1950	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	James	86,228	50,000	54
2	Robert	83,553	48,000	58
3	John	79,412	46,000	55
4	Michael	65,136	38,000	49
5	David	60,729	35,000	52
6	William	60,680	35,000	51
7	Richard	51,003	29,000	60
8	Thomas	45,596	26,000	53
9	Charles	39,095	23,000	54
10	Gary	33,737	19,000	65
11	Larry	31,480	18,000	65
12	Ronald	29,908	17,000	64
13	Joseph	27,022	16,000	45
14	Donald	26,999	16,000	64
15	Kenneth	23,813	14,000	57
16	Steven	23,250	13,000	52
17	Dennis	22,862	13,000	63
18	Paul	21,742	13,000	57
19	Stephen	20,511	12,000	54
20	George	20,183	12,000	57
21	Daniel	19,189	11,000	42
22	Edward	18,714	11,000	56
23	Mark	16,604	9,600	56
24	Jerry	15,261	8,800	63
25	Gregory	13,311	7,700	54
26	Bruce	12,674	7,300	63
27	Roger	12,552	7,200	63
28	Douglas	12,264	7,100	59
29	Frank	11,606	6,700	59
30	Terry	11,433	6,600	62
31	Raymond	11,180	6,400	56
32	Timothy	10,499	6,100	50
33	Lawrence	10,173	5,900	60
34	Gerald	9,726	5,600	64
35	Wayne	9,259	5,300	63
36	Anthony	8,612	5,000	40
37	Peter	8,362	4,800	51
38	Patrick	8,179	4,700	47
39	Danny	8,143	4,700	57
40	Walter	7,798	4,500	58
41	Alan	7,737	4,500	49
42	Willie	7,717	4,400	64
43	Jeffrey	7,644	4,400	53
44	Carl	7,288	4,200	60
45	Harold	7,214	4,200	66
46	Arthur	7,161	4,100	54
47	Henry	6,963	4,000	34
48	Jack	6,840	3,900	34
49	Dale	6,785	3,900	64
50	Johnny	6,581	3,800	54

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1950, 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 1950. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1950 babies. How we calculate this