Popular names of 1952, and how old they are now

People born in 1952 turn 74 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.8 million births in 1952 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 68% of them are still alive: about 2.6 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 1952: Thomas, Gary, Dennis, Stephen, Christine, Lawrence, Kathryn, Marsha, Frederick, Charlene, Claudia and Gordon.

Top girl names of 1952

Most popular girl names of 1952
#	Name	Born 1952	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Linda	67,082	50,000	70
2	Mary	65,629	49,000	66
3	Patricia	53,101	40,000	68
4	Deborah	49,811	37,000	66
5	Susan	41,348	31,000	66
6	Barbara	39,864	30,000	72
7	Nancy	31,739	24,000	68
8	Karen	28,956	22,000	63
9	Debra	26,832	20,000	66
10	Sandra	26,097	20,000	66
11	Kathleen	25,767	19,000	64
12	Carol	24,000	18,000	72
13	Donna	23,718	18,000	68
14	Sharon	23,386	18,000	68
15	Brenda	21,439	16,000	63
16	Diane	21,063	16,000	68
17	Pamela	20,879	16,000	64
18	Cynthia	19,878	15,000	60
19	Janet	17,921	13,000	68
20	Christine	17,548	13,000	57
21	Margaret	17,102	13,000	61
22	Elizabeth	16,022	12,000	44
23	Janice	14,978	11,000	70
24	Carolyn	14,272	11,000	67
25	Judith	14,064	11,000	72
26	Judy	13,632	10,000	72
27	Joyce	13,126	9,800	72
28	Shirley	12,529	9,400	75
29	Kathy	12,369	9,300	65
30	Rebecca	12,227	9,200	48
31	Cheryl	12,201	9,100	65
32	Betty	12,129	9,100	76
33	Denise	11,652	8,700	59
34	Catherine	11,053	8,300	54
35	Beverly	10,547	7,900	70
36	Gloria	10,458	7,800	66
37	Joan	10,278	7,700	73
38	Marilyn	9,803	7,300	69
39	Gail	9,760	7,300	71
40	Martha	9,696	7,300	66
41	Bonnie	9,383	7,000	66
42	Jane	9,322	7,000	62
43	Peggy	8,990	6,700	71
44	Connie	8,756	6,600	67
45	Ann	8,653	6,500	65
46	Dorothy	8,609	6,400	72
47	Paula	8,567	6,400	62
48	Kathryn	8,504	6,400	51
49	Virginia	8,161	6,100	66
50	Jean	7,511	5,600	69

Top boy names of 1952

Most popular boy names of 1952
#	Name	Born 1952	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	James	87,065	53,000	54
2	Robert	86,588	53,000	58
3	John	83,140	51,000	55
4	Michael	79,037	49,000	49
5	David	71,752	44,000	52
6	William	63,039	39,000	51
7	Richard	58,350	36,000	60
8	Thomas	48,647	30,000	53
9	Charles	38,866	24,000	54
10	Gary	38,754	24,000	65
11	Steven	32,037	20,000	52
12	Joseph	28,510	18,000	45
13	Donald	28,269	17,000	64
14	Larry	28,239	17,000	65
15	Ronald	27,800	17,000	64
16	Kenneth	25,909	16,000	57
17	Mark	25,678	16,000	56
18	Dennis	24,552	15,000	63
19	Paul	24,292	15,000	57
20	Daniel	23,418	14,000	42
21	Stephen	23,055	14,000	54
22	George	19,821	12,000	57
23	Edward	19,501	12,000	56
24	Gregory	15,191	9,300	54
25	Bruce	14,480	8,900	63
26	Jerry	14,438	8,900	63
27	Timothy	14,167	8,700	50
28	Douglas	13,680	8,400	59
29	Terry	12,438	7,600	62
30	Roger	12,132	7,500	63
31	Jeffrey	12,006	7,400	53
32	Frank	11,268	6,900	59
33	Raymond	11,235	6,900	56
34	Anthony	11,188	6,900	40
35	Lawrence	10,302	6,300	60
36	Peter	9,586	5,900	51
37	Patrick	9,175	5,600	47
38	Wayne	9,087	5,600	63
39	Gerald	9,031	5,500	64
40	Danny	8,821	5,400	57
41	Randy	8,646	5,300	57
42	Alan	8,310	5,100	49
43	Kevin	7,916	4,900	45
44	Walter	7,897	4,900	58
45	Carl	7,823	4,800	60
46	Dale	7,417	4,600	64
47	Arthur	7,236	4,400	54
48	Willie	7,197	4,400	64
49	Keith	7,174	4,400	54
50	Henry	6,974	4,300	34

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1952, 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 1952. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1952 babies. How we calculate this