Popular names of 1953, and how old they are now

People born in 1953 turn 73 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.9 million births in 1953 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 70% of them are still alive: about 2.7 million people.

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

12 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1953: Roger, Beverly, Philip, Roberta, Yvonne, Gwendolyn, Dwight, Fredrick, Bradford, Janette, Van and Ricki.

Top girl names of 1953

Most popular girl names of 1953
#	Name	Born 1953	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	64,389	49,000	66
2	Linda	61,281	47,000	70
3	Deborah	52,199	40,000	66
4	Patricia	51,019	39,000	68
5	Susan	44,297	34,000	66
6	Barbara	38,473	29,000	72
7	Debra	36,856	28,000	66
8	Nancy	30,620	23,000	68
9	Karen	29,858	23,000	63
10	Pamela	25,760	20,000	64
11	Sandra	25,500	19,000	66
12	Cynthia	25,140	19,000	60
13	Donna	24,227	19,000	68
14	Kathleen	23,731	18,000	64
15	Sharon	23,040	18,000	68
16	Carol	22,290	17,000	72
17	Diane	21,351	16,000	68
18	Brenda	20,122	15,000	63
19	Janet	17,771	14,000	68
20	Margaret	16,195	12,000	61
21	Elizabeth	16,099	12,000	44
22	Janice	14,627	11,000	70
23	Kathy	13,400	10,000	65
24	Rebecca	12,959	9,900	48
25	Carolyn	12,919	9,900	67
26	Joyce	12,796	9,800	72
27	Judy	12,735	9,700	72
28	Cheryl	12,264	9,400	65
29	Shirley	12,148	9,300	75
30	Judith	11,969	9,100	72
31	Denise	11,950	9,100	59
32	Christine	11,793	9,000	57
33	Betty	11,369	8,700	76
34	Beverly	11,240	8,600	70
35	Catherine	10,849	8,300	54
36	Marilyn	10,742	8,200	69
37	Joan	9,774	7,500	73
38	Gloria	9,680	7,400	66
39	Gail	9,585	7,300	71
40	Paula	9,557	7,300	62
41	Martha	9,263	7,100	66
42	Teresa	8,932	6,800	59
43	Jane	8,913	6,800	62
44	Peggy	8,762	6,700	71
45	Bonnie	8,615	6,600	66
46	Ann	8,579	6,600	65
47	Connie	8,575	6,600	67
48	Kathryn	8,324	6,400	51
49	Dorothy	8,162	6,200	72
50	Theresa	7,715	5,900	61

Top boy names of 1953

Most popular boy names of 1953
#	Name	Born 1953	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Robert	86,243	55,000	58
2	James	86,066	54,000	54
3	Michael	84,198	53,000	49
4	John	80,165	51,000	55
5	David	76,119	48,000	52
6	William	61,829	39,000	51
7	Richard	58,389	37,000	60
8	Thomas	47,008	30,000	53
9	Charles	38,421	24,000	54
10	Gary	36,967	23,000	65
11	Steven	33,721	21,000	52
12	Mark	29,341	19,000	56
13	Joseph	29,269	19,000	45
14	Donald	28,361	18,000	64
15	Ronald	27,713	18,000	64
16	Paul	25,509	16,000	57
17	Kenneth	25,507	16,000	57
18	Larry	25,208	16,000	65
19	Dennis	23,658	15,000	63
20	Daniel	23,498	15,000	42
21	Stephen	21,807	14,000	54
22	George	19,176	12,000	57
23	Edward	18,984	12,000	56
24	Gregory	16,160	10,000	54
25	Jeffrey	15,949	10,000	53
26	Timothy	15,187	9,600	50
27	Douglas	14,138	8,900	59
28	Bruce	14,048	8,900	63
29	Jerry	13,901	8,800	63
30	Terry	13,259	8,400	62
31	Roger	13,172	8,300	63
32	Anthony	11,693	7,400	40
33	Frank	11,180	7,100	59
34	Raymond	11,110	7,000	56
35	Randy	10,666	6,800	57
36	Kevin	10,011	6,300	45
37	Lawrence	9,856	6,200	60
38	Peter	9,729	6,200	51
39	Patrick	9,468	6,000	47
40	Wayne	8,905	5,600	63
41	Danny	8,627	5,500	57
42	Gerald	8,619	5,500	64
43	Alan	8,454	5,400	49
44	Carl	7,829	5,000	60
45	Walter	7,509	4,800	58
46	Scott	7,489	4,700	53
47	Keith	7,375	4,700	54
48	Dale	7,350	4,700	64
49	Willie	7,056	4,500	64
50	Arthur	7,001	4,400	54

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1953, 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 1953. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1953 babies. How we calculate this