Popular names of 1954, and how old they are now

People born in 1954 turn 72 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 4 million births in 1954 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 71% of them are still alive: about 2.8 million people.

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

12 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1954: Deborah, Pamela, Janet, Danny, Vicki, Jo, Stanley, Jan, Jerome, Roxanne, Garry and Neil.

Top girl names of 1954

Most popular girl names of 1954
#	Name	Born 1954	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	68,019	53,000	66
2	Linda	55,371	43,000	70
3	Deborah	54,674	43,000	66
4	Patricia	49,149	38,000	68
5	Susan	47,162	37,000	66
6	Debra	45,896	36,000	66
7	Barbara	36,368	28,000	72
8	Karen	32,456	25,000	63
9	Nancy	30,270	24,000	68
10	Cynthia	27,615	21,000	60
11	Donna	27,429	21,000	68
12	Pamela	27,361	21,000	64
13	Sandra	26,061	20,000	66
14	Kathleen	22,455	17,000	64
15	Carol	22,247	17,000	72
16	Sharon	22,220	17,000	68
17	Diane	22,053	17,000	68
18	Brenda	19,609	15,000	63
19	Janet	18,477	14,000	68
20	Elizabeth	16,584	13,000	44
21	Margaret	15,226	12,000	61
22	Cheryl	15,015	12,000	65
23	Kathy	14,175	11,000	65
24	Denise	13,716	11,000	59
25	Janice	13,505	11,000	70
26	Rebecca	13,208	10,000	48
27	Carolyn	12,153	9,500	67
28	Joyce	12,088	9,400	72
29	Judy	11,632	9,100	72
30	Judith	11,195	8,700	72
31	Beverly	11,155	8,700	70
32	Catherine	11,079	8,600	54
33	Shirley	10,909	8,500	75
34	Teresa	10,841	8,400	59
35	Marilyn	10,814	8,400	69
36	Betty	10,620	8,300	76
37	Gail	9,726	7,600	71
38	Paula	9,686	7,500	62
39	Connie	9,636	7,500	67
40	Joan	9,521	7,400	73
41	Robin	9,044	7,000	58
42	Gloria	8,923	6,900	66
43	Christine	8,788	6,800	57
44	Ann	8,751	6,800	65
45	Laura	8,719	6,800	51
46	Martha	8,596	6,700	66
47	Theresa	8,509	6,600	61
48	Peggy	8,454	6,600	71
49	Jane	8,343	6,500	62
50	Vicki	8,221	6,400	67

Top boy names of 1954

Most popular boy names of 1954
#	Name	Born 1954	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	88,568	58,000	49
2	Robert	86,331	56,000	58
3	James	86,311	56,000	54
4	John	81,168	53,000	55
5	David	79,556	52,000	52
6	William	61,426	40,000	51
7	Richard	57,042	37,000	60
8	Thomas	47,159	31,000	53
9	Gary	37,920	25,000	65
10	Charles	37,463	24,000	54
11	Steven	36,628	24,000	52
12	Mark	36,198	24,000	56
13	Joseph	31,221	20,000	45
14	Donald	29,279	19,000	64
15	Ronald	27,625	18,000	64
16	Paul	26,220	17,000	57
17	Kenneth	26,186	17,000	57
18	Daniel	25,275	16,000	42
19	Larry	24,614	16,000	65
20	Stephen	21,878	14,000	54
21	Dennis	20,758	14,000	63
22	Edward	19,493	13,000	56
23	Jeffrey	19,052	12,000	53
24	George	18,704	12,000	57
25	Gregory	17,625	11,000	54
26	Timothy	17,427	11,000	50
27	Terry	15,553	10,000	62
28	Kevin	15,322	10,000	45
29	Douglas	14,703	9,600	59
30	Bruce	14,155	9,200	63
31	Jerry	13,681	8,900	63
32	Anthony	13,124	8,600	40
33	Randy	12,638	8,200	57
34	Roger	11,717	7,600	63
35	Raymond	11,242	7,300	56
36	Frank	10,995	7,200	59
37	Peter	10,085	6,600	51
38	Patrick	9,927	6,500	47
39	Lawrence	9,606	6,300	60
40	Scott	9,457	6,200	53
41	Wayne	9,175	6,000	63
42	Danny	9,103	5,900	57
43	Alan	8,711	5,700	49
44	Gerald	8,552	5,600	64
45	Keith	8,355	5,400	54
46	Ricky	8,164	5,300	56
47	Carl	8,137	5,300	60
48	Brian	8,078	5,300	48
49	Walter	7,486	4,900	58
50	Dale	7,439	4,900	64

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1954, 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 1954. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1954 babies. How we calculate this