Popular names of 1959, and how old they are now

People born in 1959 turn 67 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 4.2 million births in 1959 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 78% of them are still alive: about 3.2 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 1959: Donna, Timothy, Debbie, Steve, Terri, Valerie, Anne, Jim, Tom, Becky, Pam and Dave.

Top girl names of 1959

Most popular girl names of 1959
#	Name	Born 1959	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	54,502	45,000	66
2	Susan	41,617	35,000	66
3	Linda	40,410	34,000	70
4	Karen	36,784	31,000	63
5	Donna	36,468	30,000	68
6	Patricia	35,223	29,000	68
7	Debra	31,388	26,000	66
8	Cynthia	30,186	25,000	60
9	Deborah	29,546	25,000	66
10	Lisa	25,699	21,000	56
11	Barbara	25,359	21,000	72
12	Pamela	24,714	21,000	64
13	Sandra	23,359	19,000	66
14	Nancy	23,079	19,000	68
15	Kathy	21,814	18,000	65
16	Brenda	21,424	18,000	63
17	Sharon	21,292	18,000	68
18	Cheryl	20,947	17,000	65
19	Diane	19,972	17,000	68
20	Debbie	19,540	16,000	64
21	Elizabeth	18,421	15,000	44
22	Carol	18,140	15,000	72
23	Kathleen	17,629	15,000	64
24	Teresa	17,400	14,000	59
25	Cindy	16,973	14,000	57
26	Julie	16,211	13,000	55
27	Lori	15,032	12,000	58
28	Janet	14,964	12,000	68
29	Denise	14,662	12,000	59
30	Laura	14,528	12,000	51
31	Tammy	13,707	11,000	58
32	Robin	12,854	11,000	58
33	Kimberly	12,790	11,000	48
34	Theresa	11,656	9,700	61
35	Kim	11,594	9,600	63
36	Margaret	11,577	9,600	61
37	Janice	10,489	8,700	70
38	Rebecca	10,475	8,700	48
39	Cathy	10,408	8,700	65
40	Catherine	10,025	8,300	54
41	Judy	9,884	8,200	72
42	Carolyn	9,727	8,100	67
43	Christine	9,471	7,900	57
44	Ann	8,918	7,400	65
45	Rhonda	8,861	7,400	61
46	Terri	8,783	7,300	61
47	Michelle	8,776	7,300	48
48	Connie	8,655	7,200	67
49	Diana	8,637	7,200	52
50	Joyce	8,520	7,100	72

Top boy names of 1959

Most popular boy names of 1959
#	Name	Born 1959	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	85,294	63,000	49
2	David	83,977	62,000	52
3	James	78,648	58,000	54
4	John	76,446	56,000	55
5	Robert	74,542	55,000	58
6	Mark	56,945	42,000	56
7	William	51,386	38,000	51
8	Richard	47,202	35,000	60
9	Thomas	40,296	30,000	53
10	Steven	33,597	25,000	52
11	Charles	30,797	23,000	54
12	Timothy	30,783	23,000	50
13	Joseph	29,539	22,000	45
14	Kevin	26,790	20,000	45
15	Kenneth	26,640	20,000	57
16	Jeffrey	26,281	19,000	53
17	Paul	25,712	19,000	57
18	Daniel	25,155	18,000	42
19	Donald	23,876	18,000	64
20	Gary	23,303	17,000	65
21	Ronald	23,114	17,000	64
22	Brian	20,737	15,000	48
23	Gregory	19,889	15,000	54
24	Scott	19,765	15,000	53
25	Larry	18,434	14,000	65
26	Anthony	17,972	13,000	40
27	Edward	16,914	12,000	56
28	Stephen	16,504	12,000	54
29	Dennis	16,043	12,000	63
30	Douglas	15,290	11,000	59
31	Randy	15,042	11,000	57
32	George	15,012	11,000	57
33	Terry	14,545	11,000	62
34	Ricky	13,226	9,700	56
35	Christopher	12,915	9,500	41
36	Jerry	12,324	9,100	63
37	Mike	11,995	8,800	63
38	Bruce	11,914	8,700	63
39	Keith	11,758	8,600	54
40	Peter	11,289	8,300	51
41	Steve	11,068	8,100	61
42	Frank	10,942	8,000	59
43	Patrick	10,556	7,800	47
44	Craig	9,933	7,300	56
45	Raymond	9,796	7,200	56
46	Eric	9,726	7,100	44
47	Roger	8,794	6,500	63
48	Danny	8,727	6,400	57
49	Dale	8,343	6,100	64
50	Alan	8,151	6,000	49

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1959, 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 1959. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1959 babies. How we calculate this