Popular names of 1961, and how old they are now

People born in 1961 turn 65 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 4.1 million births in 1961 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 81% of them are still alive: about 3.3 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 1961: Teresa, Robin, Denise, Theresa, Jeff, Chris, Tony, Beth, Carla, Jackie, Greg and Darryl.

Top girl names of 1961

Most popular girl names of 1961
#	Name	Born 1961	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Mary	47,682	41,000	66
2	Lisa	42,720	36,000	56
3	Susan	37,532	32,000	66
4	Linda	35,597	30,000	70
5	Karen	34,707	30,000	63
6	Patricia	28,889	25,000	68
7	Donna	28,679	24,000	68
8	Cynthia	24,393	21,000	60
9	Sandra	24,153	21,000	66
10	Deborah	24,107	21,000	66
11	Brenda	23,781	20,000	63
12	Barbara	23,002	20,000	72
13	Debra	22,160	19,000	66
14	Lori	21,876	19,000	58
15	Pamela	21,691	18,000	64
16	Nancy	20,729	18,000	68
17	Sharon	20,459	17,000	68
18	Teresa	18,909	16,000	59
19	Elizabeth	18,855	16,000	44
20	Cheryl	18,301	16,000	65
21	Laura	17,901	15,000	51
22	Kimberly	17,355	15,000	48
23	Julie	17,040	15,000	55
24	Carol	16,667	14,000	72
25	Kathy	16,385	14,000	65
26	Diane	16,205	14,000	68
27	Robin	15,653	13,000	58
28	Tammy	15,532	13,000	58
29	Kathleen	15,395	13,000	64
30	Denise	15,379	13,000	59
31	Debbie	14,882	13,000	64
32	Janet	13,930	12,000	68
33	Cindy	13,388	11,000	57
34	Michelle	12,741	11,000	48
35	Theresa	11,960	10,000	61
36	Kim	11,367	9,700	63
37	Jacqueline	10,983	9,300	51
38	Angela	10,843	9,200	49
39	Christine	10,598	9,000	57
40	Margaret	10,559	9,000	61
41	Tina	10,521	9,000	56
42	Carolyn	10,509	8,900	67
43	Laurie	10,435	8,900	61
44	Rebecca	10,236	8,700	48
45	Kelly	9,642	8,200	48
46	Rhonda	9,469	8,100	61
47	Jennifer	9,265	7,900	46
48	Catherine	9,251	7,900	54
49	Dawn	9,148	7,800	57
50	Connie	8,986	7,600	67

Top boy names of 1961

Most popular boy names of 1961
#	Name	Born 1961	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	86,974	66,000	49
2	David	84,810	65,000	52
3	John	79,983	61,000	55
4	James	75,969	58,000	54
5	Robert	72,977	56,000	58
6	Mark	57,796	44,000	56
7	William	48,045	37,000	51
8	Richard	41,142	31,000	60
9	Thomas	37,565	29,000	53
10	Steven	32,275	25,000	52
11	Jeffrey	32,029	24,000	53
12	Joseph	29,450	23,000	45
13	Charles	29,194	22,000	54
14	Kevin	28,926	22,000	45
15	Timothy	28,253	22,000	50
16	Kenneth	26,100	20,000	57
17	Daniel	25,904	20,000	42
18	Paul	25,640	20,000	57
19	Scott	23,934	18,000	53
20	Brian	22,566	17,000	48
21	Gary	22,174	17,000	65
22	Donald	21,409	16,000	64
23	Gregory	21,364	16,000	54
24	Ronald	20,842	16,000	64
25	Anthony	20,209	15,000	40
26	Christopher	17,223	13,000	41
27	Stephen	16,069	12,000	54
28	Douglas	15,978	12,000	59
29	Edward	15,877	12,000	56
30	Larry	14,580	11,000	65
31	George	13,644	10,000	57
32	Terry	13,194	10,000	62
33	Randy	12,603	9,600	57
34	Dennis	12,503	9,600	63
35	Keith	12,275	9,400	54
36	Mike	11,667	8,900	63
37	Jerry	11,381	8,700	63
38	Eric	11,111	8,500	44
39	Patrick	11,052	8,400	47
40	Bruce	10,705	8,200	63
41	Frank	10,433	8,000	59
42	Peter	10,349	7,900	51
43	Craig	10,235	7,800	56
44	Ricky	10,027	7,700	56
45	Steve	9,997	7,600	61
46	Todd	9,750	7,500	54
47	Roger	9,652	7,400	63
48	Raymond	9,618	7,400	56
49	Jeff	9,463	7,200	60
50	Jeffery	8,923	6,800	54

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1961, 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 1961. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1961 babies. How we calculate this