Baby Names of the 1950s and 1960s
American Postwar Naming Trends for the Baby Boomer Generation
May 21, 2007
In post World War II, America, there were plenty of couples in search of baby names. After the war ended, young people started families and the large Baby Boomer Generation was born between 1946-1966. . The 1950s was a decade of conformity, so unusual names were not as typical as they became in the 1980s and beyond. With a few exceptions, ethnic and Biblical names also were not used commonly either. Here's a list of the names that were most popular in the 1950s and 1960s and a discussion of the naming trends in these postwar decades.
Top girl's names of the 1950s: Mary, Linda, Patricia, Susan, Deborah, Barbara, Debra, Karen, Nancy, and Barbara
Top girl's names of the 1960s: Lisa, Mary, Susan, Karen, Kimberly, Patricia, Linda, Donna, Michelle, and Cynthia
Top boy's names of the 1950s: James, Michael, Robert, John, David, William, Richard, Thomas, Mark, and Charles
Top boy's names of the 1960s: Michael, David, John, James, Robert, Mark, William, Richard, Thomas, and Jeffrey
(Source: Social Security Administration)
Baby Name Trends for Girls:
- The iconic girl's name of the 1950s was Linda. In the 1960s, Linda was replaced by Lisa, probably by parents who thought they had come up with a name that was more original than plain old Linda. Linda and Lisa dethroned Mary, which had been the most common girls names for decades and still remained popular. Lynn never caught on much and became a popular middle name.
- Deborah and Debra also ruled the name chart, although most girls with that name quickly became Debbie. Interesting, this was the only Old Testament name to reach this level of popularity, although Rebecca was fairly common as well. In the 1950s, Sarah was at #107 and Rachel was at #190.
- Nicknames were popular, and the "ie" and "i" ending came into vogue. Schools were filled with little girls named Debbie, Cathy, Susie, and Vicki. Lori, a more causal form of Laura and the traditional boy's name Laurie, became trendy.
- "Flower child" names like Hope, Faith, and especially Dawn were moderately popular in the 1960s.
- Names that burst into popularity during the 1960s: Lisa, Kimberly, Michelle, Julie, Tammy, Melissa, and Jennifer (which took over the charts in the 1970s).
- Previously popular names that were decidedly out: Dorothy, Delores, Betty, Shirley, Ruth, Rose, Phyllis, Virginia, and Helen.
Baby Name Trends for Boys:
- In the postwar years, there was even less name variation for boys as there was for girls. The top nine names in the 1950s were identical to the top nine names of the 1960s. There wasn't much change in how boys were named during these two decades.
- Previously a name of moderate popularity, Michael leaped to the top of the chart in the 1950s. (In the 1940s, it was only ranked #36, and in the 1930s, it was #52). Michael remained in the #1 position until the 2000s, when it was finally dethroned by Jacob. With the help of David, Michael dethroned Robert, John, and James.
- Although most popular boys' names were pretty traditional and masculine, Gary and Larry were in vogue, perhaps due to the popularity of Gary Cooper. There were also plenty of Jerrys and Terrys around, and a few Barrys and Harrys.
- Even more so than for girls, nicknames were very popular for boys in the 1950s. Given names came across as pretentious and weird. Schools were filled with boys named Mike, Dave, Jimmy, Johnny, Bobby, Billy, Danny, Chuck, and Dick.
See also: Baby names from the 1970s and 1980s and Baby names from the 1990s and 2000s.
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