Name.Baby Names by year 1950s 1951 Most Popular Baby Names of 1951 Social Security has card records for 3,758,993 people born in the U.S. in 1951. Linda was the top girl name (73,982 babies) and James the top boy name (87,256).
Top 100 names of 1951 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1951, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Linda 73,982 #902 2 Mary 65,721 #125 3 Patricia 56,446 #1,334 4 Deborah 42,053 #862 5 Barbara 40,617 #968 6 Susan 40,228 #1,085 7 Nancy 30,346 #965 8 Karen 27,998 #1,279 9 Sandra 27,665 #1,207 10 Kathleen 26,716 #1,150 11 Carol 24,781 #2,239 12 Donna 24,074 #1,962 13 Sharon 23,920 #1,250 14 Brenda 21,717 #1,525 15 Diane 19,840 #2,607 16 Pamela 18,570 #2,239 17 Margaret 17,692 #112 18 Debra 17,064 #4,460 19 Janet 16,947 #2,778 20 Cynthia 16,295 #1,013 21 Janice 15,958 #2,514 22 Carolyn 15,206 #1,222 23 Elizabeth 15,118 #17 24 Christine 15,017 #1,272 25 Judith 14,935 #788 26 Judy 14,017 #1,872 27 Shirley 13,919 #1,581 28 Joyce 13,472 #1,071 29 Betty 12,822 #1,113 30 Cheryl 11,986 #4,352 31 Gloria 10,951 #654 32 Rebecca 10,932 #349 33 Beverly 10,860 #1,016 34 Catherine 10,566 #313 35 Kathy 10,406 #3,249 36 Gail 9,886 #8,362 37 Bonnie 9,706 #396 38 Martha 9,605 #712 39 Joan 9,403 #1,085 40 Peggy 9,208 #8,362 41 Marilyn 9,148 #760 42 Dorothy 9,089 #421 43 Jane 8,942 #221 44 Connie 8,722 #3,067 45 Kathryn 8,460 #729 46 Ann 8,423 #1,076 47 Virginia 8,180 #525 48 Denise 8,116 #1,673 49 Jean 7,627 #2,117 50 Diana 7,396 #244
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1951, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Paula 7,290 #853 52 Wanda 7,233 #5,917 53 Ruth 7,076 #173 54 Helen 6,949 #461 55 Katherine 6,930 #186 56 Jacqueline 6,915 #558 57 Phyllis 6,791 #11,932 58 Vicki 6,630 – 59 Frances 6,584 #318 60 Laura 6,466 #379 61 Rita 6,415 #1,285 62 Alice 6,315 #65 63 Teresa 6,213 #908 64 Theresa 6,190 #1,548 65 Rose 6,185 #114 66 Elaine 6,069 #304 67 Jo 6,001 #3,975 68 Ellen 5,945 #1,062 69 Sheila 5,897 #2,645 70 Sherry 5,889 #5,410 71 Cathy 5,697 #8,362 72 Lynn 5,629 #2,542 73 Joanne 5,358 #2,607 74 Marcia 5,299 #3,389 75 Maria 5,236 #87 76 Marsha 5,188 #7,491 77 Sally 5,138 #1,150 78 Marie 5,046 #617 79 Darlene 5,030 #1,844 80 Doris 5,025 #2,895 81 Victoria 4,907 #54 82 Anne 4,873 #619 83 Suzanne 4,828 #2,387 84 Charlotte 4,649 #2 85 Lois 4,533 #1,666 86 Constance 4,367 #1,500 87 Vickie 4,320 – 88 Evelyn 4,232 #8 89 Glenda 4,135 #5,917 90 Dianne 4,034 #5,722 91 Sarah 4,028 #90 92 Roberta 3,979 #2,778 93 Maureen 3,878 #4,352 94 Anna 3,870 #107 95 Eileen 3,816 #654 96 Anita 3,785 #1,341 97 Sylvia 3,777 #300 98 Jeanne 3,768 #4,546 99 Julie 3,686 #872 100 Valerie 3,559 #127
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1951, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 James 87,256 #6 2 Robert 86,353 #92 3 John 81,569 #23 4 Michael 72,807 #21 5 David 64,788 #35 6 William 62,781 #9 7 Richard 54,541 #234 8 Thomas 48,275 #34 9 Charles 39,406 #48 10 Gary 38,160 #1,073 11 Larry 30,558 #1,084 12 Ronald 29,049 #637 13 Steven 28,363 #271 14 Joseph 28,147 #29 15 Donald 27,916 #690 16 Kenneth 25,841 #294 17 Dennis 24,264 #707 18 Paul 22,853 #262 19 Stephen 22,474 #383 20 Mark 21,201 #244 21 Daniel 21,121 #22 22 George 20,212 #126 23 Edward 19,913 #224 24 Jerry 15,164 #906 25 Gregory 14,102 #593 26 Bruce 14,090 #536 27 Douglas 13,902 #807 28 Timothy 12,705 #203 29 Roger 12,425 #832 30 Terry 12,216 #1,115 31 Frank 11,477 #513 32 Raymond 11,227 #394 33 Lawrence 10,266 #518 34 Anthony 9,836 #46 35 Jeffrey 9,713 #552 36 Gerald 9,539 #1,204 37 Wayne 9,327 #652 38 Peter 8,999 #187 39 Patrick 8,751 #235 40 Alan 8,408 #191 41 Danny 8,179 #628 42 Walter 8,038 #251 43 Carl 7,641 #1,132 44 Arthur 7,414 #87 45 Willie 7,226 #1,315 46 Harold 7,178 #991 47 Henry 7,120 #5 48 Jack 7,004 #15 49 Dale 6,963 #1,409 50 Johnny 6,700 #457
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1951, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Ralph 6,525 #1,046 52 Roy 6,466 #525 53 Kevin 6,349 #221 54 Stanley 6,205 #863 55 Philip 6,098 #527 56 Randy 6,034 #1,084 57 Joe 5,824 #991 58 Glenn 5,803 #1,443 59 Keith 5,767 #800 60 Albert 5,758 #614 61 Christopher 5,734 #68 62 Jimmy 5,687 #846 63 Craig 5,623 #1,644 64 Billy 5,610 #1,068 65 Eugene 5,580 #943 66 Randall 5,532 #1,499 67 Samuel 5,476 #18 68 Scott 5,381 #534 69 Andrew 5,373 #73 70 Harry 5,303 #775 71 Barry 5,284 #1,520 72 Allen 5,179 #578 73 Russell 5,175 #345 74 Howard 5,108 #1,002 75 Brian 5,101 #339 76 Louis 5,089 #249 77 Bobby 5,006 #1,097 78 Frederick 4,984 #435 79 Phillip 4,910 #651 80 Leonard 4,738 #637 81 Martin 4,596 #335 82 Ronnie 4,530 #1,064 83 Ernest 4,382 #1,038 84 Rodney 4,296 #1,091 85 Francis 4,199 #420 86 Steve 4,053 #1,609 87 Fred 3,994 #1,932 88 Melvin 3,837 #958 89 Eddie 3,748 #860 90 Norman 3,729 #1,196 91 Curtis 3,716 #984 92 Lee 3,682 #725 93 Eric 3,664 #273 94 Tommy 3,582 #657 95 Earl 3,571 #2,230 96 Marvin 3,557 #699 97 Micheal 3,276 #1,401 98 Clarence 3,232 #1,499 99 Theodore 3,216 #4 100 Alfred 3,203 #840
Entered the top 100 in 1951
