Name.Baby Names by year 1950s 1956 Most Popular Baby Names of 1956 Social Security has card records for 4,205,808 people born in the U.S. in 1956. Mary was the top girl name (61,741 babies) and Michael the top boy name (90,691).
Top 100 names of 1956 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1956, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 61,741 #125 2 Debra 48,324 #4,460 3 Linda 48,084 #902 4 Deborah 47,834 #862 5 Susan 46,558 #1,085 6 Patricia 43,329 #1,334 7 Karen 40,052 #1,279 8 Cynthia 32,339 #1,013 9 Barbara 32,302 #968 10 Donna 29,852 #1,962 11 Nancy 28,784 #965 12 Pamela 26,928 #2,239 13 Sharon 26,881 #1,250 14 Sandra 24,302 #1,207 15 Diane 22,518 #2,607 16 Carol 21,408 #2,239 17 Kathleen 21,377 #1,150 18 Cheryl 21,278 #4,352 19 Brenda 19,341 #1,525 20 Kathy 17,177 #3,249 21 Janet 16,758 #2,778 22 Elizabeth 16,355 #17 23 Denise 14,509 #1,673 24 Teresa 14,464 #908 25 Margaret 13,913 #112 26 Janice 13,017 #2,514 27 Rebecca 12,168 #349 28 Catherine 12,056 #313 29 Robin 11,621 #704 30 Joyce 11,091 #1,071 31 Lisa 11,012 #987 32 Theresa 10,841 #1,548 33 Carolyn 10,634 #1,222 34 Laura 10,570 #379 35 Judy 10,197 #1,872 36 Cathy 10,132 #8,362 37 Cindy 9,978 #1,927 38 Kim 9,897 #4,172 39 Debbie 9,863 #5,238 40 Beverly 9,449 #1,016 41 Shirley 9,429 #1,581 42 Christine 9,371 #1,272 43 Connie 9,361 #3,067 44 Betty 9,218 #1,113 45 Judith 9,115 #788 46 Ann 8,990 #1,076 47 Paula 8,925 #853 48 Julie 8,574 #872 49 Gail 8,435 #8,362 50 Jane 8,241 #221
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1956, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Bonnie 8,133 #396 52 Joan 8,080 #1,085 53 Gloria 7,927 #654 54 Sherry 7,898 #5,410 55 Sheila 7,872 #2,645 56 Diana 7,851 #244 57 Vicki 7,767 – 58 Lynn 7,736 #2,542 59 Martha 7,711 #712 60 Kathryn 7,594 #729 61 Wanda 7,546 #5,917 62 Rhonda 7,521 #6,116 63 Peggy 7,494 #8,362 64 Rose 7,337 #114 65 Jean 7,175 #2,117 66 Lori 7,145 #1,721 67 Katherine 7,082 #186 68 Vickie 6,957 – 69 Jo 6,953 #3,975 70 Marilyn 6,926 #760 71 Darlene 6,919 #1,844 72 Dorothy 6,858 #421 73 Maria 6,733 #87 74 Kimberly 6,730 #302 75 Virginia 6,392 #525 76 Laurie 6,207 #2,822 77 Ruth 6,075 #173 78 Jacqueline 6,062 #558 79 Rita 6,054 #1,285 80 Valerie 5,909 #127 81 Terri 5,744 #6,116 82 Phyllis 5,642 #11,932 83 Anita 5,505 #1,341 84 Ellen 5,432 #1,062 85 Victoria 5,388 #54 86 Anne 5,356 #619 87 Tina 5,330 #2,778 88 Michelle 5,327 #465 89 Elaine 5,310 #304 90 Helen 5,278 #461 91 Terry 5,272 #9,457 92 Dawn 5,128 #2,173 93 Angela 5,034 #408 94 Suzanne 5,024 #2,387 95 Wendy 4,861 #1,341 96 Marie 4,794 #617 97 Jennifer 4,711 #586 98 Alice 4,680 #65 99 Joanne 4,671 #2,607 100 Michele 4,617 #4,758
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1956, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 90,691 #21 2 James 84,897 #6 3 Robert 83,924 #92 4 David 81,652 #35 5 John 80,804 #23 6 William 58,991 #9 7 Richard 52,915 #234 8 Mark 48,828 #244 9 Thomas 44,836 #34 10 Steven 38,413 #271 11 Charles 35,239 #48 12 Joseph 32,749 #29 13 Gary 31,842 #1,073 14 Donald 28,223 #690 15 Ronald 27,725 #637 16 Kenneth 27,432 #294 17 Paul 26,897 #262 18 Daniel 26,655 #22 19 Timothy 23,288 #203 20 Jeffrey 23,285 #552 21 Larry 22,322 #1,084 22 Kevin 21,761 #221 23 Stephen 21,204 #383 24 Gregory 21,082 #593 25 Edward 19,436 #224 26 Dennis 18,359 #707 27 George 17,232 #126 28 Randy 16,547 #1,084 29 Douglas 16,389 #807 30 Anthony 15,565 #46 31 Terry 15,064 #1,115 32 Brian 14,666 #339 33 Bruce 14,660 #536 34 Scott 13,214 #534 35 Jerry 12,623 #906 36 Keith 11,480 #800 37 Peter 11,334 #187 38 Frank 11,151 #513 39 Raymond 11,108 #394 40 Patrick 10,326 #235 41 Roger 10,153 #832 42 Lawrence 8,898 #518 43 Ricky 8,780 #948 44 Alan 8,734 #191 45 Wayne 8,717 #652 46 Danny 8,565 #628 47 Christopher 8,384 #68 48 Carl 8,313 #1,132 49 Gerald 7,991 #1,204 50 Dale 7,720 #1,409
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1956, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Craig 7,422 #1,644 52 Russell 7,402 #345 53 Walter 7,019 #251 54 Randall 6,913 #1,499 55 Johnny 6,636 #457 56 Andrew 6,603 #73 57 Jeffery 6,569 #1,554 58 Willie 6,525 #1,315 59 Steve 6,472 #1,609 60 Arthur 6,289 #87 61 Glenn 6,196 #1,443 62 Roy 6,133 #525 63 Joe 6,124 #991 64 Philip 6,105 #527 65 Rodney 6,076 #1,091 66 Jack 6,051 #15 67 Ralph 6,041 #1,046 68 Billy 6,013 #1,068 69 Barry 5,988 #1,520 70 Stanley 5,985 #863 71 Henry 5,971 #5 72 Harold 5,955 #991 73 Martin 5,682 #335 74 Samuel 5,585 #18 75 Ronnie 5,491 #1,064 76 Phillip 5,414 #651 77 Bobby 5,358 #1,097 78 Jimmy 5,345 #846 79 Eric 5,252 #273 80 Curtis 5,157 #984 81 Albert 5,150 #614 82 Louis 4,910 #249 83 Micheal 4,732 #1,401 84 Howard 4,707 #1,002 85 Tony 4,669 #783 86 Eugene 4,620 #943 87 Allen 4,612 #578 88 Darrell 4,468 #1,688 89 Leonard 4,371 #637 90 Matthew 4,366 #32 91 Frederick 4,306 #435 92 Jay 4,120 #392 93 Eddie 3,994 #860 94 Ernest 3,952 #1,038 95 Harry 3,925 #775 96 Victor 3,908 #209 97 Mike 3,900 #1,231 98 Vincent 3,756 #107 99 Dean 3,712 #125 100 Rick 3,655 #3,036
Entered the top 100 in 1956
