Name.Baby Names by year 1950s 1959 Most Popular Baby Names of 1959 Social Security has card records for 4,245,087 people born in the U.S. in 1959. Mary was the top girl name (54,502 babies) and Michael the top boy name (85,294).
Top 100 names of 1959 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1959, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 54,502 #125 2 Susan 41,617 #1,085 3 Linda 40,410 #902 4 Karen 36,784 #1,279 5 Donna 36,468 #1,962 6 Patricia 35,223 #1,334 7 Debra 31,388 #4,460 8 Cynthia 30,186 #1,013 9 Deborah 29,546 #862 10 Lisa 25,699 #987 11 Barbara 25,359 #968 12 Pamela 24,714 #2,239 13 Sandra 23,359 #1,207 14 Nancy 23,079 #965 15 Kathy 21,814 #3,249 16 Brenda 21,424 #1,525 17 Sharon 21,292 #1,250 18 Cheryl 20,947 #4,352 19 Diane 19,972 #2,607 20 Debbie 19,540 #5,238 21 Elizabeth 18,421 #17 22 Carol 18,140 #2,239 23 Kathleen 17,629 #1,150 24 Teresa 17,400 #908 25 Cindy 16,973 #1,927 26 Julie 16,211 #872 27 Lori 15,032 #1,721 28 Janet 14,964 #2,778 29 Denise 14,662 #1,673 30 Laura 14,528 #379 31 Tammy 13,707 #3,645 32 Robin 12,854 #704 33 Kimberly 12,790 #302 34 Theresa 11,656 #1,548 35 Kim 11,594 #4,172 36 Margaret 11,577 #112 37 Janice 10,489 #2,514 38 Rebecca 10,475 #349 39 Cathy 10,408 #8,362 40 Catherine 10,025 #313 41 Judy 9,884 #1,872 42 Carolyn 9,727 #1,222 43 Christine 9,471 #1,272 44 Ann 8,918 #1,076 45 Rhonda 8,861 #6,116 46 Terri 8,783 #6,116 47 Michelle 8,776 #465 48 Connie 8,655 #3,067 49 Diana 8,637 #244 50 Joyce 8,520 #1,071
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1959, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Paula 8,059 #853 52 Sheila 7,984 #2,645 53 Tina 7,919 #2,778 54 Dawn 7,898 #2,173 55 Beverly 7,796 #1,016 56 Laurie 7,535 #2,822 57 Peggy 7,416 #8,362 58 Sherry 7,341 #5,410 59 Betty 7,313 #1,113 60 Valerie 7,302 #127 61 Shirley 7,284 #1,581 62 Maria 7,249 #87 63 Lynn 7,058 #2,542 64 Annette 6,919 #1,443 65 Wanda 6,907 #5,917 66 Darlene 6,876 #1,844 67 Jane 6,864 #221 68 Angela 6,772 #408 69 Kathryn 6,746 #729 70 Judith 6,566 #788 71 Bonnie 6,456 #396 72 Martha 6,439 #712 73 Vicki 6,430 – 74 Kelly 6,380 #851 75 Gail 6,344 #8,362 76 Joan 6,337 #1,085 77 Jean 6,233 #2,117 77 Jennifer 6,233 #586 79 Katherine 6,139 #186 80 Beth 6,069 #3,389 81 Gloria 5,924 #654 82 Anne 5,745 #619 83 Wendy 5,712 #1,341 84 Leslie 5,652 #712 85 Amy 5,580 #257 86 Jill 5,554 #5,722 87 Anita 5,474 #1,341 88 Rose 5,446 #114 89 Michele 5,445 #4,758 90 Vickie 5,419 – 91 Ellen 5,396 #1,062 92 Joanne 5,347 #2,607 93 Virginia 5,256 #525 94 Dorothy 5,231 #421 95 Terry 5,215 #9,457 96 Suzanne 5,161 #2,387 97 Ruth 5,057 #173 98 Rita 4,952 #1,285 99 Anna 4,878 #107 100 Renee 4,845 #1,098
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1959, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 85,294 #21 2 David 83,977 #35 3 James 78,648 #6 4 John 76,446 #23 5 Robert 74,542 #92 6 Mark 56,945 #244 7 William 51,386 #9 8 Richard 47,202 #234 9 Thomas 40,296 #34 10 Steven 33,597 #271 11 Charles 30,797 #48 12 Timothy 30,783 #203 13 Joseph 29,539 #29 14 Kevin 26,790 #221 15 Kenneth 26,640 #294 16 Jeffrey 26,281 #552 17 Paul 25,712 #262 18 Daniel 25,155 #22 19 Donald 23,876 #690 20 Gary 23,303 #1,073 21 Ronald 23,114 #637 22 Brian 20,737 #339 23 Gregory 19,889 #593 24 Scott 19,765 #534 25 Larry 18,434 #1,084 26 Anthony 17,972 #46 27 Edward 16,914 #224 28 Stephen 16,504 #383 29 Dennis 16,043 #707 30 Douglas 15,290 #807 31 Randy 15,042 #1,084 32 George 15,012 #126 33 Terry 14,545 #1,115 34 Ricky 13,226 #948 35 Christopher 12,915 #68 36 Jerry 12,324 #906 37 Mike 11,995 #1,231 38 Bruce 11,914 #536 39 Keith 11,758 #800 40 Peter 11,289 #187 41 Steve 11,068 #1,609 42 Frank 10,942 #513 43 Patrick 10,556 #235 44 Craig 9,933 #1,644 45 Raymond 9,796 #394 46 Eric 9,726 #273 47 Roger 8,794 #832 48 Danny 8,727 #628 49 Dale 8,343 #1,409 50 Alan 8,151 #191
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1959, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Wayne 7,878 #652 52 Jeff 7,730 #3,314 53 Tony 7,564 #783 54 Carl 7,501 #1,132 55 Jeffery 7,487 #1,554 56 Russell 7,480 #345 57 Joe 7,389 #991 58 Andrew 7,089 #73 59 Randall 7,059 #1,499 60 Tim 6,826 #3,181 61 Gerald 6,636 #1,204 62 Lawrence 6,601 #518 63 Matthew 6,542 #32 64 Johnny 6,311 #457 65 Billy 6,308 #1,068 66 Walter 6,128 #251 67 Rodney 5,917 #1,091 68 Philip 5,862 #527 69 Jimmy 5,830 #846 70 Jim 5,688 #3,128 71 Bobby 5,677 #1,097 72 Chris 5,676 #646 73 Barry 5,601 #1,520 74 Phillip 5,597 #651 75 Curtis 5,536 #984 76 Arthur 5,474 #87 76 Ronnie 5,474 #1,064 78 Willie 5,374 #1,315 79 Martin 5,353 #335 80 Glenn 5,352 #1,443 81 Roy 5,183 #525 82 Tom 5,068 #2,183 83 Henry 5,061 #5 84 Ralph 5,048 #1,046 85 Jack 5,015 #15 86 Samuel 4,953 #18 87 Harold 4,943 #991 88 Jay 4,940 #392 89 Rick 4,936 #3,036 90 Darrell 4,647 #1,688 91 Greg 4,635 #4,707 92 Albert 4,605 #614 93 Bill 4,596 #5,208 94 Bryan 4,488 #336 95 Dean 4,425 #125 96 Micheal 4,369 #1,401 97 Allen 4,366 #578 98 Stanley 4,343 #863 99 Todd 4,332 #1,609 100 Louis 4,311 #249
Entered the top 100 in 1959
