Name.Baby Names by year 1960s 1961 Most Popular Baby Names of 1961 Social Security has card records for 4,233,087 people born in the U.S. in 1961. Mary was the top girl name (47,682 babies) and Michael the top boy name (86,974).
Top 100 names of 1961 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1961, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Mary 47,682 #125 2 Lisa 42,720 #987 3 Susan 37,532 #1,085 4 Linda 35,597 #902 5 Karen 34,707 #1,279 6 Patricia 28,889 #1,334 7 Donna 28,679 #1,962 8 Cynthia 24,393 #1,013 9 Sandra 24,153 #1,207 10 Deborah 24,107 #862 11 Brenda 23,781 #1,525 12 Barbara 23,002 #968 13 Debra 22,160 #4,460 14 Lori 21,876 #1,721 15 Pamela 21,691 #2,239 16 Nancy 20,729 #965 17 Sharon 20,459 #1,250 18 Teresa 18,909 #908 19 Elizabeth 18,855 #17 20 Cheryl 18,301 #4,352 21 Laura 17,901 #379 22 Kimberly 17,355 #302 23 Julie 17,040 #872 24 Carol 16,667 #2,239 25 Kathy 16,385 #3,249 26 Diane 16,205 #2,607 27 Robin 15,653 #704 28 Tammy 15,532 #3,645 29 Kathleen 15,395 #1,150 30 Denise 15,379 #1,673 31 Debbie 14,882 #5,238 32 Janet 13,930 #2,778 33 Cindy 13,388 #1,927 34 Michelle 12,741 #465 35 Theresa 11,960 #1,548 36 Kim 11,367 #4,172 37 Jacqueline 10,983 #558 38 Angela 10,843 #408 39 Christine 10,598 #1,272 40 Margaret 10,559 #112 41 Tina 10,521 #2,778 42 Carolyn 10,509 #1,222 43 Laurie 10,435 #2,822 44 Rebecca 10,236 #349 45 Kelly 9,642 #851 46 Rhonda 9,469 #6,116 47 Jennifer 9,265 #586 48 Catherine 9,251 #313 49 Dawn 9,148 #2,173 50 Connie 8,986 #3,067
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1961, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Terri 8,730 #6,116 52 Janice 8,727 #2,514 53 Sherry 8,361 #5,410 54 Ann 8,216 #1,076 55 Cathy 8,211 #8,362 56 Diana 8,198 #244 57 Maria 7,947 #87 58 Judy 7,922 #1,872 59 Sheila 7,805 #2,645 60 Paula 7,744 #853 61 Wendy 7,154 #1,341 62 Joyce 6,996 #1,071 63 Michele 6,995 #4,758 64 Tracy 6,988 #2,153 65 Beth 6,716 #3,389 66 Beverly 6,708 #1,016 67 Valerie 6,677 #127 68 Suzanne 6,611 #2,387 69 Amy 6,610 #257 70 Wanda 6,467 #5,917 71 Lynn 6,441 #2,542 72 Jane 6,365 #221 73 Annette 6,203 #1,443 74 Jill 6,137 #5,722 75 Bonnie 6,033 #396 76 Vicki 5,967 – 77 Carla 5,817 #1,082 78 Stephanie 5,816 #557 79 Renee 5,782 #1,098 80 Darlene 5,728 #1,844 81 Martha 5,724 #712 82 Gloria 5,691 #654 83 Judith 5,690 #788 84 Leslie 5,668 #712 85 Shirley 5,638 #1,581 86 Katherine 5,632 #186 87 Betty 5,584 #1,113 88 Peggy 5,567 #8,362 89 Joan 5,551 #1,085 90 Anne 5,524 #619 91 Anita 5,503 #1,341 92 Jean 5,366 #2,117 93 Kathryn 5,226 #729 94 Gail 4,973 #8,362 95 Melissa 4,900 #419 96 Ruth 4,896 #173 97 Ellen 4,844 #1,062 98 Regina 4,764 #395 99 Dorothy 4,732 #421 100 Anna 4,678 #107
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1961, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 86,974 #21 2 David 84,810 #35 3 John 79,983 #23 4 James 75,969 #6 5 Robert 72,977 #92 6 Mark 57,796 #244 7 William 48,045 #9 8 Richard 41,142 #234 9 Thomas 37,565 #34 10 Steven 32,275 #271 11 Jeffrey 32,029 #552 12 Joseph 29,450 #29 13 Charles 29,194 #48 14 Kevin 28,926 #221 15 Timothy 28,253 #203 16 Kenneth 26,100 #294 17 Daniel 25,904 #22 18 Paul 25,640 #262 19 Scott 23,934 #534 20 Brian 22,566 #339 21 Gary 22,174 #1,073 22 Donald 21,409 #690 23 Gregory 21,364 #593 24 Ronald 20,842 #637 25 Anthony 20,209 #46 26 Christopher 17,223 #68 27 Stephen 16,069 #383 28 Douglas 15,978 #807 29 Edward 15,877 #224 30 Larry 14,580 #1,084 31 George 13,644 #126 32 Terry 13,194 #1,115 33 Randy 12,603 #1,084 34 Dennis 12,503 #707 35 Keith 12,275 #800 36 Mike 11,667 #1,231 37 Jerry 11,381 #906 38 Eric 11,111 #273 39 Patrick 11,052 #235 40 Bruce 10,705 #536 41 Frank 10,433 #513 42 Peter 10,349 #187 43 Craig 10,235 #1,644 44 Ricky 10,027 #948 45 Steve 9,997 #1,609 46 Todd 9,750 #1,609 47 Roger 9,652 #832 48 Raymond 9,618 #394 49 Jeff 9,463 #3,314 50 Jeffery 8,923 #1,554
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1961, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Alan 8,617 #191 52 Andrew 8,483 #73 53 Tony 8,306 #783 54 Danny 8,199 #628 55 Russell 7,333 #345 56 Carl 7,255 #1,132 57 Chris 7,203 #646 58 Dale 7,193 #1,409 59 Matthew 7,081 #32 60 Joe 7,056 #991 61 Wayne 6,762 #652 62 Gerald 6,630 #1,204 63 Randall 6,587 #1,499 64 Glenn 6,271 #1,443 65 Tim 6,245 #3,181 66 Barry 6,220 #1,520 67 Lawrence 6,094 #518 68 Billy 6,026 #1,068 69 Phillip 5,976 #651 70 Johnny 5,905 #457 71 Jimmy 5,749 #846 72 Rodney 5,660 #1,091 73 Martin 5,476 #335 74 Walter 5,467 #251 75 Curtis 5,447 #984 76 Bobby 5,402 #1,097 77 Greg 5,397 #4,707 78 Jim 5,352 #3,128 79 Philip 5,288 #527 80 Darryl 5,134 #2,108 81 Jay 5,119 #392 82 Bryan 5,028 #336 83 Roy 4,966 #525 84 Dean 4,933 #125 85 Arthur 4,815 #87 86 Willie 4,790 #1,315 87 Bradley 4,745 #403 88 Tom 4,731 #2,183 89 Samuel 4,667 #18 90 Jack 4,639 #15 91 Ronnie 4,624 #1,064 92 Henry 4,620 #5 93 Jon 4,608 #951 94 Harold 4,448 #991 95 Ralph 4,443 #1,046 96 Allen 4,391 #578 97 Albert 4,324 #614 98 Vincent 4,317 #107 99 Victor 4,301 #209 100 Troy 4,259 #532
Entered the top 100 in 1961
