Popular Baby Names by Decade: The 1950s to the 2020s

Published October 10, 2026 · Based on U.S. Social Security Administration data

Names have a way of sounding like the time they came from. Here are the ten most popular girl names and boy names of every decade from the 1950s through the 2020s, so you can take a little trip through time. Maybe you'll spot a name from your own childhood, or one your grandparents would recognize.

How to read these tables

• Rank is based on the total number of babies who got each name across all the years of that decade, counted separately for girls and boys.
• A decade means babies born from the first year to the last year of that decade, for example 1950 through 1959.
• The 2020s are still in progress. That table covers 2020 through 2025, so it only has six years of data so far.
• Spellings count separately. Names like Katherine and Catherine are separate entries.
• Tap any name to look it up on Seek Baby Names and see its trend chart.

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s (so far)

Names that stick around

Looking across the tables, a few names keep turning up. Michael is in the boys' top ten in every decade from the 1950s through the 2000s, which is a long run. Among girls, Emma shows up in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Many other names appear once and then step aside as new favorites take their turn.

Using this when you choose a name

A name from an earlier decade can feel classic and a little nostalgic, and sometimes a name that was very popular long ago is having a quiet comeback. Others feel like they belong to a specific time. Neither is better, so notice which ones you like. If you want to explore further, see the most popular names of 2025 or follow our practical checklist for choosing a baby name.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby name data (public domain). Decade rankings were calculated by Seek Baby Names by adding up each name's yearly counts.