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Most popular baby names of the 1960s

In the 1960s, the most popular name for girls born in the U.S. was Lisa, given to 496,987 girls, about 1 in 37 girls born that decade. For boys it was Michael, given to 833,092, about 1 in 23 boys.

Together, the top 20 girls’ names went to 25% of girls born in the 1960s, and the top 20 boys’ names to 42% of boys.

Top girls’ names

Top girls’ names of the 1960s
RankNameBabiesShare
#1Lisa496,9871 in 37
#2Mary355,2401 in 51
#3Susan287,6661 in 63
#4Karen286,0531 in 64
#5Kimberly259,0721 in 71
#6Patricia231,1781 in 79
#7Linda225,4541 in 81
#8Donna213,4681 in 86
#9Michelle208,2931 in 88
#10Cynthia196,5971 in 93
#11Sandra183,8461 in 99
#12Deborah183,4391 in 100
#13Tammy182,2311 in 100
#14Pamela181,9391 in 100
#15Lori176,5601 in 100
#16Laura174,1851 in 100
#17Elizabeth168,9201 in 110
#18Julie166,1501 in 110
#19Brenda164,5021 in 110
#20Jennifer164,4131 in 110

Top boys’ names

Top boys’ names of the 1960s
RankNameBabiesShare
#1Michael833,0921 in 23
#2David733,9531 in 26
#3John713,3941 in 27
#4James684,7221 in 28
#5Robert650,7861 in 30
#6Mark441,3901 in 44
#7William421,4331 in 46
#8Richard373,9071 in 52
#9Thomas327,0551 in 59
#10Jeffrey302,0291 in 64
#11Steven290,6071 in 66
#12Joseph283,0481 in 68
#13Timothy276,8371 in 70
#14Kevin271,4121 in 71
#15Scott266,8281 in 72
#16Brian258,1291 in 75
#17Charles249,3981 in 77
#18Paul242,5031 in 79
#19Daniel242,0201 in 80
#20Christopher237,1441 in 81

What changed

9 of the decade’s top 20 girls’ names were not in the top 20 of the 1950s: Lisa, Kimberly, Michelle, Tammy, Lori, Laura, Elizabeth, Julie and Jennifer. 6 of the decade’s top 20 boys’ names were not in the top 20 of the 1950s: Jeffrey, Timothy, Kevin, Scott, Brian and Christopher.

Each table ranks names by how many babies of that sex got the name across the decade’s years in Social Security’s data, with the share of all babies of that sex it went to. A name links to its own page when it has one, with its births and rank in every year since 1880.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.