Girls' name · peaked in 1971

Ginger name popularity since 1925

45,986 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Ginger. Half of them were born in 1967 or earlier, so the typical Ginger is about 59 years old in 2026. Ginger peaked in 1971 as the #187 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 45,986; Named Ginger, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1971; #187 for girls that year
Typical age: About 59; Median birth year 1967
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #3,308 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.9% girls; 45,944 girls · 42 boys
Most popular in: Alabama; 2.33× its national share

Peak year is the year Ginger made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Ginger births per year, 1925–2025

1971 was the biggest year for Ginger both by count and as a share of all babies.

Fastest rise: Between 1942 and 1947, Ginger became 2.3× more common, from 1 in 5,900 baby girls to 1 in 2,590.
Steepest fall: Between 1982 and 1987, its share of baby girls fell by 66%, from 1 in 2,480 to 1 in 7,400.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Ginger's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Ginger.

Decade by decade

Babies named Ginger in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	128	0	–
1930s	1,000	0	#595
1940s	4,194	0	#369
1950s	9,012	0	#301
1960s	11,699	13	#257
1970s	11,780	29	#225
1980s	4,367	0	#580
1990s	1,227	0	#1,533
2000s	1,393	0	#1,397
2010s	862	0	#2,630
2020–25	282	0	#3,308

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

40.1% of babies named Ginger from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen X years (1965–1980). The full split by generation:

Where Ginger is most popular

The index compares Ginger's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Ginger.

State	Index	Babies
Alabama	2.33×	1,741
Tennessee	2.30×	2,053
Oklahoma	2.20×	1,214
Arkansas	1.91×	829
North Carolina	1.80×	2,163

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Ginger's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Ginger.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Ginger (1971).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data