Born in 1949 · Baby Boomers
Baby names of 1949
The Social Security name files, which cover every name given to at least 5 babies, list 3,484,816 babies born in 1949: 1,710,877 girls and 1,773,939 boys. Linda and James were the most popular names, and 29.4% of all babies got a top-10 name, up from 28.2% in 1939. The name most tied to 1949 is Linda: among girls, it was 5.8× as common that year as in the decades around it.
Quick facts
- Generation
- Baby Boomers
- Born 1946–1964
- Babies on record
- 3,484,816
- 1,710,877 girls · 1,773,939 boys
- Different names
- 6,066
- for girls, plus 4,205 for boys (5+ babies each)
- Top-10 names
- 29.4%
- of babies got one · girls 24.7%, boys 33.9%
Top 10 names of 1949
- Linda was the #1 name for girls every year from 1947 to 1952.
- James was the #1 name for boys every year from 1940 to 1952.
How many babies got a top-10 name?
In 1949, 29.4% of babies were given one of that year's 10 most popular names. Across all years, that share fell from 29.0% in 1935 to 7.5% in 2025.
Names that sound like 1949
These names were far more common in 1949 than in the decades around it: the multiplier compares each name's share of 1949 babies with its average share 6–25 years before and after.
| Name | Sex | Rank | Vs. nearby |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linda | Girl | #1 | 5.8× |
| Paulette | Girl | #125 | 5.2× |
| Marsha | Girl | #79 | 4.0× |
| Janis | Girl | #131 | 4.0× |
| Lynda | Girl | #93 | 3.9× |
| Dianne | Girl | #85 | 3.3× |
| Dale | Girl | #257 | 3.1× |
| Judy | Girl | #20 | 3.0× |
| Kathleen | Girl | #9 | 3.0× |
| Candice | Girl | #271 | 2.9× |
Names that peaked in 1949
Each of these reached its highest share of US babies in 1949, the high point in records going back to 1880. Rank is for 1949.
| Name | Sex | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Kathleen | Girl | #9 |
| Lawrence | Boy | #32 |
| Phillip | Boy | #66 |
| Charlene | Girl | #100 |
| Galen | Boy | #329 |
| Jeanie | Girl | #381 |
| Vaughn | Boy | #348 |
| Donn | Boy | #366 |
| Erlinda | Girl | #632 |
| Carleen | Girl | #650 |
New to the top 1,000 in 1949
Names that made the national top 1,000 for the first time in 1949 (records go back to 1880).
Where are they now?
Top-100 names of 1949 that have since dropped out of the top 1,000. Ranks are for 1949 and 2025.
Girls
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data