Top Baby Names in Georgia, 1950s — Most Popular Boys & Girls Names

The most popular baby names in Georgia from 1950 to 1959, ranked by total births during the decade.

What the Data Says About the 1950s in Georgia

During the 1950s (1950–1959), the Social Security Administration recorded 536,426 births across the top 50 boy and top 50 girl names in Georgia. The decade's leading boy name was James with 25,286 births, while Mary was the top girl name with 16,808 births. The top 50 boys in this decade collectively accounted for 294,027 births versus 242,399 for the top 50 girls — a common SSA pattern in which the boy-name pool is more concentrated among fewer high-frequency choices. These totals represent only names appearing five or more times per year in Georgia; rarer names fall below the SSA's privacy-disclosure threshold and are excluded.

The 1950s sits within a specific cultural window of U.S. naming history. Mid-century decades like the 1950s spanned the post-war baby boom and the beginning of naming diversification, as parents increasingly departed from purely traditional choices. James and Mary leading Georgia during this window reflects how regional preferences interact with broader national trends.

Decade totals are computed by summing SSA state-year records for Georgia across all ten years of the 1950s. Because the SSA suppresses any name with fewer than five annual occurrences in a state, the true number of unique names given in Georgia during this decade is larger than what this page lists. The dataset also treats every spelling as a separate name — for example, Kayla and Kaylah are tracked independently — so combined-spelling totals would shift the rankings somewhat. This page is provided for informational and research purposes and does not constitute naming, legal, or genealogical advice.

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

Rank Name Births
1 James 25,286
2 William 16,489
3 Robert 16,334
4 John 15,572
5 David 14,487
6 Michael 14,471
7 Charles 12,558
8 Larry 9,771
9 Willie 9,157
10 Richard 8,573
11 Thomas 7,842
12 Kenneth 6,746
13 Donald 5,886
14 Ronald 5,712
15 Gary 5,701
16 Jerry 5,601
17 Johnny 5,597
18 Joseph 5,397
19 George 5,226
20 Terry 4,432
21 Bobby 4,229
22 Jimmy 4,193
23 Mark 4,021
24 Danny 3,956
25 Gregory 3,913
26 Ricky 3,578
27 Edward 3,564
28 Steven 3,560
29 Anthony 3,523
30 Randy 3,500
31 Timothy 3,418
32 Dennis 3,383
33 Ronnie 3,373
34 Stephen 3,322
35 Eddie 3,300
36 Henry 3,144
37 Walter 3,017
38 Paul 3,003
39 Billy 2,987
40 Daniel 2,716
41 Tommy 2,628
42 Tony 2,510
43 Wayne 2,459
44 Roy 2,358
45 Roger 2,333
46 Harold 2,286
47 Samuel 2,277
48 Charlie 2,265
49 Stanley 2,215
50 Frank 2,158

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

Rank Name Births
1 Mary 16,808
2 Linda 13,452
3 Patricia 11,771
4 Deborah 11,525
5 Brenda 9,960
6 Barbara 8,436
7 Susan 6,957
8 Sandra 6,926
9 Debra 6,925
10 Cynthia 6,242
11 Betty 5,957
12 Donna 5,924
13 Shirley 5,764
14 Pamela 5,474
15 Janice 5,161
16 Nancy 5,081
17 Carolyn 5,023
18 Kathy 4,992
19 Sharon 4,873
20 Judy 4,671
21 Wanda 4,644
22 Karen 4,409
23 Gloria 4,325
24 Martha 4,131
25 Carol 4,061
26 Teresa 3,981
27 Elizabeth 3,843
28 Dorothy 3,637
29 Beverly 3,586
30 Cheryl 3,151
31 Joyce 3,113
32 Margaret 3,083
33 Annie 3,052
34 Rebecca 2,990
35 Janet 2,869
36 Cathy 2,862
37 Diane 2,785
38 Peggy 2,749
39 Connie 2,684
40 Sheila 2,511
41 Angela 2,468
42 Vickie 2,450
43 Catherine 2,286
44 Virginia 2,215
45 Sherry 2,179
46 Glenda 2,130
47 Phyllis 2,102
48 Gwendolyn 2,098
49 Debbie 2,074
50 Sarah 2,009

Nearby Rankings

Related decade and state views for Georgia

Compare 1950s leaders: James vs Mary → or pick any two names →

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files, 1910–2024 (ssa.gov).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year are included (ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html).

Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details.