Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1936

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby girl names are since 1936. These names are taken directly from the Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States.

The table below shows the top 50 most popular baby girl names since 1936, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1936.

Rank Name Count
1 Mary 2,215,840
2 Jennifer 1,469,090
3 Linda 1,439,736
4 Patricia 1,374,031
5 Elizabeth 1,245,078
6 Barbara 1,152,544
7 Susan 1,089,169
8 Jessica 1,047,062
9 Karen 983,369
10 Lisa 965,542
11 Sarah 931,007
12 Sandra 862,891
13 Nancy 856,339
14 Ashley 851,641
15 Kimberly 841,296
16 Emily 814,052
17 Michelle 813,193
18 Amanda 769,886
19 Donna 756,308
20 Melissa 754,459
21 Carol 740,275
22 Deborah 737,991
23 Stephanie 736,820
24 Sharon 714,488
25 Rebecca 712,825
26 Cynthia 698,037
27 Amy 676,290
28 Laura 671,323
29 Angela 650,944
30 Kathleen 637,718
31 Brenda 606,485
32 Margaret 606,412
33 Pamela 593,152
34 Nicole 590,727
35 Samantha 582,624
36 Debra 550,206
37 Emma 535,658
38 Christine 530,276
39 Rachel 527,484
40 Heather 525,018
41 Katherine 520,606
42 Diane 506,474
43 Julie 503,458
44 Maria 498,652
45 Olivia 492,358
46 Carolyn 489,160
47 Janet 480,222
48 Victoria 477,399
49 Kelly 472,356
50 Lauren 471,964

More Popular Baby Names

You can also use the links below to research more about the most popular baby names.

Top 1000 most popular boy names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Top 1000 most popular girl names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Historical Data for Baby Names

If you're interested to see how the trends and popularity of baby names have changed, you can use the links below to view the historical data by decade.

Most popular first names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular boy names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular girl names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Data Source(s)

All of the data on this page is sourced from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and excludes any names with fewer than 5 occurrences in any geographic area.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

  • "Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1936". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1936/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1936". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1936/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1936. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1936/.