Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1945

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby girl names are since 1945. 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 1945, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1945.

Rank Name Count
1 Mary 1,688,558
2 Jennifer 1,467,440
3 Linda 1,264,604
4 Elizabeth 1,153,240
5 Patricia 1,080,489
6 Jessica 1,046,306
7 Susan 1,017,055
8 Lisa 964,624
9 Karen 903,110
10 Sarah 896,685
11 Ashley 851,600
12 Kimberly 841,162
13 Michelle 811,780
14 Barbara 805,774
15 Emily 802,393
16 Amanda 767,883
17 Melissa 753,356
18 Deborah 732,684
19 Stephanie 732,681
20 Sandra 714,413
21 Rebecca 691,809
22 Cynthia 680,650
23 Amy 672,714
24 Nancy 672,693
25 Donna 657,676
26 Laura 650,221
27 Angela 643,610
28 Sharon 597,773
29 Nicole 590,426
30 Samantha 582,427
31 Pamela 576,243
32 Kathleen 573,027
33 Brenda 566,211
34 Debra 549,326
35 Carol 530,473
36 Heather 524,051
37 Rachel 515,730
38 Emma 512,295
39 Christine 508,550
40 Katherine 494,486
41 Julie 494,258
42 Olivia 487,417
43 Maria 476,988
44 Kelly 472,117
45 Lauren 471,863
46 Victoria 468,845
47 Margaret 465,613
48 Christina 463,072
49 Diane 449,801
50 Megan 438,412

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 1945". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 25, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1945/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1945". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1945/. Accessed 25 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1945. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1945/.