Popularity of birth names for females in the United States lists the most popular names given baby girls between 1926 and 2025. The most popular names given baby girls are also listed by decades beginning in the 1880s. The data illustrates the rise and fall in the popularity of names given to baby girls.
The Social Security Administration rank orders for popular names from 1926 to 2025. Thus the numerical ranking does not take into account births between 1880 and 1925. The ranking is also influenced by the varying number of children born in each decade. In addition, people born before 1937 but alive in that year sometimes did not register for social security cards and are not included in the data. The years in which total births reached a peak in numbers with more than four million births are 1954-1964 and 2000-2009. Names popular in those years would likely rank higher on this list that names popular in years in which fewer births were recorded.
A few names -- Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Anna -- have enduring popularity. They are listed in the top 200 popular baby female names for every decade from the 1880s to the 2020s. Others show a rise and fall in popularity over as few as five decades. Some (Susan, Emily, Amy, Amanda, and Emma) have risen and fallen and risen again in popularity.
The rise and fall of the popularity of a name can be remarkable. In 1938, for example, only 38 babies were given the name "Jennifer." In 1972, Jennifer was the most popular name given to girl babies born in the U.S. with 63,600. In 1974, 4.029 percent of the female babies born were given the name Jennifer. By 2025, Jennifer had fallen out of favor with only 501 babies given the name.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) compiled this information about female births. In accordance with SSA practice, names are listed with the exact spelling of the birth name. For example, "Sarah" and "Sara" are listed separately with "Sarah" on the top 50 list while "Sara" is not. "Katherine" is listed as a popular name, but "Catherine" is not among the most 50 most popular names.
Rank in popularity of birth names given females born in the United States (a dash means not in top 200 names) name 1926-2025 rank 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Mary 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 16 36 39 65 127 132 Patricia 2 - - - 160 30 5 5 3 6 30 61 133 - - - Jennifer 3 - - - - - - - 98 20 1 2 16 39 - - Linda 4 - - - - - 89 2 2 7 68 128 - - - - Elizabeth 5 4 5 6 8 11 17 25 21 17 12 9 8 9 11 15 Barbara 6 - - - - 18 3 3 7 21 76 154 - - - - Susan 7 96 123 163 - - 117 10 4 3 27 94- - - - Jessica 8 - - - - - - - - - 11 1 1 23 175 - Karen 9 - - - - - 138 16 8 4 25 84 130 170 - - Sarah 10 16 31 44 50 58 60 76 107 90 19 5 4 12 46 91 Lisa 11 - - - - - - - 37 1 6 31 119 - - - Nancy 12 72 97 97 101 62 9 7 9 26 78 114 163 - - - Sandra 13 - - - - - 48 6 12 11 44 96 174 - - - Ashley 14 - -- - - - - - - 140 4 2 10 73 147 Emily 15 91 94 101 102 137 170 177 - - 66 25 3 1 8 20 Kimberly 16 - - - - - - - 90 5 5 17 36 56 113 - Michelle 17 - - - - - - 196 93 9 4 12 32 72 185 - Donna 18 - - - - 104 23 17 10 8 64 - - - - - Margaret 19 5 3 3 4 5 8 13 23 53 101 - - - - - Carol 20 - - - - 116 11 5 10 38 130 - - - - - Betty 21 145 136 86 37 4 2 11 35 102 - - - - - - Amanda 22 93 119 175 - - - - - 99 17 3 6 63 - - Melissa 23 - - - - - - - 158 33 3 7 31 102 - - Deborah 24 - - - - - - 68 5 12 61 189 - - - - Stephanie 25 - - - - - - 191 119 45 9 6 14 51 - - Rebecca 26 105 122 146 163 175 163 66 28 41 13 22 23 71 - - Sharon 27 - - - - - 83 8 14 23 63 169 179 - - - Cynthia 28 - - - - - 191 47 11 10 31 68 106 - - - Laura 29 21 34 49 62 77 99 87 38 16 20 23 49 135 - - Amy 30 120 143 190 - - - - 135 35 2 15 64 115 161 - Kathleen 31 - 193 151 105 85 72 18 15 32 69 69 129 - - - Angela 32 - - - - - - 187 106 22 7 27 77 106 - - Emma 33 3 9 21 41 59 86 124 - - - - 56 3 1 2 Shirley 34 - - - 129 17 3 14 33 105 - - - - - - Dorothy 35 127 57 7 3 2 6 20 58 124 - - - - - - Brenda 36 - - - - - - 26 18 19 60 124 128 - - - Nicole 37 - - - - - - - - 186 10 8 7 48 145 - Pamela 38 - - - - - - 39 13 14 48 112 - - - - Samantha 39 - - - - - - - - - 109 26 5 8 33 112 Anna 40 2 2 4 7 13 32 71 104 95 87 52 35 24 39 79 Olivia 41 - - - - - - - - - - 195 38 4 2 1 Katherine 42 54 64 62 52 63 97 77 65 77 55 32 27 37 84 164 Christine 43 165 160 153 122 123 129 51 31 27 22 45 102 - - - Debra 44 - - - - - - 26 18 19 60 104 128 - - - Rachel 45 119 131 150 154 163 168 178 190 33 16 15 33 148 - - Maria 46 137 152 144 143 122 118 86 70 49 35 47 47 43 99 93 Carolyn 47 - 108 82 153 119 29 12 25 57 115 156 - - - - Janet 48 - - - - 112 26 21 20 47 125 - - - - - Heather 49 - - - - - - - - 127 8 10 45 - - - Diane 50 - - - - - 115 22 17 36 123 - - - - - Source:
Top 50 female birth names: Top year in rank and numbers of babies given that name (1880–2025) NameOverall rank(1926–2025)Top yearin rankingMax. percentageHighest numberMost popular years(in top 30 of female birth names) of female babies given this name in any year Mary 1 1880 7.300% 73,984 (1921) 1880-1982 Patricia 2 1951 3.056% 56,446 (1951) 1925-1974 Jennifer 3 1974 4.029% 63,600 (1972) 1965-2002 Linda 4 1948 5.521% 99,692 (1947) 1939-1968 Elizabeth 5 1880 1.987% 20,750 (1990) 1880-2025 Barbara 6 1974 4.029% 63,600 (1972) 1924-1966 Susan 7 1954 2.369% 47,418 (1955) 1941-1974 Jessica 8 1987 2.987% 55,992 (1987) 1974-2005 Karen 9 1956 1.945% 40,591 (1957) 1941-1975 Sarah 10 1981 1.575% 28,483 (1982) 1880-1882, 1974-2010 Lisa 11 1965 3.298% 60,271 (1965) 1957-1984 Nancy 12 1947 1.785% 32,445 (1947) 1930-1964 Sandra 13 1946 1.965% 34,779 (1947) 1937-1970 Ashley 14 1987 2.927% 54,856 (1987) 1982-2010 Emily 15 1999 1.363% 26,542 (1999) 1981-2024 Kimberly 16 1967 1.928% 34,130 (1970) 1960-1989 Michelle 17 1969 1.947% 34,319 (1967) 1963-1992 Donna 18 1959 1.754% 36,468 (1959) 1941-1967 Margaret 19 1916 2.298% 28,468 (1921) 1880-1957 Carol 20 1945 2.258% 34,284 (1946) 1933-1962 Betty 21 1930 3.278% 38,240 (1930) 1918-1951 Amanda 22 1987 2.229% 41,786 (1987) 1975-1999 Melissa 23 1979 1.976% 34,050 (1979) 1966-1993 Deborah 24 1954 2.746% 54,674 (1954) 1948-1969 Stephanie 25 1984 1.277% 24,864 (1990) 1967-1998 Rebecca 26 1974 0.968% 16,737 (1981) 1952-1956, 1969-1998 Sharon 27 1946 1.725% 28,533 (1947) 1938-1967 Cynthia 28 1957 1.875% 39,340 (1957) 1948-1973 Laura 29 1968 1.096% 18,967 (1964) 1880-1892, 1958-1990 Amy 30 1975 2.066% 32,254 (1975) 1966-1988 Kathleen 31 1949 1.501% 26,717 (1951) 1942-1964 Angela 32 1975 1.497% 25,901 (1971) 1963-1984 Emma 33 1881 1.501% 22,719 (2003) 1880-1908, 1998-2025 Shirley 34 1935 3.898% 42,366 (1935) 1923-1953 Dorothy 35 1923 3.117% 39,996 (1924) 1900-1948 Brenda 36 1951 1.183% 24,339 (1954) 1944-1966 Nicole 37 1985 1.252% 22,966 (1985) 1970-1999 Pamela 38 1954 1.374% 27,361 (1954) 1947-1971 Samantha 39 1991 1.261% 25,868 (1990) 1985-2013 Anna 40 1885 2.814% 15,666 (2018) 1880-1933, 1990-2020 Olivia 41 2014 1.014% 19,840 (2014) 1999-2025 Katherine 42 1988 0.580 11,625 (1990) 1984, 1986-1995 Christine 43 1968 0.967% 17,598 (1952) 1949-1952,1963-1978 Debra 44 1955 2.522% 50,563 (1955) 1951-1965 Rachel 45 1985 0.866% 16,369 (1958) 1975-2003 Maria 46 1964 0.518% 10,148 (1964) 1975 Carolyn 47 1942 1.437% 20,742 (1947) 1935-1955 Janet 48 1952 0.942% 18,477 (1954) 1933-1959 Heather 49 1975 1.557% 24,301 (1975) 1970-1991 Diane 50 1955 1.162% 23,290 (1955) 1942-1962 Source:
Note: Year of most popularity is listed by percentage of total female births. In a few cases, there may be more births with that name in one year but a higher percentage of births with that same name in another year.
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