The Most Popular Girl Name From Each Decade Since The Turn Of 20th Century

The biblical name Mary started its eight-decade run of being the most popular name for girls back in 1880. It would top the list all the way up until 1960. The name is especially popular among Christians. One of the most well-known biblical names is Mary. She is also known as Mary the Mother of God and the Virgin Mary.

Mary is also the overall most popular name of the past 100 years from 1919-2018.

Pictured: The Virgin Mary from the artwork by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato called “The Madonna in Sorrow”

Dorothy knocks Anna out of the top five. The name Dorothy would remain in the top 10 until 1940 and the top 100 until 1961. After that, it would decline rapidly in popularity. In 2006, Dorothy dropped all the way to the 986th spot. This would also be the last time that Ruth made the top five.

Pictured: Academy Award-winning silent film actress Mary Pickford

Dorothy reached its peak in the 1920s coming in at the second spot. It would drop out of the top five the following decade.

Betty makes its first appearance in the top five. The name hit its all-time peak in 1934 when about 2.8% of all baby girls were named Betty. Actress Betty White from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls was born in 1922.

Pictured: Actress and comedienne Betty White

The name Barbara cracks the top five for the first time. It would only remain a top-five name for one more decade. It would still finish as an overall top-10 name of the past 100 years from 1919-2018. By 2013, however, Barbara dropped all the way down to the 838th most popular name for girls.

Pictured: Hollywood actress Barbara Stanwyck

Linda jumped into the second-most popular name of the 1940s, despite not making the top 10 in the previous decade. In Spanish and Portuguese, the name Linda means “beautiful.”

Linda was actually the No. 1 overall name from 1947-52, even supplanting the name Mary for six straight years. The surge in popularity for the name Linda can be linked to Jack Lawrence’s 1946 song “Linda.” Interestingly, Lawrence wrote the song for his attorney’s 1-year-old daughter Linda Eastman, who later married Paul McCartney.

Pictured: Linda McCartney and her husband Paul in 1976

Deborah cracks the top five despite not being in the top 10 in the previous decade. The very similar name Debra came in at the No. 7 spot on the 1950s list. Deborah means “the bee.”

The name peaked at the No. 2 spot in 1955 when about 2.6% of all girls were named Deborah. In 2016, the name dropped all the way down to 815th place.

Pictured: Hollywood actress Debbie Reynolds as Kathy Selden from the 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain

It finally happened in the Swinging ’60s. Lisa overtakes Mary as the decade’s most popular name. The name, which means “pledged to God,” came out of nowhere. In fact, Lisa wasn’t in the top 10 in any previous decade of the 20th century. Additionally, it doesn’t finish as a top-10 name between the years 1919 and 2018.

There also does not appear to be a popular-culture link to Lisa’s sudden swell. There is one possible theory of how the name could have surged to the No. 1 spot, however.

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy wanted to bring da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” to the United States from the Louvre in Paris. She got her wish, and the renowned painting toured the United States in 1962. It was first displayed at the National Gallery in Washington, DC and then in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It is estimated that 2 million people got to see the painting in the US.

Pictured: “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci

The names Jennifer, Amy, and Melissa take the top-three spots. None of those names were in the top 10 the previous decade. Jennifer is the only name that would finish in the top three during the 100 year span from 1919-2018. Jennifer was the most popular name for girls between the years 1970-84.

One possible theory for Jennifer’s sudden popularity surge may be because of the 1970 movie Love Story. Ali MacGraw’s character was named Jenny. The weepie was a huge box office hit and pop-culture phenomenon in the 1970s. Movie audiences really do like to cry.

Name trend expert Linda Rosenkrantz said regarding the name, “The Jennifer epidemic came to signify a whole generation.”

Pictured: Jennifer (Ali McGraw) and Oliver (Ryan O’Neal) from the movie Love Story

Once again, we have almost an entirely different set of names. Jennifer is the only holdover from the 1970s. Jessica began rising in popularity in 1977. It picked up steam until it finally knocked Jennifer off of the top spot in 1985. It remained the No. 1 name in America for six straight years until Ashley took over in 1991.

Jessica’s peak popularity came in 1995 when an estimated 1.4% of girls were given the name. Jessica Biel (1982) and Jessica Alba (1981) were both born in the 1980s.

Pictured: American film actress Jessica Biel

Jessica finished in the top spot of the decade, though Ashley overtook it for two years. Jessica then regained the top spot for two years, before Emily took it away. Emily would actually stay at the very top until 2007 when the similar name Emma took over. Jessica is the only name from this list that would finish in the top-10 names of the past 100 years from 1919-2018.

The name Ashley was originally a male name. In the United States, the name was only given to males from 1917-38. It slowly became a gender-neutral name, and is now, at least in the United States, primarily used for a girl. It remains a popular name for boys in England and Wales, however.

Pictured: Ashley Olsen as Michelle Tanner from the television show Full House

A new decade and another almost entirely new set of names. The only holdover from the 1990s is Emily, which was in the top spot from 1996-2007. The name Olivia all but disappeared before its most recent resurgence. It’s actually an old name dating back to 13th century England. It was popular back in the 1200s most likely due to the Shakespeare character Olivia from Twelfth Night.

The appeal of Olivia lasted through the decade and beyond. The main character on the ABC hit show Scandal (2012) was named Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington). Additionally, there is Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) from the long-running television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. 

Pictured: Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) from Scandal

Proving that the popularity of female baby names is quite violative, Emma takes the top spot and Emily falls out of the top five altogether. Neither Sophia nor Ava were in the top 10 in the previous decade. Sophia was actually the most popular name for girls from 2011-13. Then, Emma took over for the rest of the decade (to 2018).

Emma’s rise in popularit could be because of the likability and star power of Hollywood actresses Emma Stone and Emma Watson. In another nod to popular culture, Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) from Friends named their baby daughter Emma during the 2002 Season 8 finale.

Pictured: Emma Watson as Belle from 2017’s Beauty and the Beast