Names That Peaked In 1951
These names hit their all-time highest U.S. ranking in 1951 and have never ranked as high since — the sound of that moment, frozen in the data. (The #1 names that year were Linda and James — reigning champions usually peak in a different year than they reign.)
| Save name | Name & meaning | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 381#729 | Down 204 rank positions in five years | 1952 | |||
| 70#2,522 | Down 560 rank positions in five years | 1951 | |||
| 1,915#191 | Up 3 rank positions in five years | 1955 | |||
| 12#8,533 | Down 2,379 rank positions in five years | 1951 | |||
| 45#3,433 | Up 45 rank positions in five years | 1951 | |||
| 848#360 | Up 18 rank positions in five years | 1953 | |||
| 80#2,286 | Down 578 rank positions in five years | 1951 | |||
| 6#14,255 | Down 2,539 rank positions in five years | 1960 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1951 | |||
| 281#859 | Down 176 rank positions in five years | 1951 | |||
| 540#559 | Up 206 rank positions in five years | 1954 | |||
| 102#1,652 | Down 230 rank positions in five years | 1991 | |||
| 17#6,700 | Down 3,334 rank positions in five years | 1987 | |||
| 29#3,761 | Up 1,108 rank positions in five years | 1992 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1958 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1960 | |||
| 28#4,852 | Down 612 rank positions in five years | 1994 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1959 | |||
| 21#4,755 | Down 11 rank positions in five years | 1991 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1951 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1951 | |||
| 7#11,997 | Down 2,412 rank positions in five years | 1951 | |||
| —Unranked | — | 1951 |
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How this list is built
A name “peaked” in 1951 when that year holds its best-ever position in the national rankings — rank, not raw count, because raw counts track how many babies were born and would pile every “peak” into the boom years. To qualify, a name must have reached the top 1,000 at its height and have at least 500 all-time applications. Lists are ordered by that peak rank.
Ranks come from U.S. births, counted separately for girls and boys. “Unranked” today means fewer than 5 applications in the latest year — uncommon, never invalid.