Name Legacy

Baby names in Iowa, 1950s

1950–1959 · 590,270 recorded births

David was the most common name given in Iowa across the 1950s, with 14,695 births in the decade. The state recorded 590,270 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Iowa in the 1950s

Names given far more often here than nationally in these years. The multiplier is conservative — it is the low end of the plausible range, so a name carried by a handful of births does not outrank one carried by hundreds.

NameBirthsvs national
Loras5538×
Marlys215
Joleen152
Jolene560
Merlin165
Darwin335
Arlys23
Verlyn34

Top 25 in the 1950s

RankNameBirths
#1David14,695
#2Michael13,925
#3James11,381
#4Mary11,251
#5John10,659
#6Robert10,596
#7Steven10,514
#8Mark9,069
#9Linda8,951
#10Richard8,323
#11Susan7,988
#12Debra7,960
#13Thomas7,789
#14Dennis6,977
#15William6,936
#16Gary6,282
#17Patricia6,019
#18Barbara5,839
#19Nancy5,635
#20Daniel5,160
#21Cynthia5,067
#22Karen5,018
#23Douglas4,825
#24Deborah4,824
#25Ronald4,794

Other decades in Iowa

All Iowa names, 2025

Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. State records begin in 1910. Names given to fewer than five babies in a state in a year are withheld at source. namelegacy.org