Name Legacy

Baby names in Mississippi, 1950s

1950–1959 · 558,559 recorded births

James was the most common name given in Mississippi across the 1950s, with 17,487 births in the decade. The state recorded 558,559 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Mississippi 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
Cleotha9730×
Earlean15624×
Kattie13320×
Charlean9016×
Myrtis13616×
Prentiss9415×
Birtha3414×
Earnestine63413×

Top 25 in the 1950s

RankNameBirths
#1James17,487
#2Mary13,407
#3Robert11,728
#4Willie10,577
#5John9,728
#6Charles9,049
#7Linda8,935
#8William8,228
#9Larry7,522
#10David7,025
#11Patricia6,067
#12Michael6,054
#13Barbara5,275
#14Brenda5,224
#15Shirley5,019
#16Deborah4,993
#17Dorothy4,692
#18Jerry4,648
#19Betty4,627
#20Thomas4,100
#21Richard3,941
#22George3,777
#23Johnny3,613
#24Sandra3,564
#25Carolyn3,414

Other decades in Mississippi

All Mississippi 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