Name Legacy

Baby names in North Carolina, 1950s

1950–1959 · 1,040,676 recorded births

James was the most common name given in North Carolina across the 1950s, with 30,020 births in the decade. The state recorded 1,040,676 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to North Carolina 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
Raeford8221×
Johnsie8220×
Revonda9214×
Linwood78812×
Gurney4612×
Worth6511×
Ivey13911×
Zeb46

Top 25 in the 1950s

RankNameBirths
#1James30,020
#2William20,770
#3Robert18,011
#4Michael17,305
#5David17,237
#6Mary16,949
#7John16,574
#8Linda15,753
#9Deborah13,655
#10Charles13,595
#11Patricia12,455
#12Larry11,466
#13Brenda11,303
#14Barbara9,576
#15Richard9,424
#16Thomas9,065
#17Donald8,399
#18Sandra8,364
#19Kenneth8,230
#20Susan8,181
#21Debra8,012
#22Cynthia7,970
#23Jerry7,896
#24Ronald7,631
#25Donna7,404

Other decades in North Carolina

All North Carolina 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