Additional Coverage:
- 50 Boomer Names That Are Almost Gone (momswhothink.com)
Baby Boomer Names on the Brink of Extinction
Once-popular baby names like Debra, Gary, and Patricia are becoming increasingly rare. As the Baby Boomer generation ages, many of the names that defined their era are fading from popularity. This analysis examines 50 Boomer-era names nearing extinction.
Methodology
Using data from the U.S. Social Security Administration, we compared the average annual usage of names between 1946–1964 (the Baby Boomer years) and 2010–2023. Names making the list were given to fewer than one in every 10,000 newborns in the recent period.
50 Vanishing Baby Boomer Names
Here are 50 once-common Boomer names that are now rarely used:
- Sheila: 17.6 per 10,000 newborns (1946-64) vs. 0.3 (2010-23)
- Cathy: 17.6 (1946-64) vs. 0.1 (2010-23)
- Sherry: 17.8 (1946-64) vs. 0.1 (2010-23)
- Willie: 18.6 (1946-64) vs. 0.7 (2010-23)
- Gail: 18.4 (1946-64) vs. less than 0.1 (2010-23)
- Lynn: 18.6 (1946-64) vs.
0.3 (2010-23)
- Carl: 19.5 (1946-64) vs.
1.0 (2010-23)
- Kim: 18.9 (1946-64) vs.
0.2 (2010-23)
- Dale: 19.3 (1946-64) vs.
0.4 (2010-23)
- Martha: 20.0 (1946-64) vs.
1.0 (2010-23)
… (and 40 more names with similar data).
The full list of 50 names can be found in our complete report.
More about Baby Names
For further insights into the evolution of baby names, check out our related articles on out-of-vogue Boomer names, rare classic Boomer names, and the top 100 baby names of the 1970s.
Read More About This Story:
- 50 Boomer Names That Are Almost Gone (momswhothink.com)