News

Actions

The most common middle names from the last 12 decades

Posted at 11:42 AM, Mar 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-15 11:42:15-04

toddler boy

At MooseRoots, we’ve delved into the data for thousands of first names. From autumn-inspired names to presidential influence on name trends, we’ve shared the ins and outs of moniker popularity. We even have our own baby names app! What we’ve yet to divulge, however, is middle name popularity.

The team at MooseRoots wanted to identify the most common middle names for males and females born in the United States since 1900. By reviewing 57.5 million middle names from the Social Security Death Index, we were able to rank the top 10 middle names of the last 12 decades. Starting with 1900-1909, we’ll showcase the middle names that experienced major fads and those that stood the test of time, like William and Elizabeth. Each name is paired with its number of occurrences in the Social Security Death Index.

Note: The Social Security Death Index offers the largest national dataset that MooseRoots possesses, however, the sample size understandably decreases for more recent decades.

1900-1909: Female Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Mae (14,927)
2. Marie (14,893)
3. Elizabeth (14,780)
4. May (8,513)
5. Louise (7,838)
6. Mary (7,243)
7. Margaret (5,314)
8. Irene (5,237)
9. Ann (5,138)
10. Lee (4,496)

1900-1909: Male Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. William (10,100)
2. Joseph (9,262)
3. Edward (8,145)
4. John (6,942)
5. Henry (6,562)
6. James (5,345)
7. Francis (4,063)
8. Charles (4,060)
9. Lee (3,998)
10. George (3,922)

1910-1919: Female Names

silas

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Mae (18,997)
2. Marie (17,887)
3. Elizabeth (16,750)
4. Louise (12,218)
5. Mary (7,769)
6. Ann (6,827)
7. May (6,785)
8. Lee (5,942)
9. Jane (5,898)
10. Irene (5,868)

1910-1919: Male Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Joseph (12,917)
2. William (12,779)
3. Edward (11,934)
4. John (9,036)
5. Henry (7,526)
6. James (7,277)
7. Lee (6,265)
8. Charles (5,570)
9. Francis (5,098)
10. George (5,010)

1920-1929: Female Names

evelyn

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Mae (17,970)
2. Marie (15,290)
3. Louise (11,593)
4. Jean (10,554)
5. Ann (10,086)
6. Elizabeth (9,398)
7. Jane (8,372)
8. Lee (7,266)
9. Ruth (5,337)
10. Mary (4,779)

1920-1929: Male Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Edward (12,063)
2. Joseph (10,386)
3. William (10,198)
4. Lee (9,457)
5. Eugene (8,221)
6. John (6,819)
7. James (6,697)
8. Robert (5,422)
9. Henry (5,264)
10. Charles (4,614)

1930-1939: Female Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Ann (15,095)
2. Jean (10,168)
3. Mae (8,189)
4. Marie (7,480)
5. Lee (5,682)
6. Louise (5,476)
7. Jane (3,397)
8. Lou (2,926)
9. Elizabeth (2,832)
10. Ruth (2,722)

1930-1939: Male Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Lee (10,534)
2. Edward (7,205)
3. Eugene (6,083)
4. Joseph (4,976)
5. William (4,922)
6. James (3,741)
7. Ray (3,426)
8. John (3,329)
9. Robert (2,862)
10. Richard (2,835)

1940-1949: Female Names

naomi

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Ann (14,817)
2. Jean (6,764)
3. Marie (5,747)
4. Lee (5,279)
5. Louise (3,984)
6. Sue (3,254)
7. Mae (3,010)
8. Kay (2,620)
9. Elizabeth (1,896)
10. Jane (1,894)

1940-1949: Male Names

levi

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Lee (10,207)
2. Edward (5,744)
3. James (3,790)
4. Eugene (3,758)
5. William (3,723)
6. Joseph (3,564)
7. Ray (3,346)
8. Wayne (3,253)
9. Allen (3,103)
10. Michael (3,004)

1950-1959: Female Names

lillian

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Ann (11,111)
2. Marie (5,911)
3. Lynn (4,501)
4. Jean (3,821)
5. Lee (3,246)
6. Sue (2,639)
7. Louise (2,295)
8. Kay (2,127)
9. Elizabeth (1,369)
10. Anne (1,260)

1950-1959: Male Names

eli

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Lee (8,463)
2. Edward (4,543)
3. Allen (3,907)
4. Michael (3,770)
5. Wayne (3,678)
6. James (3,408)
7. Joseph (3,385)
8. Ray (3,281)
9. William (3,009)
10. Eugene (2,966)

1960-1969: Female Names

toddler girl

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Ann (3,718)
2. Marie (2,895)
3. Lynn (2,485)
4. Lee (1,025)
5. Jean (993)
6. Sue (846)
7. Kay (741)
8. Louise (644)
9. Renee (566)
10. Elizabeth (544)

1960-1969: Male Names

Shutterstock

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Lee (3,149)
2. Allen (1,990)
3. Edward (1,882)
4. Anthony (1,726)
5. Michael (1,711)
6. James (1,705)
7. Wayne (1,558)
8. Joseph (1,394)
9. Alan (1,335)
10. Scott (1,286)

1970-1979: Female Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Marie (1,703)
2. Ann (1,280)
3. Lynn (1,236)
4. Lee (435)
5. Michelle (435)
6. Renee (420)
7. Elizabeth (334)
8. Dawn (326)
9. Jean (274)
10. Anne (272)

1970-1979: Male Names

doors

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Lee (1,527)
2. Michael (1,246)
3. James (862)
4. Allen (766)
5. Edward (715)
6. Anthony (703)
7. David (696)
8. Joseph (643)
9. William (550)
10. Wayne (528)

1980-1989: Female Names

girl

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Marie (2,544)
2. Ann (1,194)
3. Lynn (1,029)
4. Nicole (764)
5. Elizabeth (650)
6. Renee (517)
7. Michelle (443)
8. Lee (426)
9. Anne (357)
10. Rose (312)

1980-1989: Male Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Michael (1,409)
2. Lee (1,212)
3. James (1,047)
4. Anthony (848)
5. Joseph (746)
6. David (716)
7. Allen (652)
8. Robert (545)
9. William (537)
10. Edward (522)

1990-1999: Female Names

autumn names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Marie (1,393)
2. Nicole (684)
3. Ann (548)
4. Lynn (509)
5. Elizabeth (490)
6. Renee (278)
7. Michelle (251)
8. Rose (242)
9. Lee (188)
10. Anne (151)

1990-1999: Male Names

Shutterstock

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Michael (1,006)
2. James (689)
3. Lee (657)
4. Anthony (531)
5. Allen (412)
6. Joseph (397)
7. David (352)
8. Thomas (281)
9. Robert (280)
10. William (267)

2000-2009: Female Names

Shutterstock

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Marie (301)
2. Nicole (157)
3. Elizabeth (123)
4. Ann (120)
5. Lynn (114)
6. Rose (98)
7. Grace (72)
8. Renee (56)
9. Mae (39)
10. Faith (38)

2000-2009: Male Names

elijah

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Michael (238)
2. James (170)
3. Lee (138)
5. Allen (97)
6. Joseph (89)
7. David (73)
8. William (71)
9. Thomas (68)
10. Anthony (61)
10. Robert (59)

2010-2015: Female Names

Baby girl outside with flowers

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. Marie (82)
2. Grace (71)
3. Rose (53)
4. Ann (51)
5. Elizabeth (36)
6. Faith (32)
7. Mae (32)
8. Lynn (27)
9. Renee (19)
10. Jane (16)

2010-2015: Male Names

Top 10 Middle Names of the Decade and Occurrences:
1. James (95)
2. Lee (53)
3. Michael (52)
4. Joseph (36)
5. Alexander (27)
6. David (27)
7. William (26)
8. Andrew (24)
9. Matthew (22)
10. Robert (22)

Compare Thousands of Baby Name Options on MooseRoots