Have you ever stopped to think about your middle name and how popular…or obscure…it is?
A genealogy website called 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, they were able to rank the top 10 middle names of the last 12 decades. Starting with 1900-1909, they’ve showcased 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
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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
[findthebest id=”aNqbTM7BB09″ title=”Rank of William Over Time” width=”600″ height=”400″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/aNqbTM7BB09″ link=”http://names.mooseroots.com/l/269080/William” link_text=”Rank of William Over Time | MooseRoots”]
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
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
[findthebest id=”lMLkGMFGJMh” title=”Rank of Joseph Over Time” width=”600″ height=”400″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/lMLkGMFGJMh” link=”http://names.mooseroots.com/l/127248/Joseph” link_text=”Rank of Joseph Over Time | MooseRoots”]
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
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
[findthebest id=”5iKCvgQz1C5″ title=”Rank of Edward Over Time” width=”600″ height=”400″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/5iKCvgQz1C5″ link=”http://names.mooseroots.com/l/77668/Edward” link_text=”Rank of Edward Over Time | MooseRoots”]
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
[findthebest id=”6FV0QTFkasB” title=”Rank of Ann Over Time” width=”600″ height=”400″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/6FV0QTFkasB” link=”http://names.mooseroots.com/l/19652/Ann” link_text=”Rank of Ann Over Time | MooseRoots”]
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
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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
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
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
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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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)
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