Ranked: Most Popular Baby Girl Names of the Century vs. 2024
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Key Takeaways
- Mary is the most popular name (by numbers) in the last century.
- By 2024 however, it’s fallen out of favor, down 131 ranks.
- Elizabeth is the only top-10 name that’s retained popularity in 2024.
Deciding on a baby’s name is so polarizing that many new parents will only reveal the name after the child is born.
Of course, some parents like to go for the most unique ones—Elon Musk for example, with “X Æ A-Xii.” Then others go the exact opposite way: honoring grandparents or shared histories.
As a result, tracking naming trends over a period of time can reveal insights into how American society is assigning value to names.
This graphic ranks the most popular baby girl names in the U.S., both in the last 100 years (1925–2024), and for just 2024 to show how popularity has changed.
Ranks and figures are based on Social Security card application data as of March 2025. The sample set is restricted to names where the year of birth, sex, and state of birth are on record, and where the given name is at least two characters long.
The Most Popular Name for American Girls in the Last 100 Years
Mary is the most popular name in the last 100 years, but by 2024 it had dropped 131 ranking spots.
| 100-Year Rank |
Name | # of babies (1925–2024) |
Rank in 2024 | Rank Difference (100-Yr vs. 2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mary | 2,913,902 | 132 | -131 |
| 2 | Patricia | 1,539,442 | Not in the top 1,000 |
N/A |
| 3 | Jennifer | 1,470,844 | 547 | -544 |
| 4 | Linda | 1,448,119 | 835 | -831 |
| 5 | Elizabeth | 1,387,113 | 17 | -12 |
| 6 | Barbara | 1,371,191 | 860 | -854 |
| 7 | Susan | 1,100,642 | Not in the top 1,000 |
N/A |
| 8 | Jessica | 1,048,746 | 574 | -566 |
| 9 | Karen | 986,097 | Not in the top 1,000 |
N/A |
| 10 | Sarah | 983,348 | 95 | -85 |
And Mary is not the only one. Patricia, Jennifer, and Linda—which, with Mary, collectively account for over 7 million births from 1925 to 2024—are all unpopular now.
Patricia (along with Susan and Karen) have exited the top-1,000 altogether. The negative associations with the name “Karen” may explain at least one of those data points.
The only exception to these rather dramatic shifts is Elizabeth, 5th all-time and 17th in 2024.
Parents Name Sons & Daughters With Different Considerations
Interestingly, naming patterns for girls show far more dramatic shifts than for boys (linked in the next section). This suggests that parents don’t feel as bound by tradition for naming their daughters.
Instead they look for uniqueness, which encourages diversifications across the top ranks. Different spellings of the same name (Ashley vs. Ashleigh) for example, will also be counted and ranked separately.
This helps explain why the traditional names that dominated for decades are no longer on 2024’s list.
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
What does this same list look like for the other half of the population? Check out, Ranked: The Most Popular Names for American Boys in the Last Century for a similar breakdown.
