Most Popular Baby Names of the 1970s

Top 100 girl and boy names, Social Security records, 1970 to 1979

Jennifer and Michael were the most popular baby names of the 1970s: 581,729 girls were named Jennifer and 707,327 boys Michael from 1970 to 1979. The tables rank the 100 names given to the most babies of each sex, out of 20,293 girl names and 11,485 boy names in the records for those years. Social Security lists a name in a year only when at least 5 babies of one sex got it.

Year by Year

The top 100 girl and boy names of each year of the 1970s, with what changed from the year before.

Top 100 Girl Names, 1970 to 1979

#	Name	Babies
1	Jennifer	581,729
2	Amy	268,994
3	Melissa	253,267
4	Michelle	249,130
5	Kimberly	229,097
6	Lisa	228,690
7	Angela	225,262
8	Heather	203,902
9	Stephanie	160,468
10	Nicole	144,667
11	Jessica	143,492
12	Elizabeth	142,845
13	Rebecca	137,285
14	Kelly	133,545
15	Mary	126,254
16	Christina	125,747
17	Amanda	123,920
18	Julie	121,919
19	Sarah	118,823
20	Laura	118,204
21	Shannon	113,793
22	Christine	103,236
23	Tammy	98,830
24	Tracy	95,536
25	Karen	95,173
26	Dawn	92,446
27	Susan	88,308
28	Andrea	86,424
29	Tina	84,764
30	Patricia	81,111
31	Cynthia	80,196
32	Lori	77,777
33	Rachel	77,749
34	April	76,946
35	Maria	76,373
36	Wendy	74,185
37	Crystal	73,757
38	Stacy	69,901
39	Erin	67,888
40	Jamie	67,845
41	Carrie	66,825
42	Tiffany	65,158
43	Tara	65,072
44	Sandra	64,340
45	Monica	61,680
46	Danielle	60,918
47	Stacey	59,210
48	Pamela	58,039
49	Tonya	57,789
50	Sara	56,958
51	Michele	56,560
52	Teresa	56,037
53	Denise	55,868
54	Jill	55,070
55	Katherine	54,048
56	Melanie	53,323
57	Dana	51,358
58	Holly	50,464
59	Erica	49,595
60	Brenda	48,591
61	Deborah	47,855
62	Tanya	47,830
63	Sharon	47,768
64	Donna	47,342
65	Amber	47,063
66	Emily	46,839
67	Robin	45,943
68	Linda	45,900
69	Kathleen	44,847
70	Leslie	44,839
71	Christy	44,592
72	Kristen	44,206
73	Catherine	43,864
74	Kristin	42,384
75	Misty	42,375
76	Barbara	42,237
77	Heidi	42,219
78	Nancy	41,850
79	Cheryl	40,393
80	Theresa	40,076
81	Brandy	40,070
82	Alicia	39,253
83	Veronica	38,787
84	Gina	38,120
85	Jacqueline	37,962
86	Rhonda	37,946
87	Anna	37,813
88	Renee	37,591
89	Megan	37,355
90	Tamara	37,076
91	Melinda	36,438
92	Kathryn	36,434
93	Debra	34,605
94	Sherry	34,204
95	Allison	34,158
96	Valerie	33,810
97	Diana	33,348
98	Paula	32,724
99	Kristina	32,650
100	Ann	32,030

Top 100 Boy Names, 1970 to 1979

#	Name	Babies
1	Michael	707,327
2	Christopher	475,423
3	Jason	462,709
4	David	445,704
5	James	444,713
6	John	402,612
7	Robert	397,225
8	Brian	322,660
9	William	283,401
10	Matthew	277,727
11	Joseph	244,825
12	Daniel	244,454
13	Kevin	212,231
14	Eric	211,481
15	Jeffrey	202,850
16	Richard	202,804
17	Scott	194,520
18	Mark	194,260
19	Steven	188,078
20	Thomas	186,739
21	Timothy	181,260
22	Anthony	174,873
23	Charles	163,021
24	Joshua	140,318
25	Ryan	139,635
26	Jeremy	139,307
27	Paul	136,390
28	Andrew	132,929
29	Gregory	115,563
30	Chad	113,534
31	Kenneth	111,489
32	Jonathan	107,926
33	Stephen	107,804
34	Shawn	105,790
35	Aaron	101,487
36	Adam	91,739
37	Patrick	91,240
38	Justin	86,539
39	Sean	83,819
40	Edward	83,425
41	Todd	83,319
42	Donald	82,435
43	Ronald	81,730
44	Benjamin	81,332
45	Keith	76,689
46	Bryan	71,338
47	Gary	68,261
48	Jose	66,390
49	Nathan	65,857
50	Douglas	65,155
51	Nicholas	65,068
52	Brandon	65,047
53	George	64,757
54	Travis	64,103
55	Peter	62,320
56	Craig	58,787
57	Bradley	58,678
58	Larry	58,138
59	Dennis	50,552
60	Shane	50,279
61	Raymond	49,332
62	Troy	48,852
63	Jerry	48,351
64	Samuel	48,099
65	Frank	46,917
66	Jesse	44,886
67	Jeffery	44,565
68	Juan	43,404
69	Terry	42,426
70	Corey	41,000
71	Phillip	39,845
72	Marcus	39,464
73	Derek	38,310
74	Rodney	37,446
75	Joel	37,228
76	Carlos	36,949
77	Randy	36,545
78	Jacob	36,351
79	Jamie	36,296
80	Tony	35,676
81	Russell	35,469
82	Brent	35,380
83	Antonio	33,280
84	Billy	33,217
85	Derrick	32,860
86	Kyle	32,645
87	Erik	32,094
88	Johnny	32,024
89	Marc	31,837
90	Carl	31,370
91	Philip	31,367
92	Roger	29,714
93	Bobby	29,077
94	Brett	28,922
95	Danny	28,863
96	Curtis	28,808
97	Jon	28,690
98	Vincent	27,640
99	Cory	27,509
100	Jimmy	27,099

Open a name to see how many people with it are alive today. To compare decades, pick another one above, or read the guide Most Popular Names by Decade.