1970s Baby Names

7,987 names were given to children in the United States between 1970 and 1979, ranked below by how many.

A name's place is its total across those ten years. Names that appear in only some of the decade say so, because a name recorded once is a different fact from one recorded every year.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#216
Vincent Vincent is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conquering," from vincere, to conquer.
27,846 in the 1970s
#219
Jimmy Jimmy is a boy's name, the pet form of James, meaning supplanter.
27,367 in the 1970s
#224
Victor Victor is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conqueror."
26,994 in the 1970s
#226
Lawrence Lawrence is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, an ancient Italian town linked to the laurel.
26,910 in the 1970s
#227
Christian Christian is a boy's name from the Latin christianus, meaning "a follower of Christ."
26,903 in the 1970s
#228
Dustin Dustin is a boy's name from the Old Norse Thorstein, meaning Thor's stone — the dust in the spelling is pure coincidence.
26,867 in the 1970s
#230
Gerald Gerald is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning rule of the spear, and it gave Ireland one of its great Norman dynasties, the FitzGeralds.
26,378 in the 1970s
#232
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
25,942 in the 1970s
#236
Joe Joe is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," a short form of Joseph that has become the English word for an ordinary person.
25,403 in the 1970s
#238
Alexander Alexander is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," from alexein, to defend, and aner, man.
25,220 in the 1970s
#240
Alan Alan is a boy's name of Breton origin whose meaning has never been established.
24,958 in the 1970s
#241
Gabriel Gabriel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my strength," from Gavri'el.
24,857 in the 1970s
#242
Wayne Wayne is an occupational surname meaning a wagon maker, and its life as a given name follows one man — John Wayne, who was born Marion Robert Morrison and renamed by a studio.
24,782 in the 1970s
#245
Jared Jared is a boy's name from Hebrew meaning descent, borne by the father of Enoch — the one man in Genesis who does not die but is taken.
24,540 in the 1970s
#246
Martin Martin is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "of Mars," borne by Saint Martin of Tours, whose cloak gave Europe the word chapel.
24,456 in the 1970s
#249
Micheal Micheal is a boy's name of Hebrew origin whose full form is a rhetorical question — who is like God?
24,324 in the 1970s
#250
Jay Jay is a name serving as an initial-letter shortening for any J name, as a bird name, and as an Indian name meaning victory.
24,253 in the 1970s
#251
Luis Luis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior."
24,207 in the 1970s
#253
Henry Henry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler," from heim, meaning home or estate, and ric, meaning ruler or power.
23,731 in the 1970s
#256
Wesley Wesley is a boy's name of English origin meaning "western meadow," from the Old English west and leah.
23,506 in the 1970s
#257
Randall Randall is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning shield-wolf.
23,174 in the 1970s
#261
Brad Brad means broad clearing, shortened from Bradley — and the broad element is the same word as the modern English broad, one of the few Old English place-name terms still transparent.
22,737 in the 1970s
#262
Darren Darren has no established origin — it appears in twentieth-century America with no traceable parent, and the Irish and Gaelic derivations offered for it were attached after the fact.
22,725 in the 1970s
#263
Roy Roy is a boy's name with two independent sources — the Gaelic ruadh, meaning red-haired, and the French roi, meaning king.
22,524 in the 1970s
#266
Albert Albert is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble and bright."
22,318 in the 1970s
#267
Ricky Ricky is a boy's name, the pet form of Richard or Ricardo, meaning strong ruler.
22,309 in the 1970s
#268
Arthur Arthur is a boy's name of disputed origin.
22,303 in the 1970s
#271
Lance Lance does not mean a spear.
21,913 in the 1970s
#272
Allen Allen is a boy's name whose meaning is genuinely unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from an unidentified Breton source.
21,819 in the 1970s
#273
Andre Andre is a boy's name, the French form of Andrew, from the Greek for manly.
21,700 in the 1970s
#275
Adrian Adrian is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "from Hadria," a town in northern Italy that also gave its name to the Adriatic Sea.
21,347 in the 1970s
#276
Bruce Bruce is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and Scotland's most famous king carried it as an import — the Bruces came from Normandy, not from Scotland.
21,273 in the 1970s
#277
Mario Mario is a boy's name from a Roman family name of uncertain meaning, and the video game character was named after a real landlord — Mario Segale, who owned the warehouse Nintendo rented in Seattle.
21,249 in the 1970s
#279
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
20,915 in the 1970s
#283
Louis Louis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior."
20,321 in the 1970s
#284
Darrell Darrell does not mean beloved.
20,289 in the 1970s
#286
Damon Damon means one who tames, and the story attached to it is about friendship — Damon and Pythias each offered to die in the other's place, which persuaded a tyrant to release them both.
20,252 in the 1970s
#287
Shaun Shaun spells the Irish Seán phonetically for English readers, and it is the same name as John — the Irish took it from Norman French Jehan rather than directly from Latin, which is why it sounds nothing like John.
20,118 in the 1970s
#295
Nathaniel Nathaniel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God."
19,363 in the 1970s
#296
Zachary Zachary is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord has remembered."
19,161 in the 1970s
#297
Jesus Jesus is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord is salvation."
19,158 in the 1970s
#299
Ronnie Ronnie is a name of Old Norse origin meaning "ruler's counsel."
19,053 in the 1970s
#303
Dale Dale is a name from the Old English word for a valley, and like Craig and Heather it is a plain landscape noun rather than a compound.
18,915 in the 1970s
#305
Jeremiah Jeremiah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh exalts" or "Yahweh establishes," from Yirmeyahu.
18,911 in the 1970s
#306
Jack Jack is a boy's name of English origin that began as a pet form of John, by way of the medieval nickname Jankin.
18,694 in the 1970s
#311
Tyrone Tyrone means Eoghan's land, an Irish county, and it reached American use almost entirely through one actor — Tyrone Power, whose grandfather took the name from the county his family came from.
18,151 in the 1970s
#315
Manuel Manuel is a boy's name meaning God is with us, the Spanish short form of Emmanuel.
17,905 in the 1970s
#316
Ricardo Ricardo is a boy's name meaning brave ruler, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Richard.
17,826 in the 1970s

What made a 1970s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1970 and 1979, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1970s names" you will find elsewhere is somebody's sense of the period; this one is the register.

Why Some Names Only Cover Part of the Decade

A name that appears in three of the ten years either arrived partway through or faded out — and either is more interesting than the total on its own. The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.

Where to Go Next

Open any name to see its full curve — most of these have a hundred and forty years of it. Or compare the ends of the same measurement: the most popular names now and the rarest.