1970s Baby Names

8,079 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

#209
Jon Jon is a boy's name meaning God is gracious, and it is both an English shortening of Jonathan and the standard Scandinavian and Catalan form of John — two routes to the same three letters.
28,895 in the 1970s
#213
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
28,136 in the 1970s
#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
#221
Chris Chris shortens two unrelated Greek names — Christopher, which means bearing Christ, and Christine, which means belonging to Christ.
27,154 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
#239
Willie Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more mixed names on record — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
24,987 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 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
#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

What Made a 1970s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1970 and 1979. A name's position here is how many of them were.

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.