1970s Baby Names

14,967 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

#202
Brandi Brandi respells Brandy, and the drink behind it means burned wine — the Dutch brandewijn described wine heated to distill it.
29,209 in the 1970s
#203
Suzanne Suzanne is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "lily," from shoshannah.
29,135 in the 1970s
#205
Kristi Kristi is the fifth spelling of this name to appear in this group — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina and Kristine, all of them American-led despite the form being Scandinavian.
29,119 in the 1970s
#207
Samantha Samantha is a girl's name of uncertain origin, first recorded in America in the eighteenth century.
29,027 in the 1970s
#208
Beth Beth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a short form of Elizabeth, and the seven in the Hebrew is the same idea as the oath.
28,946 in the 1970s
#211
Regina Regina is the Latin word for a queen, taken unchanged, and it is still the legal abbreviation in British courts — every criminal case against a defendant is formally Regina versus the accused.
28,464 in the 1970s
#212
Vanessa Vanessa was invented by Jonathan Swift around 1713, built from the name of a woman he was writing to — and it later became the name of a genus of butterflies.
28,188 in the 1970s
#215
Kristy Kristy is the seventh spelling of this name family in this group, and the count itself is the finding — one Latin word has produced seven separate pages on this site through American respelling alone.
27,862 in the 1970s
#220
Yolanda Yolanda means violet, and the flower reaches it through a chain of respellings — the Greek Iolanthe became Violante in Italian by association with viola, and Spanish then rendered that form as the Yolanda we know.
27,187 in the 1970s
#222
Carolyn Carolyn is a girl's name, an English elaboration of Caroline meaning free man through Charles.
27,139 in the 1970s
#223
Deanna Deanna was popularized by a stage name — the actress born Edna Mae Durbin was renamed Deanna Durbin in 1936, and American births rose from almost nothing to a peak of 4,331 in 1970.
27,069 in the 1970s
#225
Carla Carla is a girl's name meaning free man, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo.
26,939 in the 1970s
#229
Sheila Sheila is the Irish form of Cecilia, meaning blind — and parents outside Ireland should know it became Australian slang for a woman in the nineteenth century, which is why it barely charts there.
26,602 in the 1970s
#231
Laurie Laurie is a name meaning laurel, and it is mixed by country — masculine in Britain as a short form of Laurence, feminine in America as a short form of Laura.
26,231 in the 1970s
#233
Shelly Shelly means a clearing on a ledge, from an English place name — and it has nothing to do with shells, which is the reading most people assume and no source supports.
25,823 in the 1970s
#234
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
25,697 in the 1970s
#235
Diane Diane is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "divine" or "heavenly," the French form of the Roman goddess Diana.
25,444 in the 1970s
#237
Ashley Ashley is a name of Old English origin meaning "ash tree clearing."
25,272 in the 1970s
#243
Sabrina Sabrina is the Latin name of the River Severn, and the legend behind it is a drowning — a princess thrown into the river became its spirit.
24,599 in the 1970s
#244
Janet Janet is a girl's name, a Scottish diminutive of Jane meaning God is gracious.
24,552 in the 1970s
#247
Erika Erika means ever-ruler, the feminine of Erik — and it is also the botanical name for heather, which is a separate Greek word that happens to match.
24,428 in the 1970s
#248
Katrina Katrina has no securely known meaning, because Catherine does not — the Greek original has never been derived, and the pure reading was attached centuries later by a false association.
24,363 in the 1970s
#252
Colleen Colleen means girl in Irish, and it is barely used in Ireland — it is an Irish-American name rather than an Irish one.
23,845 in the 1970s
#254
Carol Carol is a girl's name with two independent sources: a short form of Caroline, and the word for a joyful song.
23,689 in the 1970s
#255
Julia Julia is a girl's name of Latin origin, the feminine of the Roman family name Julius.
23,537 in the 1970s
#258
Jenny Jenny began as a pet form of Jane, not Jennifer — the two attached to each other only in the twentieth century, and Jennifer was almost unknown outside Cornwall before 1900.
23,016 in the 1970s
#259
Kathy Kathy is a girl's name, the pet form of Katherine, and it inherits that name's unknown meaning.
22,794 in the 1970s
#265
Felicia Felicia means lucky, and the Latin felix meant fertile before it meant fortunate — the word originally described soil and livestock that produced well, and good fortune was a later extension of it.
22,433 in the 1970s
#269
Lauren Lauren is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "laurel," which became a women's name because a film studio invented one.
22,207 in the 1970s
#270
Alison Alison means little Alice, and Alice means noble — but the Norman name behind it is a heavy compression of the Germanic Adalheidis, so the noble is all that survived of a longer compound.
22,198 in the 1970s
#274
Kelli Kelli respells Kelly, an Irish surname whose meaning is contested — bright-headed and strife are both proposed for Ó Ceallaigh, and neither has ever been established.
21,637 in the 1970s
#278
Leah Leah is a girl's name of Hebrew origin whose meaning is disputed, most often given as "weary" but also linked to a word for wild cow.
21,221 in the 1970s
#280
Traci Traci is the most narrowly recorded name in this sweep — every one of its 52,406 births is American, it charts in no market in the current year, and its entire history runs from 1945 to a 1970 peak and down.
20,779 in the 1970s
#281
Kristine Kristine means a follower of Christ, and it is the fourth spelling of this name to appear in this group — after Kristin, Kristen and Kristina, all four of them American-led rather than Scandinavian.
20,596 in the 1970s
#282
Tricia Tricia and Trisha are the same name a syllable apart, and both shorten Patricia — which makes four spellings of one Latin word on this site, alongside Patty and Patti.
20,581 in the 1970s
#285
Joy Joy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning exactly what it says, taken from the English word.
20,275 in the 1970s
#289
Krista Krista means a follower of Christ, and it is the sixth spelling of this name family to appear in this group — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina, Kristine and Kristi.
19,878 in the 1970s
#290
Kara Kara means beloved, from the Italian and Latin for dear — and a separate Norse Kara exists as the name of a valkyrie, so the same spelling covers two entirely unrelated names.
19,833 in the 1970s
#291
Terri Terri shortens Teresa, whose meaning has never been established — harvester, summer and a Greek island are all proposed and none of them is settled.
19,821 in the 1970s
#292
Sonya Sonya means wisdom, and the Greek word behind it named a divine attribute before it named a person — Constantinople's great church was dedicated to Holy Wisdom, not to any saint called Sophia.
19,556 in the 1970s
#293
Aimee Aimee means beloved, and it is grammatically passive — the French past participle of aimer, to love, so the name says she who is loved rather than she who loves.
19,446 in the 1970s
#294
Natasha Natasha means born on Christmas day, and it is a Russian pet form rather than a full name — Natalya is the formal version, and Russians would not use Natasha on a document.
19,399 in the 1970s
#298
Cassandra Cassandra is a girl's name from Greek myth, borne by a prophet cursed to see the future and never be believed.
19,074 in the 1970s
#300
Bridget Bridget means exalted one, and it belonged to a goddess before a saint — Brigid was the Irish deity of poetry, smithcraft and healing, and the saint absorbed her feast, her fire and her attributes.
18,936 in the 1970s
#301
Carmen Carmen has two unrelated sources — the Latin word for a song, and a Spanish Marian title from Mount Carmel in Israel.
18,932 in the 1970s
#304
Anita Anita is a girl's name, the Spanish diminutive of Ana, meaning grace.
18,915 in the 1970s
#307
Nichole Nichole means victory of the people, and the compound is political — the Greek joins a word for victory to one meaning the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
18,579 in the 1970s
#308
Christie Christie means a follower of the anointed one, and the anointing was a physical act — Christ translates the Hebrew mashiach, both describing oil poured over a king or priest at his installation.
18,283 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.