1970s Baby Names

2,155 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

#749
Jocelyn Jocelyn began as a man's name for a Germanic tribe — the Gauts — and turned female in twentieth-century America. About 90 percent of the births in our records are now female.
5,247 in the 1970s
#751
Marion Marion is a French diminutive of Mary that has crossed sexes twice over — it is 81 percent female in our records, yet its most famous bearer was John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison.
5,226 in the 1970s
#753
Cary
5,211 in the 1970s
#769
Loren Loren means from Laurentum, a town rather than a plant — the laurel reading came second, and the town itself was probably named for its laurels, so the connection is real but runs the long way round.
4,961 in the 1970s
#770
Nakia
4,934 in the 1970s 7 of 10 years
#776
Morgan Morgan is a Welsh name meaning sea-born, and it charts in all seven markets we track within a range of just over three hundred places — one of the most evenly distributed names on this site.
4,898 in the 1970s
#808
Quincy Quincy is a unisex name of Norman French origin meaning "estate of Quintus".
4,657 in the 1970s
#820
Kendall Kendall means the valley of the River Kent, and Scotland ranks it 309th — above the United States at 329th, which is unusual for a name whose modern use is almost entirely American.
4,469 in the 1970s
#821
Kasey Kasey means vigilant, and it is one of the more evenly divided names on this site — 73 percent of the births in our records are female, against an Irish surname that was of course carried by both.
4,468 in the 1970s
#827
Jan Jan is 66 percent female in our records because two unrelated uses collide — it is the ordinary man's name for John across Dutch, Polish and Czech, and a woman's short form of Janet and Janice in English.
4,373 in the 1970s
#833
Lashawn
4,337 in the 1970s
#834
Jamey
4,298 in the 1970s
#843
Dallas Dallas is the only rising name in this group — it peaked in 2015 and is still climbing, at 238th in the United States.
4,234 in the 1970s
#845
Drew Drew shortens Andrew, meaning manly, and there is a second unrelated Drew from a Germanic word for a ghost or phantom.
4,219 in the 1970s
#853
Sidney Sidney is a name of Old English origin meaning "wide meadow."
4,144 in the 1970s
#887
Aubrey Aubrey is a name of Germanic origin meaning "elf ruler."
3,897 in the 1970s
#904
Scottie Scottie is a name meaning "a Scot," a pet form of Scott.
3,787 in the 1970s
#939
Jayme
3,583 in the 1970s
#945
Mickey
3,528 in the 1970s
#961
Dusty
3,399 in the 1970s
#974
Elisha
3,343 in the 1970s
#979
Claude Claude is a name from a Roman family name meaning lame, one of very few widely used names with an unflattering literal sense.
3,301 in the 1970s
#980
Ira Ira means watchful, and it is 12 percent female in our records despite being a man's name in the Hebrew Bible — one of David's priests carries it in Samuel.
3,298 in the 1970s
#990
Marlo
3,201 in the 1970s
#1,001
Dominique Dominique is a French name meaning of the Lord, given to children born on a Sunday.
3,128 in the 1970s
#1,024
Rory Rory is a name of Irish and Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "red king."
3,010 in the 1970s
#1,025
Cori
2,998 in the 1970s
#1,047
Tommie Tommie means twin, and it is one of the most evenly split names on this site — 33 percent of the births in our records are female, because it serves as a short form of both Thomas and Thomasina.
2,931 in the 1970s
#1,050
Shanon
2,918 in the 1970s
#1,059
Kristian
2,871 in the 1970s
#1,062
Taylor Taylor is an occupational surname meaning one who cuts cloth, now used mostly for girls at 72 percent female.
2,864 in the 1970s
#1,068
Kenyatta
2,846 in the 1970s
#1,079
Brook
2,787 in the 1970s
#1,080
Bennie Bennie means son of the right hand, and Jacob renamed the child to get there — his dying mother called him son of my sorrow, and his father would not let the name stand.
2,780 in the 1970s
#1,101
Dara Dara is a unisex name that arrives from at least three unconnected languages — Irish, Hebrew and Persian — and the reading depends entirely on which one a family has in mind.
2,681 in the 1970s
#1,113
Sasha Sasha is a unisex name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," the Russian familiar form of Alexander.
2,639 in the 1970s
#1,128
Corrie
2,565 in the 1970s
#1,132
Tory
2,554 in the 1970s
#1,140
Ali Ali is a name of Arabic origin meaning "exalted" or "high."
2,519 in the 1970s
#1,144
Cortney
2,499 in the 1970s
#1,150
Jammie
2,480 in the 1970s
#1,161
Shayne
2,437 in the 1970s
#1,196
Avery Avery is a name of English origin meaning "elf counsel," derived from the Norman French form of the Germanic name Alberich.
2,291 in the 1970s
#1,235
Ariel Ariel means lion of God, and The Little Mermaid moved it hard and briefly.
2,196 in the 1970s
#1,241
Shea Shea is a unisex name of Irish origin from the surname Ó Séaghdha, whose root means "hawk-like" or "stately."
2,179 in the 1970s
#1,247
Christen
2,173 in the 1970s
#1,270
Torrey
2,118 in the 1970s
#1,272
Lacy
2,116 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.