1970s Baby Names

25,022 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

#721
Celeste Celeste is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "heavenly."
5,542 in the 1970s
#722
Roland Roland is a boy's name meaning famous land, and its bearer is the hero of France's national epic — a knight who dies at Roncevaux because he is too proud to blow his horn for help.
5,537 in the 1970s
#723
Preston Preston means the priest's settlement — land held by the church rather than by a lord, which is why so many English places carry the name.
5,531 in the 1970s
#724
Patrice Patrice is masculine in French and feminine in English — the same spelling, opposite sexes on either side of the Channel.
5,525 in the 1970s
#725
Darcy Darcy is a name of Norman French origin meaning "from Arcy," a place in Normandy.
5,512 in the 1970s
#726
Gregg
5,507 in the 1970s
#727
Kate Kate is a girl's name of Greek origin, a short form of Katherine whose meaning has never been established.
5,504 in the 1970s
#728
Tyson Tyson means son of the firebrand, and it began as an insult — the Old French tison named a hot-tempered man, so the surname records a reputation the family did not choose.
5,493 in the 1970s
#729
Perry Perry means at the pear tree, from an English place name — and it is reviving, at 1,373rd in the United States and 1,681st in England and Wales.
5,491 in the 1970s
#730
Ted Ted is a boy's name that serves two unrelated names at once, and it exists because medieval English moved the n from "mine Edward."
5,462 in the 1970s
#731
Betsy Betsy is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath."
5,461 in the 1970s
#732
Lorenzo Lorenzo is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "from Laurentum," the Italian and Spanish form of Laurence.
5,459 in the 1970s
#733
Israel Israel means he wrestles with God, and it is a name given after a fight — Jacob receives it in Genesis having wrestled a stranger until dawn and refused to let go without a blessing.
5,448 in the 1970s
#734
Brandie
5,438 in the 1970s
#735
Annie Annie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor."
5,423 in the 1970s
#736
Leo Leo is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "lion."
5,419 in the 1970s
#737
Maribel
5,389 in the 1970s
#738
Darla Darla is a girl's name coined in twentieth-century America from the word darling.
5,387 in the 1970s
#739
Lillian Lillian is a girl's name usually explained as an elaboration of Lily, from the Latin lilium, and sometimes as a variant of Elizabeth by way of the medieval pet form Lilian.
5,379 in the 1970s
#740
Tim Tim means honoring God, and France ranks it 277th — far above the United States at 3,221st, which is the reverse of what an English short form would normally do.
5,345 in the 1970s
#741
Amelia Amelia is a girl's name most often explained as a blend of two older names: the Germanic Amalia, meaning "work" or "industrious," and the Latin Emilia, from the Roman family name Aemilius.
5,326 in the 1970s
#742
Glenda Glenda is a twentieth-century Welsh invention rather than a traditional name — it joins two ordinary Welsh adjectives, and it does not appear in the historical record before about 1900.
5,324 in the 1970s
#743
Chasity
5,317 in the 1970s
#744
Lorie
5,304 in the 1970s
#745
Ethan Ethan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "firm," "enduring," or "strong."
5,301 in the 1970s
#746
Rickey Rickey means strong ruler, and its peak is the largest in this group — 3,818 American births in 1958, against 45 in the most recent year on record.
5,301 in the 1970s
#747
Elena Elena is a girl's name of Greek origin, the Italian, Spanish, and Russian form of Helen.
5,294 in the 1970s
#748
Tabatha
5,273 in the 1970s
#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 recorded births are now female.
5,247 in the 1970s
#750
Lana Lana is a girl's name with several competing origins — a Hawaiian word for calm, a Slavic short form of Svetlana, and a Hollywood invention of the 1930s.
5,235 in the 1970s
#751
Marion Marion is a French diminutive of Mary that has crossed sexes twice over — it is 81 percent female on record, yet its most famous bearer was John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison.
5,226 in the 1970s
#752
Bill Bill comes from William, and the B is the point — medieval English made pet names by rhyming, which is why Will became Bill, Rob became Bob and Rick became Dick.
5,225 in the 1970s
#753
Cary
5,211 in the 1970s
#754
Salvador Salvador means savior, and it names a country and an ocean crossing — El Salvador is the only nation named directly for Christ, and San Salvador was the first island Columbus reached.
5,208 in the 1970s
#755
Johanna Johanna means God is gracious, and it heads one of the largest name families in Europe — Jane, Joan, Jean, Janet, Sinead and Siobhan are all the same name arriving by different national routes.
5,197 in the 1970s
#756
Jeannette Jeannette means God is gracious, a French double diminutive of Jeanne — and the -ette ending is doing the same work twice, since Jeanne is already a feminine of Jean.
5,196 in the 1970s
#757
Marcie
5,175 in the 1970s
#758
Darnell
5,172 in the 1970s
#759
Abraham Abraham is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "father of many."
5,172 in the 1970s
#760
Josephine Josephine is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the French feminine form of Joseph.
5,160 in the 1970s
#761
Lester Lester means from Leicester, and the spelling is the honest one — Leicester has been pronounced LES-ter for centuries, so the surname simply wrote down what people had been saying to each other all along.
5,156 in the 1970s
#762
Ernesto Ernesto means serious in the deadly sense — the Germanic eornost named vigor in a fight, and the modern in earnest still keeps that force, meaning for real rather than in play.
5,114 in the 1970s
#763
Hilary
5,083 in the 1970s
#764
Tisha
5,076 in the 1970s
#765
Leanne Leanne is a British and Irish name far more than an American one — England peaked at 616 births, Scotland 287 and Ireland 201, against an American high of 801 in a vastly larger population.
5,063 in the 1970s
#766
Vivian Vivian is a name of Latin origin meaning "alive" or "lively," from vivus.
5,050 in the 1970s
#767
Rudy Rudy is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous wolf."
5,011 in the 1970s
#768
Dewayne
4,967 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.