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

#1,009
Nadia Nadia means hope, from the Russian word, and it charts in all seven markets we track — Ireland 293rd, Scotland 312th, Northern Ireland 329th, England and Wales 501st, the United States 565th and France 754th.
3,093 in the 1970s
#1,010
Kareem
3,086 in the 1970s
#1,011
Tamra
3,080 in the 1970s
#1,012
Sondra
3,071 in the 1970s
#1,013
Caryn
3,071 in the 1970s
#1,014
Teddy Teddy is a boy's name that shortens either Edward, meaning "wealthy guardian," or Theodore, meaning "gift of God."
3,067 in the 1970s
#1,015
Lorrie
3,063 in the 1970s
#1,016
Patty Patty belonged to Martha before it belonged to Patricia — the pet form was reassigned in the twentieth century, one of several nicknames in English that quietly changed parents.
3,062 in the 1970s
#1,017
Colby Colby is a boy's name of Norse origin meaning "Koli's farm," from villages in the English Danelaw.
3,057 in the 1970s
#1,018
Bianca Bianca means white, and France ranks it 242nd — ahead of Ireland at 373rd, the United States at 501st, England and Wales at 548th and Scotland at 742nd.
3,048 in the 1970s
#1,019
Anissa
3,048 in the 1970s
#1,020
Farrah Farrah is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "joy," and its peak in our records is 1977 — the year after one poster sold twelve million copies.
3,039 in the 1970s 9 of 10 years
#1,021
Owen Owen is a boy's name of Welsh origin, the anglicized form of Owain.
3,034 in the 1970s
#1,022
Gustavo Gustavo has no settled meaning, and the two accounts disagree on the language — a Norse staff of the Geats, or a Slavic name reshaped by Swedish, and neither has carried the field.
3,027 in the 1970s
#1,023
Tiffani
3,011 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
#1,026
Carly Carly means free man, and the Germanic word named a free peasant rather than a lord — so a name that now reads as light and modern began at the bottom of the free classes.
2,994 in the 1970s 9 of 10 years
#1,027
Earnest Earnest respells Ernest, and the Germanic behind it is not mild — eornost meant vigor in battle, seriousness of the deadly kind, long before it settled into the sense of being sincere.
2,994 in the 1970s
#1,028
Justine Justine means just or fair, from the Latin word behind justice — and it ranks 407th in France against 3738th in the United States, which is one of the widest market splits anywhere in this group.
2,991 in the 1970s
#1,029
Lyle Lyle is a boy's name from the Norman French for "the island," and the l at the front is the definite article rather than part of the word.
2,990 in the 1970s
#1,030
Xavier Xavier is a boy's name from a Basque place name meaning "the new house," from etxe berri.
2,988 in the 1970s
#1,031
Delia Delia means of Delos, and it is a title for Artemis rather than a name in itself — she was born on that island, so calling her Delia is like calling someone the Nazarene.
2,986 in the 1970s
#1,032
Elias Elias is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "my God is Yahweh."
2,986 in the 1970s
#1,033
Shellie
2,985 in the 1970s
#1,034
Louise Louise is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "famous warrior," the French feminine form of Louis.
2,979 in the 1970s
#1,035
Lacey Lacey means from Lassy, a place in Normandy, and Scotland ranks it 308th — its strongest market, ahead of Northern Ireland at 475th and England at 480th, with the United States back at 738th.
2,979 in the 1970s
#1,036
Susie Susie means lily, shortened from Susan, and the Hebrew word was borrowed from Egyptian — where it may have named a lotus rather than a lily, which changes the flower entirely.
2,976 in the 1970s
#1,037
Dante Dante means enduring, and it is a nickname that outlived its full form — the poet was christened Durante, and almost nobody has used that name since, while the short version became international.
2,975 in the 1970s
#1,038
Bart
2,973 in the 1970s
#1,039
Tessa Tessa is a girl's name that grew out of Theresa and is now used independently.
2,969 in the 1970s
#1,040
Latrice
2,968 in the 1970s
#1,041
Curt
2,960 in the 1970s
#1,042
Forrest Forrest is one of only two names in this group our data marks as rising, and it is on its second life — American births ran 490 in 2018 and 862 in 2025, having collapsed from a 1994 peak twenty years before.
2,953 in the 1970s
#1,043
Lois Lois is a girl's name that appears once in the New Testament, in a letter naming Timothy's grandmother, and its meaning has never been established.
2,936 in the 1970s
#1,044
Corina
2,934 in the 1970s
#1,045
Deanne
2,934 in the 1970s
#1,046
Renae
2,932 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
#1,048
Rena
2,929 in the 1970s
#1,049
Larissa
2,920 in the 1970s
#1,050
Shanon
2,918 in the 1970s
#1,051
Latosha
2,911 in the 1970s
#1,052
Thaddeus
2,906 in the 1970s
#1,053
Dominick Dominick means of the Lord, and it was given to children born on a Sunday — dies dominica is the Lord's day, and the name records the day of birth rather than a hope for the child.
2,893 in the 1970s
#1,054
Stewart
2,892 in the 1970s
#1,055
Maritza
2,887 in the 1970s
#1,056
Pete Pete means rock, and it began as a joke about a man's character — Jesus renames Simon as Cephas, the Aramaic for a stone, and the pun works in Greek but not in English.
2,885 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.