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 — 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
Caryn
3,071 in the 1970s
#1,013
Sondra
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 recorded peak 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 3,738th 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
Elias Elias is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "my God is Yahweh."
2,986 in the 1970s
#1,032
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
#1,033
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 birth records mark 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
Deanne
2,934 in the 1970s
#1,045
Corina
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 recorded births 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

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.