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

#193
Tracey Tracey is a Norman place name, not an Irish one — it comes from Tracy in Normandy, and the warrior reading widely given for it has no basis in the French original at all.
31,408 in the 1970s
#194
Cindy Cindy is a girl's name, a pet form of Cynthia, which was a title of the moon goddess Artemis.
31,017 in the 1970s
#195
Victoria Victoria is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "victory."
31,002 in the 1970s
#196
Jodi Jodi serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why the wider Jody family never settled on one sex — three unrelated Hebrew parents pulling in different directions.
30,682 in the 1970s
#197
Bobby Bobby is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
30,238 in the 1970s
#198
Roger Roger is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning famous spear.
29,919 in the 1970s
#199
Natalie Natalie is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "birthday of the Lord," from natalis.
29,900 in the 1970s
#200
Brett Brett means a Breton — someone from Brittany, which is named for the Britons who fled there when the Anglo-Saxons arrived.
29,580 in the 1970s
#201
Cory Cory has at least three unrelated origins — a Norse island name, an Irish surname and a Greek word for a maiden — and English cannot distinguish them.
29,452 in the 1970s
#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
#204
Danny Danny is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge," a diminutive of Daniel.
29,124 in the 1970s
#205
Kristi Kristi is the fifth spelling of this name to appear in our gap band — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina and Kristine, all of them American-led despite the form being Scandinavian.
29,119 in the 1970s
#206
Curtis Curtis is a boy's name from a Norman French nickname meaning courteous, and it is one of very few names that describes manners rather than birth, appearance or trade.
29,045 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
#209
Jon Jon is a boy's name meaning God is gracious, and it is both an English shortening of Jonathan and the standard Scandinavian and Catalan form of John — two routes to the same three letters.
28,895 in the 1970s
#210
Courtney Courtney is a name from a Norman family whose surname is usually read as short nose, though a place-name derivation competes.
28,545 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
#213
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
28,136 in the 1970s
#214
Angel Angel is a name of Greek origin meaning "messenger," from angelos.
27,992 in the 1970s
#215
Kristy Kristy is the seventh spelling of this name family in our gap band, 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
#216
Vincent Vincent is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conquering," from vincere, to conquer.
27,846 in the 1970s
#217
Jody Jody serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why it is 64 percent female rather than resolving to one side — three unrelated parents pulling in different directions.
27,701 in the 1970s
#218
Casey Casey is a name of Irish origin meaning "vigilant" or "watchful."
27,633 in the 1970s
#219
Jimmy Jimmy is a boy's name, the pet form of James, meaning supplanter.
27,367 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
#221
Chris Chris shortens two unrelated Greek names — Christopher, which means bearing Christ, and Christine, which means belonging to Christ.
27,154 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
#224
Victor Victor is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "conqueror."
26,994 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
#226
Lawrence Lawrence is a boy's name meaning from Laurentum, an ancient Italian town linked to the laurel.
26,910 in the 1970s
#227
Christian Christian is a boy's name from the Latin christianus, meaning "a follower of Christ."
26,903 in the 1970s
#228
Dustin Dustin is a boy's name from the Old Norse Thorstein, meaning Thor's stone — the dust in the spelling is pure coincidence.
26,867 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
#230
Gerald Gerald is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning rule of the spear, and it gave Ireland one of its great Norman dynasties, the FitzGeralds.
26,378 in the 1970s
#231
Laurie Laurie is a name meaning laurel, and it is genuinely 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
#232
Walter Walter is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning ruler of the army.
25,942 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
#236
Joe Joe is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," a short form of Joseph that has become the English word for an ordinary person.
25,403 in the 1970s
#237
Ashley Ashley is a name of Old English origin meaning "ash tree clearing."
25,272 in the 1970s
#238
Alexander Alexander is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," from alexein, to defend, and aner, man.
25,220 in the 1970s
#239
Willie Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more genuinely mixed names in our records — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
24,987 in the 1970s
#240
Alan Alan is a boy's name of Breton origin whose meaning has never been established.
24,958 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.