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 this group — 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 this group, 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 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 mixed names on record — 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

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.