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

#289
Krista Krista means a follower of Christ, and it is the sixth spelling of this name family to appear in our gap band — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina, Kristine and Kristi.
19,878 in the 1970s
#290
Kara Kara means beloved, from the Italian and Latin for dear — and a separate Norse Kara exists as the name of a valkyrie, so the same spelling covers two entirely unrelated names.
19,833 in the 1970s
#291
Terri Terri shortens Teresa, whose meaning has never been established — harvester, summer and a Greek island are all proposed and none of them is settled.
19,821 in the 1970s
#292
Sonya Sonya means wisdom, and the Greek word behind it named a divine attribute before it named a person — Constantinople's great church was dedicated to Holy Wisdom, not to any saint called Sophia.
19,556 in the 1970s
#293
Aimee Aimee means beloved, and it is grammatically passive — the French past participle of aimer, to love, so the name says she who is loved rather than she who loves.
19,446 in the 1970s
#294
Natasha Natasha means born on Christmas day, and it is a Russian pet form rather than a full name — Natalya is the formal version, and Russians would not use Natasha on a document.
19,399 in the 1970s
#295
Nathaniel Nathaniel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God."
19,363 in the 1970s
#296
Zachary Zachary is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord has remembered."
19,161 in the 1970s
#297
Jesus Jesus is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord is salvation."
19,158 in the 1970s
#298
Cassandra Cassandra is a girl's name from Greek myth, borne by a prophet cursed to see the future and never be believed.
19,074 in the 1970s
#299
Ronnie Ronnie is a name of Old Norse origin meaning "ruler's counsel."
19,053 in the 1970s
#300
Bridget Bridget means exalted one, and it belonged to a goddess before a saint — Brigid was the Irish deity of poetry, smithcraft and healing, and the saint absorbed her feast, her fire and her attributes.
18,936 in the 1970s
#301
Carmen Carmen has two unrelated sources — the Latin word for a song, and a Spanish Marian title from Mount Carmel in Israel.
18,932 in the 1970s
#302
Kari Kari descends from the same unexplained Greek root as Kaitlin in this group, but by a Scandinavian route — through Karen and Katarina rather than through Irish, and the pure gloss is equally unproven on both paths.
18,917 in the 1970s
#303
Dale Dale is a name from the Old English word for a valley, and like Craig and Heather it is a plain landscape noun rather than a compound.
18,915 in the 1970s
#304
Anita Anita is a girl's name, the Spanish diminutive of Ana, meaning grace.
18,915 in the 1970s
#305
Jeremiah Jeremiah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh exalts" or "Yahweh establishes," from Yirmeyahu.
18,911 in the 1970s
#306
Jack Jack is a boy's name of English origin that began as a pet form of John, by way of the medieval nickname Jankin.
18,694 in the 1970s
#307
Nichole Nichole means victory of the people, and the compound is political — the Greek joins a word for victory to one meaning the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
18,579 in the 1970s
#308
Christie Christie means a follower of the anointed one, and the anointing was a physical act — Christ translates the Hebrew mashiach, both describing oil poured over a king or priest at his installation.
18,283 in the 1970s
#309
Marie Marie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the French form of Mary, and the largest name in our entire dataset with more than 2.8 million births on record.
18,279 in the 1970s
#310
Connie Connie is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "steadfast" or "constant."
18,197 in the 1970s
#311
Tyrone Tyrone means Eoghan's land, an Irish county, and it reached American use almost entirely through one actor — Tyrone Power, whose grandfather took the name from the county his family came from.
18,151 in the 1970s
#312
Virginia Virginia is a girl's name from a Roman family name, and the American state was named before the name became common in America — both honoring Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.
18,132 in the 1970s
#313
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
18,036 in the 1970s
#314
Stacie Stacie means resurrection, and it is a boys' name by origin — Anastasius was masculine, and the modern name descends from it through Eustace and Anastasia alike.
17,936 in the 1970s
#315
Manuel Manuel is a boy's name meaning God is with us, the Spanish short form of Emmanuel.
17,905 in the 1970s
#316
Ricardo Ricardo is a boy's name meaning brave ruler, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Richard.
17,826 in the 1970s
#317
Harold Harold is a boy's name from Norse and Old English elements meaning army ruler, and it belongs to the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, killed at Hastings in 1066.
17,742 in the 1970s
#318
Monique Monique is a girl's name, the French form of Monica, whose meaning is genuinely unknown despite the confident answers usually given for it.
17,593 in the 1970s
#319
Katie Katie is a girl's name of Greek origin, a diminutive of Katherine whose meaning has never been settled.
17,523 in the 1970s
#320
Shelley Shelley means a clearing on a ledge, and it has nothing to do with shells — the poet's surname records a patch of high ground in Suffolk or Sussex, not anything from a beach.
17,519 in the 1970s
#321
Kristie
17,404 in the 1970s
#322
Reginald Reginald means counsel-power, and England and Wales ranks it 229th on 217 births against 1285th in the United States — one of the sharpest British-versus-American splits in this group.
17,386 in the 1970s
#323
Barry Barry is a boy's name from an Irish surname generally traced to a word for a spear, though a Welsh island gives a competing route.
17,351 in the 1970s
#324
Ian Ian is a boy's name of Scottish origin meaning "Yahweh is gracious," the Scottish Gaelic form of John.
17,321 in the 1970s
#325
Sherri Sherri looks French and is not — it respells Cherie, meaning darling, but Cherie is not a traditional French given name at all, so the name is an English invention wearing French clothes.
17,153 in the 1970s
#326
Glenn Glenn is a boy's name from the Gaelic word for a narrow valley, and like Craig and Dale it is a plain landscape noun.
17,020 in the 1970s
#327
Ernest Ernest is a boy's name from a Germanic word meaning serious or resolute, and it is far stronger in Europe than in America — 252nd in England and Wales and 276th in France against 1042nd in the United States.
16,909 in the 1970s
#328
Bonnie Bonnie is a girl's name of Scots origin meaning "pretty" or "fine."
16,814 in the 1970s
#329
Steve Steve is a boy's name, the short form of Steven or Stephen, meaning crown or garland.
16,781 in the 1970s
#330
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
16,704 in the 1970s
#331
Seth Seth is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "appointed" or "placed," given to Adam and Eve's third son after Cain killed Abel.
16,669 in the 1970s
#332
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
16,533 in the 1970s
#333
Miguel Miguel is a boy's name meaning who is like God, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Michael.
16,487 in the 1970s
#334
Clinton Clinton means the settlement on the hill, from an English place name — and the two American presidents who carried it did so by adoption and by surname, not by descent from the place.
16,442 in the 1970s
#335
Mandy Mandy means she who must be loved, and the grammar matters — Amanda is a Latin gerundive, a form expressing obligation, so the name is closer to an instruction than a description.
16,306 in the 1970s
#336
Shawna Shawna means God is gracious, and it reaches English from Hebrew through four languages — Yochanan to Greek to Latin to Irish Seán, respelled Shawn and then given an American feminine ending.
16,247 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.