Seventies Names

The names of the 1970s. Close enough that most people naming babies now grew up surrounded by them, which is exactly why they read as dated rather than as anything else — the hundred-year rule has another fifty years to run on these.

Rankings for

74 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Rochelle Rochelle means little rock, and it is a place rather than a person — La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast was a Huguenot stronghold, and the name reached English through the town rather than any saint.
Girl French #4,578 in US
Lesley Lesley is the Scottish spelling and Scotland proves it — a peak of 341 births there in 1974, far above what the country's size would predict against an American high of 981.
Unisex Scottish #4,654 in US
Yannick Yannick is Breton, meaning God is gracious, and the -ick ending is a Breton diminutive rather than a French one — so the name reads as little John in a Brittonic language, not a Romance one.
Boy Breton #5,068 in US
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.
Girl American #5,178 in US
Kellie Kellie has no settled meaning — the Irish Ceallach has been read as bright-headed, as strife, and as one who frequents churches, and the three readings are not close to reconciling.
Girl Irish #6,236 in US
Kelli Kelli respells Kelly, an Irish surname whose meaning is contested — bright-headed and strife are both proposed for Ó Ceallaigh, and neither has ever been established.
Girl Irish #6,771 in US
Kelley Kelley is the same Irish name as Kellie, spelled differently, and the two split its births between them — this one peaked in 1968 and that one in 1969, a year apart at nearly the same size.
Unisex Irish #7,207 in US
Yann Yann is the Breton John, and Brittany is the reason it exists — Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxons carried a Brittonic language to Armorica, so Yann is closer kin to Welsh Ioan than to French Jean.
Boy Breton #7,381 in US
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.
Girl English #7,751 in US
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.
Girl American #7,840 in US
Fabrice Fabrice means craftsman, from the Latin for a worker in hard materials — the same root that gives us fabric, fabricate and forge.
Boy French #8,289 in US
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.
Girl French #8,308 in US
Christelle Christelle is a French girl's name meaning a follower of Christ.
Girl French #8,613 in US
Tricia Tricia and Trisha are the same name a syllable apart, and both shorten Patricia — which makes four spellings of one Latin word on this site, alongside Patty and Patti.
Girl English #8,708 in US
Tonya Tonya is a short form of Antonia, and its meaning is unknown — the Roman family name Antonius has no established derivation, and the flower reading widely given for it is a Renaissance invention.
Girl English #9,318 in US
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.
Girl American #10,898 in US
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.
Girl English #12,802 in US
Karine Karine peaked at 11,665 French births in 1972 — the largest single-year figure of any name in this group — and now ranks 7381st.
Girl French #14,865 in US
Sandrine Sandrine is a girl's name meaning defender of men, a French diminutive of Sandra.
Girl French 243,469 births
Virginie Virginie does not mean maiden.
Girl French 173,498 births
Arnaud Arnaud means eagle-power, built from two Germanic words, and it is the French form of the name English knows as Arnold.
Boy French 139,847 births
Ludovic Ludovic means famous in battle, and it is the same name as Louis and Ludwig — eighteen French kings and the composer all carry one Germanic compound in different national dress.
Boy French 131,146 births
Severine Severine means stern, from a Roman family name — and the emperor who carried it died at York in 211, which is the furthest north any Roman emperor ever got and the reason the name reached Britain at all.
Girl French 95,444 births
Traci Traci is the most narrowly recorded name in this sweep — every one of its 52,406 births is American, it charts in no market in the current year, and its entire history runs from 1945 to a 1970 peak and down.
Girl English 52,435 births
Nadege Nadege means hope, and it belongs to a set of three — Russian tradition names girls Vera, Nadezhda and Lyubov for faith, hope and love, and Vera is written up separately on this site.
Girl French 49,061 births
Carine Carine set the largest peak in this group — 4,230 French births in 1973 — and now charts in one market on five, which is about as complete a collapse as our records show.
Girl French 46,893 births

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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