The following chart of the 10 most popular names were compiled from Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States. The most popular 10 names of the 1970s were taken from a universe that includes 17,084,775 male births and 16,451,180 female births.
“Michael”, the #1 boy’s name from 1954-1998 gave up the title briefly in 1960 to “David” and officially gave up that title in 1999 to “Jacob” the current title holder.
| Rank | Name | Number | Percenta | Name | Number | Percentb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael | 706,861 | 4.1374 | Jennifer | 581,511 | 3.5348 |
| 2 | Christopher | 475,852 | 2.7852 | Amy | 268,943 | 1.6348 |
| 3 | Jason | 462,377 | 2.7064 | Melissa | 253,186 | 1.5390 |
| 4 | David | 445,430 | 2.6072 | Michelle | 249,026 | 1.5137 |
| 5 | James | 444,517 | 2.6018 | Kimberly | 229,025 | 1.3921 |
| 6 | John | 402,278 | 2.3546 | Lisa | 228,578 | 1.3894 |
| 7 | Robert | 397,032 | 2.3239 | Angela | 225,130 | 1.3685 |
| 8 | Brian | 322,471 | 1.8875 | Heather | 203,850 | 1.2391 |
| 9 | William | 283,272 | 1.6580 | Stephanie | 160,379 | 0.9749 |
| 10 | Matthew | 277,539 | 1.6245 | Nicole | 144,563 | 0.8787 |
a Percent of 17,084,775 male births
b Percent of 16,451,180 female birth
For the complete list of the top 1000 names, please visit the Social Security Administration Online.
Tags: 70's, baby names, Top 10
