Popular baby names of 1972

In 1972, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jennifer for girls (63,600 babies) and Michael for boys (71,393). Social Security records show 3,142,852 babies with a name given to at least five children of the same sex that year, sharing 9,666 girls' names and 5,751 boys' names.

1972 at a glance

The top 10 girls' names went to 17.6% of girls recorded.
The top 10 boys' names went to 26.5% of boys recorded.
New in the girls' top 100: Veronica, Anna, Erica, Shelly, Alicia, Valerie.
New in the boys' top 100: Justin, Nathan, Jesse, Antonio, Shannon, Christian, Nicholas, Joe.

Top 100 girls' and boys' names, 1972

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1971
1	Jennifer	63,600	–
2	Michelle	29,285	–
3	Lisa	27,543	–
4	Kimberly	26,282	–
5	Amy	25,873	–
6	Angela	23,561	–
7	Melissa	22,494	–
8	Stephanie	16,890	↑3
9	Heather	16,320	↑3
10	Nicole	15,755	↑17
11	Tammy	14,211	↓3
12	Julie	14,062	↓2
13	Mary	13,757	↓4
14	Rebecca	13,252	↑9
15	Elizabeth	12,182	↑4
16	Christine	11,986	↑2
17	Laura	11,778	↓1
18	Tina	11,523	↑2
19	Tracy	11,436	↓6
20	Dawn	11,340	↓6
21	Karen	11,181	↓6
22	Shannon	10,965	↓1
23	Kelly	10,944	↓1
24	Susan	10,574	↓7
25	Cynthia	10,173	↓1
26	Christina	10,172	↑4
27	Patricia	9,602	↓1
28	Lori	9,434	↓3
29	Wendy	8,529	–
30	Andrea	8,022	↑5
31	Sandra	7,917	–
32	Maria	7,721	↑5
33	Stacy	7,604	↓1
34	Pamela	7,472	↓6
35	Denise	7,382	↑1
36	Michele	7,380	↑3
37	Tonya	7,244	↑8
38	Tara	7,234	↑11
39	Teresa	7,176	↓5
40	Rachel	6,417	↑14
41	Stacey	6,380	–
42	Melanie	6,296	↑24
43	Deborah	6,271	↓10
44	Brenda	6,270	↓1
45	Donna	6,257	↓7
46	Jessica	6,206	↑18
47	Monica	6,133	↑1
48	April	6,120	↑8
49	Sarah	6,114	↑9
50	Sharon	6,111	↓10
51	Linda	5,742	↓9
52	Dana	5,610	↓8
53	Carrie	5,421	↑2
54	Tanya	5,402	↑18
55	Robin	5,369	↓4
56	Cheryl	5,136	↓6
57	Kathleen	5,097	↓4
58	Barbara	5,080	↓11
59	Crystal	5,044	↑20
60	Rhonda	5,001	↓14
61	Tiffany	4,844	↑1
62	Jill	4,824	↓3
63	Nancy	4,818	↓11
64	Heidi	4,723	↑13
65	Catherine	4,686	–
66	Debra	4,666	↓9
67	Kristin	4,586	↑4
68	Theresa	4,569	↓7
69	Katherine	4,514	↓2
70	Sherry	4,447	↓10
71	Holly	4,376	↑5
72	Paula	4,260	↓9
73	Danielle	4,201	↑26
74	Christy	4,190	↑15
75	Leslie	4,184	↓7
76	Amanda	4,180	↑8
77	Renee	4,088	↓4
78	Gina	4,057	↓9
79	Jacqueline	3,803	↓4
80	Cindy	3,737	↓10
81	Melinda	3,671	↑4
82	Veronica	3,563	new
83	Diana	3,548	↓1
84	Tamara	3,531	↓4
85	Kristen	3,527	↑2
86	Anna	3,449	new
87	Erica	3,443	new
88	Tracey	3,407	↓14
89	Yolanda	3,398	↑9
90	Sheila	3,394	↓9
91	Ann	3,360	↓13
92	Suzanne	3,300	↓4
93	Erin	3,289	–
94	Shelly	3,288	new
95	Margaret	3,286	↓9
96	Alicia	3,268	new
97	Jodi	3,259	↓3
98	Laurie	3,227	↓2
99	Victoria	3,206	↓2
100	Valerie	3,193	new

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1971
1	Michael	71,393	–
2	Christopher	52,172	↑4
3	James	47,063	↓1
4	David	46,322	↓1
5	John	43,158	↓1
6	Robert	43,013	↓1
7	Jason	37,423	↑1
8	Brian	36,306	↑1
9	William	30,510	↓2
10	Matthew	22,928	↑9
11	Scott	22,838	↓1
12	Joseph	22,454	↑3
13	Kevin	22,354	↑1
14	Richard	22,302	↓3
15	Daniel	22,092	↑5
16	Eric	22,027	↑2
17	Jeffrey	21,677	↓5
18	Mark	21,490	↓5
19	Steven	19,851	↓3
20	Thomas	19,557	↓3
21	Timothy	17,605	–
22	Anthony	17,454	↑1
23	Charles	16,968	↓1
24	Paul	14,555	–
25	Chad	13,392	↑4
26	Gregory	13,056	–
27	Kenneth	12,334	↓2
28	Shawn	11,277	–
29	Stephen	11,037	↓2
30	Andrew	10,111	↑3
31	Todd	9,968	↓1
32	Ronald	9,502	↓1
33	Sean	9,444	↑3
34	Edward	9,292	↓2
35	Patrick	9,276	–
36	Donald	9,261	↓2
37	Jonathan	9,219	↑3
38	Keith	9,145	↓1
39	Ryan	8,878	↑12
40	Aaron	7,863	↑1
41	Gary	7,758	↓3
42	Jeremy	7,398	↑3
43	Douglas	7,387	↓4
44	George	7,167	↓2
45	Bryan	7,035	↑3
46	Craig	6,729	↓3
47	Larry	6,604	↓3
48	Peter	6,471	↓1
49	Troy	6,348	↓3
50	Jose	5,935	↑5
51	Adam	5,740	↑6
52	Dennis	5,608	↓3
53	Jerry	5,597	↓3
54	Raymond	5,443	↓2
55	Shane	5,236	↑5
56	Frank	5,165	↓2
57	Travis	5,136	↑4
58	Jeffery	5,063	↓5
59	Joshua	5,033	↑21
60	Justin	4,975	new
61	Bradley	4,839	↓3
62	Terry	4,770	↓6
63	Brandon	4,625	↑32
64	Benjamin	4,498	↑5
65	Rodney	4,363	↓6
66	Samuel	4,213	–
67	Derek	4,146	↓4
68	Tony	4,001	↓6
69	Russell	3,782	↓5
70	Randy	3,739	↓3
71	Marcus	3,685	↓6
72	Jamie	3,680	↑24
73	Juan	3,672	↑8
74	Johnny	3,564	–
75	Phillip	3,532	↑1
76	Roger	3,531	↓5
77	Brent	3,530	↓4
78	Joel	3,528	↑8
79	Nathan	3,512	new
80	Brett	3,503	↑10
81	Billy	3,473	↓6
82	Chris	3,472	↓14
83	Marc	3,465	↓13
84	Carlos	3,434	↑4
85	Carl	3,406	↓13
86	Erik	3,398	↑11
87	Danny	3,306	↓5
88	Jesse	3,226	new
89	Jon	3,221	↓11
90	Bobby	3,171	↓11
91	Derrick	3,088	↓7
92	Curtis	3,080	↓3
93	Antonio	3,028	new
94	Shannon	3,014	new
95	Corey	2,990	↓18
96	Christian	2,962	new
97	Jimmy	2,932	↓4
98	Walter	2,918	↓7
99	Nicholas	2,843	new
100	Joe	2,825	new

Every name given in 1972

All 15,417 names Social Security recorded for 1972, with their rank and count. Type to filter.

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