Popular baby names of 1979

In 1979, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jennifer for girls (56,712 babies) and Michael for boys (67,713). Social Security records show 3,326,804 babies with a name given to at least five children of the same sex that year, sharing 11,972 girls' names and 7,071 boys' names.

1979 at a glance

The top 10 girls' names went to 17.0% of girls recorded.
The top 10 boys' names went to 24.1% of boys recorded.
New in the girls' top 100: Mindy, Brooke, Pamela, Erika, Leah, Katrina, Theresa.
New in the boys' top 100: Brett.

Top 100 girls' and boys' names, 1979

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1978
1	Jennifer	56,712	–
2	Melissa	34,050	–
3	Amanda	31,924	↑3
4	Jessica	27,780	↓1
5	Amy	21,609	↓1
6	Sarah	21,015	↑2
7	Heather	20,834	↓2
8	Angela	20,256	↓1
9	Nicole	19,510	↑1
10	Michelle	19,266	↓1
11	Elizabeth	18,073	↑3
12	Kimberly	17,635	↑1
13	Lisa	17,286	↓2
14	Christina	16,454	↑1
15	Stephanie	16,204	↑1
16	Kelly	15,296	↓4
17	Rebecca	14,548	–
18	Crystal	13,467	–
19	Jamie	12,156	↑1
20	Laura	11,880	↓1
21	Erin	11,259	–
22	Amber	11,079	↑8
23	April	10,902	↑4
24	Mary	10,555	–
25	Shannon	10,370	↓3
26	Andrea	10,336	↓3
27	Rachel	10,230	↓2
28	Tiffany	9,611	↑4
29	Julie	9,254	↓3
30	Sara	8,654	↓2
31	Megan	8,293	↑10
32	Erica	8,178	↑2
33	Danielle	7,981	↓2
34	Emily	7,971	↓1
35	Christine	7,689	↓6
36	Katherine	7,464	↑2
37	Maria	7,339	↓1
38	Tara	6,806	↑2
39	Brandy	6,775	↓2
40	Monica	6,585	↑2
41	Carrie	6,354	↓6
42	Misty	5,785	↑1
43	Stacy	5,708	↑1
44	Patricia	5,650	↑4
45	Lauren	5,625	↑35
46	Karen	5,599	↓7
47	Alicia	5,547	↑11
48	Holly	5,488	↑7
49	Tracy	5,389	↓2
50	Kathryn	5,312	↑7
51	Susan	5,196	↓2
52	Jill	5,192	↓6
53	Melanie	5,021	↑1
54	Dana	4,948	↑17
55	Cynthia	4,931	↓5
56	Kristy	4,880	↓5
57	Dawn	4,725	↓5
58	Tina	4,677	↓13
59	Anna	4,670	↑6
60	Stacey	4,613	↓7
61	Brandi	4,609	–
62	Kristen	4,568	–
63	Katie	4,512	↑27
64	Wendy	4,500	↓8
65	Leslie	4,497	↓2
66	Samantha	4,461	↑8
67	Ashley	4,448	↑20
68	Natalie	4,445	↓2
69	Lori	4,432	↓9
70	Allison	4,406	↑5
71	Courtney	4,321	↓3
72	Christy	4,286	↓13
73	Kristin	4,264	↑5
74	Kristina	4,130	↓10
75	Vanessa	4,102	↑1
76	Veronica	4,062	↓3
77	Sandra	3,995	↓8
78	Catherine	3,878	↓6
79	Tammy	3,758	↓12
80	Jacqueline	3,740	↑1
81	Mindy	3,712	new
82	Melinda	3,705	↑2
83	Heidi	3,670	–
84	Kathleen	3,641	↓5
85	Brooke	3,505	new
86	Tonya	3,495	↓9
87	Teresa	3,481	↑1
88	Lindsay	3,466	↑7
89	Valerie	3,407	↑3
90	Pamela	3,365	new
91	Erika	3,316	new
92	Denise	3,267	↓7
93	Tanya	3,225	↓11
94	Cheryl	3,210	–
95	Robin	3,209	↓6
96	Gina	3,116	↓3
97	Jaime	3,086	↓27
98	Leah	3,075	new
99	Katrina	2,998	new
100	Theresa	2,995	new

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1978
1	Michael	67,713	–
2	Christopher	50,659	↑1
3	Jason	50,369	↓1
4	David	42,053	–
5	James	39,351	–
6	Matthew	35,621	–
7	John	35,410	–
8	Robert	34,015	–
9	Joshua	31,120	↑3
10	Brian	28,659	↓1
11	Joseph	28,654	↓1
12	Daniel	28,521	↓1
13	William	24,676	–
14	Ryan	23,212	–
15	Nicholas	21,344	↑10
16	Jeremy	21,005	↑2
17	Eric	20,268	↓1
18	Timothy	19,077	↓1
19	Kevin	18,733	↓4
20	Andrew	18,618	↑2
21	Anthony	17,513	↓1
22	Justin	17,390	↑6
23	Adam	17,046	↑6
24	Jeffrey	16,865	↓5
25	Richard	16,713	↓4
26	Thomas	16,454	↓3
27	Steven	16,331	↓3
28	Charles	14,806	↓1
29	Scott	14,440	↑1
30	Mark	14,386	↓4
31	Jonathan	14,331	–
32	Aaron	13,076	–
33	Benjamin	12,512	↑1
34	Paul	11,630	↓1
35	Brandon	11,302	↑5
36	Travis	11,037	↑10
37	Nathan	10,719	↓1
38	Chad	10,161	↓3
39	Patrick	9,979	↑3
40	Stephen	9,903	↓3
41	Kenneth	9,236	–
42	Gregory	9,109	↓4
43	Shawn	7,910	↓4
44	Jose	7,848	–
45	Jacob	7,545	↑5
46	Bryan	7,441	↓3
47	Bradley	6,923	↑6
48	Edward	6,877	↓1
49	Sean	6,850	↓4
50	Jesse	6,679	↑1
51	Donald	6,508	↓3
52	Keith	6,186	↓3
53	Peter	6,079	↑1
54	Ronald	5,694	↑1
55	Samuel	5,687	↑2
56	Kyle	5,449	↑7
57	George	5,263	↑1
58	Douglas	5,167	↑1
59	Gary	5,038	↑1
60	Todd	4,984	↓4
61	Juan	4,946	↑1
62	Dustin	4,899	↑6
63	Corey	4,738	↓2
64	Shaun	4,736	↓12
65	Jared	4,670	↑7
66	Erik	4,640	↑19
67	Shane	4,482	↓2
68	Phillip	4,422	↓1
69	Larry	4,393	↓5
70	Raymond	4,335	↓1
71	Joel	4,216	↑3
72	Derek	4,200	↑3
73	Carlos	4,165	↑5
74	Zachary	4,156	↑15
75	Dennis	4,080	↓4
76	Marcus	4,048	↓6
77	Craig	4,029	↓11
78	Frank	3,928	↓1
79	Antonio	3,801	–
80	Derrick	3,729	↓4
81	Jeremiah	3,719	–
82	Cory	3,587	↓9
83	Philip	3,460	↑1
84	Brent	3,455	↑3
85	Jerry	3,446	↓3
86	Randy	3,416	–
87	Jeffery	3,357	↓7
88	Jamie	3,240	↑7
89	Wesley	3,237	↓6
90	Gabriel	3,235	–
91	Curtis	3,200	↑5
92	Russell	3,132	↑1
93	Casey	3,082	↓1
94	Alexander	3,058	↑4
95	Nathaniel	3,040	↓1
96	Terry	3,040	↓5
97	Billy	2,998	↑2
98	Brett	2,997	new
99	Troy	2,964	↓11
100	Carl	2,898	–

Every name given in 1979

All 19,043 names Social Security recorded for 1979, with their rank and count. Type to filter.

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