Popular baby names in California, 1978

The most popular baby names in California in 1978 were Jennifer for girls (5,295 babies) and Michael for boys (6,490). Social Security records list 322,256 babies born in California in 1978 with a name given to at least five children of the same sex in the state.

Names that stood out in California in 1978

Names given at least 15 times in California that year and at least twice as common as in the US as a whole.

Girls

Mayra: 270 babies, 6.7× the national rate
Marisela: 131 babies, 5.9× the national rate
Rocio: 139 babies, 5.7× the national rate
Gabriela: 287 babies, 5.3× the national rate
Guadalupe: 282 babies, 5.3× the national rate
Susana: 207 babies, 5.3× the national rate
Maricela: 220 babies, 5.2× the national rate
Araceli: 149 babies, 5.2× the national rate
Lorena: 295 babies, 5.1× the national rate
Alejandra: 152 babies, 5.1× the national rate

Boys

Salvador: 353 babies, 6× the national rate
Cesar: 373 babies, 4.9× the national rate
Rigoberto: 88 babies, 4.9× the national rate
Hugo: 107 babies, 4.7× the national rate
Rodrigo: 91 babies, 4.7× the national rate
Sergio: 423 babies, 4.6× the national rate
Gustavo: 143 babies, 4.6× the national rate
Gerardo: 260 babies, 4.4× the national rate
Ernesto: 253 babies, 4.4× the national rate
Ignacio: 94 babies, 4.4× the national rate

Top 50 girls' and boys' names in California, 1978

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1977	US rank
1	Jennifer	5,295	–	1
2	Melissa	2,450	↑2	2
3	Jessica	2,418	–	3
4	Michelle	2,307	↓2	9
5	Sarah	2,141	–	8
6	Christina	2,020	↑3	15
7	Nicole	1,935	↑5	10
8	Maria	1,911	↓2	36
9	Elizabeth	1,794	↓1	14
10	Heather	1,749	↓3	5
11	Lisa	1,747	↓1	11
12	Angela	1,434	↑1	7
13	Amy	1,398	↓2	4
14	Stephanie	1,383	↑1	16
15	Kimberly	1,301	↓1	13
16	Kelly	1,258	–	12
17	Rebecca	1,217	↑2	17
18	Veronica	1,202	–	73
19	Amanda	1,188	↑3	6
20	Monica	1,126	↓3	42
21	Amber	1,113	↑4	30
22	Andrea	1,069	↑2	23
23	Laura	1,058	–	19
24	Shannon	1,052	↓4	22
25	Erin	1,023	↑2	21
26	Christine	965	↑5	29
27	Rachel	952	↑2	25
28	Crystal	912	↑12	18
29	Julie	877	↓3	26
30	Sara	868	↓2	28
31	Danielle	860	↑4	31
32	Jamie	860	↓11	20
33	Patricia	855	↓3	48
34	Cynthia	809	↓1	50
35	Vanessa	808	↑7	76
36	Erica	806	↓2	34
37	Sandra	785	↓5	69
38	April	760	↓1	27
39	Mary	701	↓3	24
40	Tiffany	650	↓1	32
41	Alicia	646	–	58
42	Nancy	628	↑2	97
43	Katherine	608	↑3	38
44	Wendy	594	↓6	56
45	Emily	567	↑4	33
46	Anna	556	new	65
47	Diana	553	↑1	>100
48	Karen	539	↓5	39
49	Carrie	536	↓4	35
50	Megan	510	new	41

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1977	US rank
1	Michael	6,490	–	1
2	David	4,580	–	4
3	Jason	4,302	–	2
4	Christopher	4,067	–	3
5	Daniel	3,432	↑1	11
6	Robert	3,310	↓1	8
7	James	3,062	↑1	5
8	Matthew	3,033	↑1	6
9	John	2,926	↑1	7
10	Brian	2,766	↓3	9
11	Joshua	2,550	↑1	12
12	Jose	2,512	↑1	44
13	Joseph	2,457	↑1	10
14	Ryan	2,446	↓3	14
15	Anthony	2,037	↑2	20
16	Eric	1,957	–	16
17	Richard	1,933	↓2	21
18	Steven	1,873	↑1	24
19	Nicholas	1,765	new	25
20	Kevin	1,692	↓2	15
21	William	1,658	–	13
22	Jeffrey	1,579	–	19
23	Juan	1,486	–	62
24	Andrew	1,461	↑1	22
25	Jeremy	1,436	↓5	18
26	Justin	1,395	↑4	28
27	Timothy	1,342	↑1	17
28	Mark	1,321	↓2	26
29	Aaron	1,308	↓2	32
30	Thomas	1,258	↑1	23
31	Scott	1,252	↓7	30
32	Paul	1,241	↓3	33
33	Adam	1,216	↑4	29
34	Jonathan	1,055	↓2	31
35	Benjamin	1,021	↓2	34
36	Charles	976	↓1	27
37	Sean	958	↓3	45
38	Gregory	947	↑2	38
39	Brandon	920	↓1	40
40	Carlos	916	↓4	78
41	Jesse	868	↑1	51
42	Nathan	845	↓1	36
43	Kenneth	827	↑1	41
44	Jesus	823	↑1	>100
45	Stephen	807	↑1	37
46	Bryan	778	↓7	43
47	Edward	778	–	47
48	Gabriel	767	↓5	90
49	Patrick	728	new	42
50	Jacob	715	–	50

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