Popular baby names in Illinois, 1979

The most popular baby names in Illinois in 1979 were Jennifer for girls (2,906 babies) and Michael for boys (3,720). Social Security records list 158,444 babies born in Illinois in 1979 with a name given to at least five children of the same sex in the state.

Names that stood out in Illinois in 1979

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

Girls

Qiana: 60 babies, 3.9× the national rate
Latrice: 57 babies, 3.3× the national rate
Ladonna: 43 babies, 3× the national rate
Maricela: 49 babies, 2.9× the national rate
Quiana: 44 babies, 2.9× the national rate
Yesenia: 67 babies, 2.7× the national rate
Shavon: 45 babies, 2.7× the national rate
Carolina: 49 babies, 2.4× the national rate
Maureen: 85 babies, 2.1× the national rate
Marisol: 53 babies, 2.1× the national rate

Boys

Antoine: 109 babies, 2.9× the national rate
Dion: 43 babies, 2.8× the national rate
Darnell: 54 babies, 2.2× the national rate
Darryl: 76 babies, 2.1× the national rate
Darius: 48 babies, 2.1× the national rate

Top 50 girls' and boys' names in Illinois, 1979

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1978	US rank
1	Jennifer	2,906	–	1
2	Melissa	1,676	–	2
3	Amanda	1,560	↑8	3
4	Nicole	1,298	–	9
5	Michelle	1,175	↑3	10
6	Sarah	1,144	–	6
7	Amy	1,111	↓4	5
8	Elizabeth	1,073	↑1	11
9	Jessica	1,070	↓2	4
10	Angela	1,027	↑2	8
11	Heather	986	↓6	7
12	Kelly	937	↓2	16
13	Lisa	930	–	13
14	Kimberly	842	–	12
15	Christina	751	↑1	14
16	Rebecca	745	↑1	17
17	Stephanie	736	↓2	15
18	Laura	715	–	20
19	Jamie	687	↑1	19
20	Erin	649	↑1	21
21	Tiffany	598	↑8	28
22	Megan	588	↑13	31
23	Julie	561	↓4	29
24	Mary	535	–	24
25	Christine	515	–	35
26	Andrea	506	↓4	26
27	Shannon	493	↑1	25
28	Rachel	489	↓1	27
29	Maria	480	↓3	37
30	Crystal	462	↑1	18
31	Katherine	459	↓1	36
32	Sara	458	↓9	30
33	Erica	442	↑1	32
34	Amber	429	↑8	22
35	April	401	↑2	23
36	Danielle	399	–	33
37	Emily	379	↑4	34
38	Carrie	349	↓6	41
39	Patricia	349	↑5	44
40	Kathryn	344	new	50
41	Jill	336	↓8	52
42	Monica	324	↑5	40
43	Tracy	320	↓5	49
44	Dawn	317	↓4	57
45	Kathleen	306	↓2	84
46	Samantha	298	new	66
47	Tara	298	↑2	38
48	Stacy	296	↓3	43
49	Karen	279	↓10	46
50	Susan	279	↓2	51

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1978	US rank
1	Michael	3,720	–	1
2	Jason	2,415	–	3
3	Christopher	2,238	–	2
4	David	2,129	–	4
5	Matthew	1,835	–	6
6	James	1,828	–	5
7	Robert	1,733	–	8
8	John	1,701	↑1	7
9	Brian	1,676	↓1	10
10	Daniel	1,670	–	12
11	Joseph	1,605	–	11
12	Joshua	1,459	–	9
13	Nicholas	1,368	↑7	15
14	Ryan	1,275	↑1	14
15	Eric	1,235	↓1	17
16	Timothy	1,169	↓3	18
17	William	1,115	–	13
18	Anthony	1,063	–	21
19	Kevin	1,023	↓3	19
20	Andrew	1,017	↑2	20
21	Adam	960	↑7	23
22	Jeffrey	937	↓3	24
23	Thomas	927	↓2	26
24	Scott	879	↑2	29
25	Steven	846	↓1	27
26	Jeremy	835	↓3	16
27	Richard	810	–	25
28	Mark	752	↓3	30
29	Justin	712	↑3	22
30	Charles	695	↓1	28
31	Aaron	660	↓1	32
32	Paul	646	↓1	34
33	Patrick	582	–	39
34	Jonathan	547	↑3	31
35	Benjamin	536	↓1	33
36	Jose	530	–	44
37	Nathan	519	↑3	37
38	Gregory	510	↓3	42
39	Kenneth	492	–	41
40	Brandon	477	↑4	35
41	Chad	457	↓3	38
42	Bradley	436	↓1	47
43	Peter	398	↓1	53
44	Edward	381	↑1	48
45	Sean	380	↑1	49
46	Stephen	376	↓3	40
47	Keith	374	↑3	52
48	Jacob	368	new	45
49	Shawn	346	↓1	43
50	Juan	344	new	61

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