Popular baby names in Pennsylvania, 1978

The most popular baby names in Pennsylvania in 1978 were Jennifer for girls (3,071 babies) and Michael for boys (4,091). Social Security records list 139,370 babies born in Pennsylvania in 1978 with a name given to at least five children of the same sex in the state.

Names that stood out in Pennsylvania in 1978

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

Girls

Maureen: 107 babies, 3.2× the national rate
Janine: 66 babies, 3.2× the national rate
Jeanine: 44 babies, 2.8× the national rate
Beth: 304 babies, 2.6× the national rate
Colleen: 221 babies, 2.5× the national rate
Janel: 44 babies, 2.5× the national rate
Corinne: 87 babies, 2.4× the national rate
Devon: 80 babies, 2.4× the national rate
Megan: 556 babies, 2.2× the national rate
Michele: 333 babies, 2.2× the national rate

Boys

Francis: 172 babies, 4.1× the national rate
Kareem: 51 babies, 3.2× the national rate
Amos: 37 babies, 3.2× the national rate
Harry: 106 babies, 2.6× the national rate
Gregg: 42 babies, 2.6× the national rate
Lamar: 52 babies, 2.4× the national rate
Jamal: 54 babies, 2.2× the national rate
Drew: 51 babies, 2.1× the national rate

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

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1977	US rank
1	Jennifer	3,071	–	1
2	Melissa	1,499	↑2	2
3	Amy	1,376	–	4
4	Heather	1,337	↓2	5
5	Jessica	1,333	–	3
6	Nicole	1,251	↑1	10
7	Kelly	1,208	↓1	12
8	Michelle	992	–	9
9	Lisa	960	–	11
10	Christina	855	↑7	15
11	Amanda	801	↑7	6
12	Angela	797	↓1	7
13	Kimberly	780	↓3	13
14	Stephanie	759	↓2	16
15	Rebecca	756	↓2	17
16	Elizabeth	725	↓1	14
17	Erin	693	↑2	21
18	Danielle	666	↑2	31
19	Sarah	647	↑3	8
20	Jamie	640	↓6	20
21	Christine	623	–	29
22	Shannon	614	↓6	22
23	Megan	556	↑2	41
24	Laura	501	↓1	19
25	Rachel	497	↑10	25
26	Julie	485	↑1	26
27	Tara	478	↓1	40
28	Mary	466	↓4	24
29	Andrea	434	↑3	23
30	Crystal	401	↑16	18
31	Jill	387	–	46
32	Karen	386	↓4	39
33	Lori	380	↑4	60
34	Carrie	375	↓5	35
35	Kristy	375	↑15	51
36	Erica	365	↑5	34
37	Susan	352	↓4	49
38	Kristen	334	↑7	62
39	Michele	333	↓3	86
40	April	332	↑8	27
41	Sara	331	new	28
42	Tiffany	322	new	32
43	Dawn	321	↓9	52
44	Dana	315	↑3	71
45	Stacy	308	↓7	44
46	Holly	307	↓6	55
47	Beth	304	↓8	>100
48	Emily	302	↑1	33
49	Kathleen	295	new	79
50	Amber	292	new	30

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1977	US rank
1	Michael	4,091	–	1
2	Jason	2,695	–	2
3	Matthew	2,231	↑5	6
4	David	2,152	↓1	4
5	Christopher	2,099	↓1	3
6	John	2,086	–	7
7	James	2,024	↓2	5
8	Robert	1,839	↑1	8
9	Brian	1,807	↓2	9
10	Joseph	1,610	–	10
11	Daniel	1,426	↑1	11
12	William	1,410	↓1	13
13	Thomas	1,156	↑1	23
14	Timothy	1,141	↑2	17
15	Kevin	1,082	↓2	15
16	Ryan	1,065	↑1	14
17	Eric	1,016	↓2	16
18	Jeffrey	995	–	19
19	Joshua	971	↑3	12
20	Mark	931	–	26
21	Andrew	924	–	22
22	Richard	896	↓3	21
23	Scott	802	–	30
24	Anthony	795	↑1	20
25	Steven	784	↑1	24
26	Justin	761	↑6	28
27	Jeremy	742	↓3	18
28	Nicholas	734	↑22	25
29	Stephen	724	↓1	37
30	Shawn	694	↓3	39
31	Charles	693	↓2	27
32	Adam	670	↑3	29
33	Jonathan	606	↓3	31
34	Gregory	564	↓3	38
35	Chad	557	↑1	35
36	Paul	547	↓3	33
37	Benjamin	509	↓3	34
38	Edward	500	↓1	47
39	Aaron	491	–	32
40	Patrick	464	–	42
41	Kenneth	461	↓3	41
42	Nathan	461	–	36
43	Keith	432	↑1	49
44	Sean	420	↓3	45
45	Todd	401	–	56
46	Ronald	400	–	55
47	Donald	371	↓4	48
48	George	371	↓1	58
49	Bryan	361	–	43
50	Douglas	349	↓2	59

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