Name.Baby Names by year 1970s 1972 Most Popular Baby Names of 1972 Social Security has card records for 3,286,885 people born in the U.S. in 1972. Jennifer was the top girl name (63,600 babies) and Michael the top boy name (71,393).
Top 100 names of 1972 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1972, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Jennifer 63,600 #586 2 Michelle 29,285 #465 3 Lisa 27,543 #987 4 Kimberly 26,282 #302 5 Amy 25,873 #257 6 Angela 23,561 #408 7 Melissa 22,494 #419 8 Stephanie 16,890 #557 9 Heather 16,320 #1,261 10 Nicole 15,755 #382 11 Tammy 14,211 #3,645 12 Julie 14,062 #872 13 Mary 13,757 #125 14 Rebecca 13,252 #349 15 Elizabeth 12,182 #17 16 Christine 11,986 #1,272 17 Laura 11,778 #379 18 Tina 11,523 #2,778 19 Tracy 11,436 #2,153 20 Dawn 11,340 #2,173 21 Karen 11,181 #1,279 22 Shannon 10,965 #2,387 23 Kelly 10,944 #851 24 Susan 10,574 #1,085 25 Cynthia 10,173 #1,013 26 Christina 10,172 #770 27 Patricia 9,602 #1,334 28 Lori 9,434 #1,721 29 Wendy 8,529 #1,341 30 Andrea 8,022 #235 31 Sandra 7,917 #1,207 32 Maria 7,721 #87 33 Stacy 7,604 #1,652 34 Pamela 7,472 #2,239 35 Denise 7,382 #1,673 36 Michele 7,380 #4,758 37 Tonya 7,244 #8,860 38 Tara 7,234 #844 39 Teresa 7,176 #908 40 Rachel 6,417 #250 41 Stacey 6,380 #3,067 42 Melanie 6,296 #142 43 Deborah 6,271 #862 44 Brenda 6,270 #1,525 45 Donna 6,257 #1,962 46 Jessica 6,206 #665 47 Monica 6,133 #736 48 April 6,120 #542 49 Sarah 6,114 #90 50 Sharon 6,111 #1,250
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1972, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Linda 5,742 #902 52 Dana 5,610 #1,027 53 Carrie 5,421 #2,719 54 Tanya 5,402 #3,712 55 Robin 5,369 #704 56 Cheryl 5,136 #4,352 57 Kathleen 5,097 #1,150 58 Barbara 5,080 #968 59 Crystal 5,044 #1,144 60 Rhonda 5,001 #6,116 61 Tiffany 4,844 #878 62 Jill 4,824 #5,722 63 Nancy 4,818 #965 64 Heidi 4,723 #340 65 Catherine 4,686 #313 66 Debra 4,666 #4,460 67 Kristin 4,586 #4,661 68 Theresa 4,569 #1,548 69 Katherine 4,514 #186 70 Sherry 4,447 #5,410 71 Holly 4,376 #416 72 Paula 4,260 #853 73 Danielle 4,201 #549 74 Christy 4,190 #4,172 75 Leslie 4,184 #712 76 Amanda 4,180 #493 77 Renee 4,088 #1,098 78 Gina 4,057 #2,076 79 Jacqueline 3,803 #558 80 Cindy 3,737 #1,927 81 Melinda 3,671 #1,981 82 Veronica 3,563 #427 83 Diana 3,548 #244 84 Tamara 3,531 #1,808 85 Kristen 3,527 #1,990 86 Anna 3,449 #107 87 Erica 3,443 #1,396 88 Tracey 3,407 #7,885 89 Yolanda 3,398 #3,211 90 Sheila 3,394 #2,645 91 Ann 3,360 #1,076 92 Suzanne 3,300 #2,387 93 Erin 3,289 #833 94 Shelly 3,288 #5,722 95 Margaret 3,286 #112 96 Alicia 3,268 #460 97 Jodi 3,259 #3,975 98 Laurie 3,227 #2,822 99 Victoria 3,206 #54 100 Valerie 3,193 #127
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1972, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 71,393 #21 2 Christopher 52,172 #68 3 James 47,063 #6 4 David 46,322 #35 5 John 43,158 #23 6 Robert 43,013 #92 7 Jason 37,423 #165 8 Brian 36,306 #339 9 William 30,510 #9 10 Matthew 22,928 #32 11 Scott 22,838 #534 12 Joseph 22,454 #29 13 Kevin 22,354 #221 14 Richard 22,302 #234 15 Daniel 22,092 #22 16 Eric 22,027 #273 17 Jeffrey 21,677 #552 18 Mark 21,490 #244 19 Steven 19,851 #271 20 Thomas 19,557 #34 21 Timothy 17,605 #203 22 Anthony 17,454 #46 23 Charles 16,968 #48 24 Paul 14,555 #262 25 Chad 13,392 #1,699 26 Gregory 13,056 #593 27 Kenneth 12,334 #294 28 Shawn 11,277 #681 29 Stephen 11,037 #383 30 Andrew 10,111 #73 31 Todd 9,968 #1,609 32 Ronald 9,502 #637 33 Sean 9,444 #489 34 Edward 9,292 #224 35 Patrick 9,276 #235 36 Donald 9,261 #690 37 Jonathan 9,219 #89 38 Keith 9,145 #800 39 Ryan 8,878 #99 40 Aaron 7,863 #80 41 Gary 7,758 #1,073 42 Jeremy 7,398 #292 43 Douglas 7,387 #807 44 George 7,167 #126 45 Bryan 7,035 #336 46 Craig 6,729 #1,644 47 Larry 6,604 #1,084 48 Peter 6,471 #187 49 Troy 6,348 #532 50 Jose 5,935 #95
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1972, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Adam 5,740 #101 52 Dennis 5,608 #707 53 Jerry 5,597 #906 54 Raymond 5,443 #394 55 Shane 5,236 #635 56 Frank 5,165 #513 57 Travis 5,136 #434 58 Jeffery 5,063 #1,554 59 Joshua 5,033 #66 60 Justin 4,975 #233 61 Bradley 4,839 #403 62 Terry 4,770 #1,115 63 Brandon 4,625 #261 64 Benjamin 4,498 #11 65 Rodney 4,363 #1,091 66 Samuel 4,213 #18 67 Derek 4,146 #284 68 Tony 4,001 #783 69 Russell 3,782 #345 70 Randy 3,739 #1,084 71 Marcus 3,685 #258 72 Jamie 3,680 #577 73 Juan 3,672 #159 74 Johnny 3,564 #457 75 Phillip 3,532 #651 76 Roger 3,531 #832 77 Brent 3,530 #1,509 78 Joel 3,528 #219 79 Nathan 3,512 #63 80 Brett 3,503 #1,382 81 Billy 3,473 #1,068 82 Chris 3,472 #646 83 Marc 3,465 #1,235 84 Carlos 3,434 #150 85 Carl 3,406 #1,132 86 Erik 3,398 #545 87 Danny 3,306 #628 88 Jesse 3,226 #184 89 Jon 3,221 #951 90 Bobby 3,171 #1,097 91 Derrick 3,088 #850 92 Curtis 3,080 #984 93 Antonio 3,028 #176 94 Shannon 3,014 #2,991 95 Corey 2,990 #778 96 Christian 2,962 #96 97 Jimmy 2,932 #846 98 Walter 2,918 #251 99 Nicholas 2,843 #112 100 Joe 2,825 #991
Entered the top 100 in 1972
