Name.Baby Names by year 1970s 1978 Most Popular Baby Names of 1978 Social Security has card records for 3,352,848 people born in the U.S. in 1978. Jennifer was the top girl name (56,314 babies) and Michael the top boy name (67,127).
Top 100 names of 1978 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1978, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Jennifer 56,314 #586 2 Melissa 28,327 #419 3 Jessica 26,102 #665 4 Amy 23,213 #257 5 Heather 22,270 #1,261 6 Amanda 20,520 #493 7 Angela 20,517 #408 8 Sarah 19,976 #90 9 Michelle 18,856 #465 10 Nicole 17,279 #382 11 Lisa 17,033 #987 12 Kelly 16,976 #851 13 Kimberly 16,879 #302 14 Elizabeth 16,807 #17 15 Christina 16,367 #770 16 Stephanie 16,233 #557 17 Rebecca 13,796 #349 18 Crystal 12,594 #1,144 19 Laura 11,240 #379 20 Jamie 10,982 #857 21 Erin 10,786 #833 22 Shannon 10,598 #2,387 23 Andrea 10,461 #235 24 Mary 10,040 #125 25 Rachel 9,802 #250 26 Julie 9,794 #872 27 April 9,590 #542 28 Sara 8,869 #198 29 Christine 8,272 #1,272 30 Amber 8,174 #520 31 Danielle 7,983 #549 32 Tiffany 7,701 #878 33 Emily 7,473 #34 34 Erica 7,340 #1,396 35 Carrie 7,318 #2,719 36 Maria 7,021 #87 37 Brandy 6,699 #3,067 38 Katherine 6,625 #186 39 Karen 6,371 #1,279 40 Tara 6,330 #844 41 Megan 5,895 #887 42 Monica 5,867 #736 43 Misty 5,834 #4,067 44 Stacy 5,776 #1,652 45 Tina 5,699 #2,778 46 Jill 5,676 #5,722 47 Tracy 5,631 #2,153 48 Patricia 5,498 #1,334 49 Susan 5,418 #1,085 50 Cynthia 5,403 #1,013
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1978, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Kristy 5,332 #5,099 52 Dawn 5,217 #2,173 53 Stacey 4,998 #3,067 54 Melanie 4,996 #142 55 Holly 4,972 #416 56 Wendy 4,918 #1,341 57 Kathryn 4,808 #729 58 Alicia 4,752 #460 59 Christy 4,661 #4,172 60 Lori 4,631 #1,721 61 Brandi 4,500 #4,758 62 Kristen 4,368 #1,990 63 Leslie 4,342 #712 64 Kristina 4,229 #1,721 65 Anna 4,173 #107 66 Natalie 4,165 #89 67 Tammy 4,070 #3,645 68 Courtney 4,031 #2,326 69 Sandra 4,005 #1,207 70 Jaime 4,003 #4,067 71 Dana 4,002 #1,027 72 Catherine 3,958 #313 73 Veronica 3,933 #427 74 Samantha 3,886 #151 75 Allison 3,864 #103 76 Vanessa 3,853 #377 77 Tonya 3,826 #8,860 78 Kristin 3,807 #4,661 79 Kathleen 3,743 #1,150 80 Lauren 3,669 #401 81 Jacqueline 3,576 #558 81 Tanya 3,576 #3,712 83 Heidi 3,567 #340 84 Melinda 3,563 #1,981 85 Denise 3,519 #1,673 86 Michele 3,484 #4,758 87 Ashley 3,482 #164 88 Teresa 3,472 #908 89 Robin 3,440 #704 90 Katie 3,426 #646 91 Sabrina 3,350 #321 92 Valerie 3,299 #127 93 Gina 3,220 #2,076 94 Cheryl 3,167 #4,352 95 Lindsay 3,123 #2,194 96 Mandy 3,110 #4,460 97 Nancy 3,044 #965 98 Kristi 2,992 #7,491 99 Renee 2,969 #1,098 100 Linda 2,932 #902
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1978, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 67,127 #21 2 Jason 51,600 #165 3 Christopher 47,236 #68 4 David 40,684 #35 5 James 39,894 #6 6 Matthew 34,282 #32 7 John 34,014 #23 8 Robert 33,374 #92 9 Brian 29,432 #339 10 Joseph 26,663 #29 11 Daniel 26,441 #22 12 Joshua 25,204 #66 13 William 24,170 #9 14 Ryan 21,322 #99 15 Kevin 20,094 #221 16 Eric 19,761 #273 17 Timothy 19,597 #203 18 Jeremy 19,509 #292 19 Jeffrey 16,989 #552 20 Anthony 16,808 #46 21 Richard 16,734 #234 22 Andrew 16,720 #73 23 Thomas 16,481 #34 24 Steven 16,390 #271 25 Nicholas 16,342 #112 26 Mark 14,851 #244 27 Charles 14,844 #48 28 Justin 14,183 #233 29 Adam 13,918 #101 30 Scott 13,539 #534 31 Jonathan 12,514 #89 32 Aaron 12,299 #80 33 Paul 11,733 #262 34 Benjamin 11,414 #11 35 Chad 10,107 #1,699 36 Nathan 9,890 #63 37 Stephen 9,854 #383 38 Gregory 9,340 #593 39 Shawn 9,289 #681 40 Brandon 9,241 #261 41 Kenneth 9,021 #294 42 Patrick 8,830 #235 43 Bryan 7,291 #336 44 Jose 7,148 #95 45 Sean 7,059 #489 46 Travis 6,953 #434 47 Edward 6,473 #224 48 Donald 6,423 #690 49 Keith 6,172 #800 50 Jacob 6,161 #43
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1978, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Jesse 6,107 #184 52 Shaun 6,105 #1,942 53 Bradley 6,096 #403 54 Peter 5,872 #187 55 Ronald 5,758 #637 56 Todd 5,497 #1,609 57 Samuel 5,394 #18 58 George 5,297 #126 59 Douglas 5,151 #807 60 Gary 5,111 #1,073 61 Corey 4,942 #778 62 Juan 4,837 #159 63 Kyle 4,517 #508 64 Larry 4,514 #1,084 65 Shane 4,480 #635 66 Craig 4,472 #1,644 67 Phillip 4,362 #651 68 Dustin 4,177 #728 69 Raymond 4,134 #394 70 Marcus 3,995 #258 71 Dennis 3,861 #707 72 Jared 3,847 #396 73 Cory 3,842 #1,244 74 Joel 3,810 #219 75 Derek 3,800 #284 76 Derrick 3,786 #850 77 Frank 3,775 #513 78 Carlos 3,729 #150 79 Antonio 3,677 #176 80 Jeffery 3,543 #1,554 81 Jeremiah 3,445 #88 82 Jerry 3,427 #906 83 Wesley 3,306 #52 84 Philip 3,298 #527 85 Erik 3,261 #545 86 Randy 3,220 #1,084 87 Brent 3,181 #1,509 88 Troy 3,152 #532 89 Zachary 3,127 #216 90 Gabriel 3,126 #37 91 Terry 3,089 #1,115 92 Casey 3,003 #320 93 Russell 2,984 #345 94 Nathaniel 2,925 #140 95 Jamie 2,864 #577 96 Curtis 2,825 #984 97 Tony 2,770 #783 98 Alexander 2,738 #30 99 Billy 2,695 #1,068 100 Carl 2,606 #1,132
Entered the top 100 in 1978
