Name.Baby Names by year 1970s 1979 Most Popular Baby Names of 1979 Social Security has card records for 3,514,942 people born in the U.S. in 1979. Jennifer was the top girl name (56,712 babies) and Michael the top boy name (67,713).
Top 100 names of 1979 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1979, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Jennifer 56,712 #586 2 Melissa 34,050 #419 3 Amanda 31,924 #493 4 Jessica 27,780 #665 5 Amy 21,609 #257 6 Sarah 21,015 #90 7 Heather 20,834 #1,261 8 Angela 20,256 #408 9 Nicole 19,510 #382 10 Michelle 19,266 #465 11 Elizabeth 18,073 #17 12 Kimberly 17,635 #302 13 Lisa 17,286 #987 14 Christina 16,454 #770 15 Stephanie 16,204 #557 16 Kelly 15,296 #851 17 Rebecca 14,548 #349 18 Crystal 13,467 #1,144 19 Jamie 12,156 #857 20 Laura 11,880 #379 21 Erin 11,259 #833 22 Amber 11,079 #520 23 April 10,902 #542 24 Mary 10,555 #125 25 Shannon 10,370 #2,387 26 Andrea 10,336 #235 27 Rachel 10,230 #250 28 Tiffany 9,611 #878 29 Julie 9,254 #872 30 Sara 8,654 #198 31 Megan 8,293 #887 32 Erica 8,178 #1,396 33 Danielle 7,981 #549 34 Emily 7,971 #34 35 Christine 7,689 #1,272 36 Katherine 7,464 #186 37 Maria 7,339 #87 38 Tara 6,806 #844 39 Brandy 6,775 #3,067 40 Monica 6,585 #736 41 Carrie 6,354 #2,719 42 Misty 5,785 #4,067 43 Stacy 5,708 #1,652 44 Patricia 5,650 #1,334 45 Lauren 5,625 #401 46 Karen 5,599 #1,279 47 Alicia 5,547 #460 48 Holly 5,488 #416 49 Tracy 5,389 #2,153 50 Kathryn 5,312 #729
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1979, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Susan 5,196 #1,085 52 Jill 5,192 #5,722 53 Melanie 5,021 #142 54 Dana 4,948 #1,027 55 Cynthia 4,931 #1,013 56 Kristy 4,880 #5,099 57 Dawn 4,725 #2,173 58 Tina 4,677 #2,778 59 Anna 4,670 #107 60 Stacey 4,613 #3,067 61 Brandi 4,609 #4,758 62 Kristen 4,568 #1,990 63 Katie 4,512 #646 64 Wendy 4,500 #1,341 65 Leslie 4,497 #712 66 Samantha 4,461 #151 67 Ashley 4,448 #164 68 Natalie 4,445 #89 69 Lori 4,432 #1,721 70 Allison 4,406 #103 71 Courtney 4,321 #2,326 72 Christy 4,286 #4,172 73 Kristin 4,264 #4,661 74 Kristina 4,130 #1,721 75 Vanessa 4,102 #377 76 Veronica 4,062 #427 77 Sandra 3,995 #1,207 78 Catherine 3,878 #313 79 Tammy 3,758 #3,645 80 Jacqueline 3,740 #558 81 Mindy 3,712 #2,387 82 Melinda 3,705 #1,981 83 Heidi 3,670 #340 84 Kathleen 3,641 #1,150 85 Brooke 3,505 #313 86 Tonya 3,495 #8,860 87 Teresa 3,481 #908 88 Lindsay 3,466 #2,194 89 Valerie 3,407 #127 90 Pamela 3,365 #2,239 91 Erika 3,316 #1,109 92 Denise 3,267 #1,673 93 Tanya 3,225 #3,712 94 Cheryl 3,210 #4,352 95 Robin 3,209 #704 96 Gina 3,116 #2,076 97 Jaime 3,086 #4,067 98 Leah 3,075 #58 99 Katrina 2,998 #2,214 100 Theresa 2,995 #1,548
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1979, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 67,713 #21 2 Christopher 50,659 #68 3 Jason 50,369 #165 4 David 42,053 #35 5 James 39,351 #6 6 Matthew 35,621 #32 7 John 35,410 #23 8 Robert 34,015 #92 9 Joshua 31,120 #66 10 Brian 28,659 #339 11 Joseph 28,654 #29 12 Daniel 28,521 #22 13 William 24,676 #9 14 Ryan 23,212 #99 15 Nicholas 21,344 #112 16 Jeremy 21,005 #292 17 Eric 20,268 #273 18 Timothy 19,077 #203 19 Kevin 18,733 #221 20 Andrew 18,618 #73 21 Anthony 17,513 #46 22 Justin 17,390 #233 23 Adam 17,046 #101 24 Jeffrey 16,865 #552 25 Richard 16,713 #234 26 Thomas 16,454 #34 27 Steven 16,331 #271 28 Charles 14,806 #48 29 Scott 14,440 #534 30 Mark 14,386 #244 31 Jonathan 14,331 #89 32 Aaron 13,076 #80 33 Benjamin 12,512 #11 34 Paul 11,630 #262 35 Brandon 11,302 #261 36 Travis 11,037 #434 37 Nathan 10,719 #63 38 Chad 10,161 #1,699 39 Patrick 9,979 #235 40 Stephen 9,903 #383 41 Kenneth 9,236 #294 42 Gregory 9,109 #593 43 Shawn 7,910 #681 44 Jose 7,848 #95 45 Jacob 7,545 #43 46 Bryan 7,441 #336 47 Bradley 6,923 #403 48 Edward 6,877 #224 49 Sean 6,850 #489 50 Jesse 6,679 #184
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1979, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Donald 6,508 #690 52 Keith 6,186 #800 53 Peter 6,079 #187 54 Ronald 5,694 #637 55 Samuel 5,687 #18 56 Kyle 5,449 #508 57 George 5,263 #126 58 Douglas 5,167 #807 59 Gary 5,038 #1,073 60 Todd 4,984 #1,609 61 Juan 4,946 #159 62 Dustin 4,899 #728 63 Corey 4,738 #778 64 Shaun 4,736 #1,942 65 Jared 4,670 #396 66 Erik 4,640 #545 67 Shane 4,482 #635 68 Phillip 4,422 #651 69 Larry 4,393 #1,084 70 Raymond 4,335 #394 71 Joel 4,216 #219 72 Derek 4,200 #284 73 Carlos 4,165 #150 74 Zachary 4,156 #216 75 Dennis 4,080 #707 76 Marcus 4,048 #258 77 Craig 4,029 #1,644 78 Frank 3,928 #513 79 Antonio 3,801 #176 80 Derrick 3,729 #850 81 Jeremiah 3,719 #88 82 Cory 3,587 #1,244 83 Philip 3,460 #527 84 Brent 3,455 #1,509 85 Jerry 3,446 #906 86 Randy 3,416 #1,084 87 Jeffery 3,357 #1,554 88 Jamie 3,240 #577 89 Wesley 3,237 #52 90 Gabriel 3,235 #37 91 Curtis 3,200 #984 92 Russell 3,132 #345 93 Casey 3,082 #320 94 Alexander 3,058 #30 95 Nathaniel 3,040 #140 95 Terry 3,040 #1,115 97 Billy 2,998 #1,068 98 Brett 2,997 #1,382 99 Troy 2,964 #532 100 Carl 2,898 #1,132
Entered the top 100 in 1979
