Most Popular Baby Names of 1979

In 1979, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jennifer for girls and Michael for boys. Jennifer was given to 56,712 girls and Michael to 67,713 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,326,804 births for names given to at least five babies that year, up from 3,173,696 in 1978. The tables below show the top 100 names for each sex with their rank change from the year before, followed by the biggest movers in the top 1,000.

New to the top 100 this year: Mindy, Brooke, Pamela, Erika, Leah, and Katrina.

← 1978 1980 →The 1970s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1979

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Jennifer	56,712	–
2	Melissa	34,050	–
3	Amanda	31,924	↑ 3
4	Jessica	27,780	↓ 1
5	Amy	21,609	↓ 1
6	Sarah	21,015	↑ 2
7	Heather	20,834	↓ 2
8	Angela	20,256	↓ 1
9	Nicole	19,510	↑ 1
10	Michelle	19,266	↓ 1
11	Elizabeth	18,073	↑ 3
12	Kimberly	17,635	↑ 1
13	Lisa	17,286	↓ 2
14	Christina	16,454	↑ 1
15	Stephanie	16,204	↑ 1
16	Kelly	15,296	↓ 4
17	Rebecca	14,548	–
18	Crystal	13,467	–
19	Jamie	12,156	↑ 1
20	Laura	11,880	↓ 1
21	Erin	11,259	–
22	Amber	11,079	↑ 8
23	April	10,902	↑ 4
24	Mary	10,555	–
25	Shannon	10,370	↓ 3
26	Andrea	10,336	↓ 3
27	Rachel	10,230	↓ 2
28	Tiffany	9,611	↑ 4
29	Julie	9,254	↓ 3
30	Sara	8,654	↓ 2
31	Megan	8,293	↑ 10
32	Erica	8,178	↑ 2
33	Danielle	7,981	↓ 2
34	Emily	7,971	↓ 1
35	Christine	7,689	↓ 6
36	Katherine	7,464	↑ 2
37	Maria	7,339	↓ 1
38	Tara	6,806	↑ 2
39	Brandy	6,775	↓ 2
40	Monica	6,585	↑ 2
41	Carrie	6,354	↓ 6
42	Misty	5,785	↑ 1
43	Stacy	5,708	↑ 1
44	Patricia	5,650	↑ 4
45	Lauren	5,625	↑ 35
46	Karen	5,599	↓ 7
47	Alicia	5,547	↑ 11
48	Holly	5,488	↑ 7
49	Tracy	5,389	↓ 2
50	Kathryn	5,312	↑ 7
51	Susan	5,196	↓ 2
52	Jill	5,192	↓ 6
53	Melanie	5,021	↑ 1
54	Dana	4,948	↑ 17
55	Cynthia	4,931	↓ 5
56	Kristy	4,880	↓ 5
57	Dawn	4,725	↓ 5
58	Tina	4,677	↓ 13
59	Anna	4,670	↑ 6
60	Stacey	4,613	↓ 7
61	Brandi	4,609	–
62	Kristen	4,568	–
63	Katie	4,512	↑ 27
64	Wendy	4,500	↓ 8
65	Leslie	4,497	↓ 2
66	Samantha	4,461	↑ 8
67	Ashley	4,448	↑ 20
68	Natalie	4,445	↓ 2
69	Lori	4,432	↓ 9
70	Allison	4,406	↑ 5
71	Courtney	4,321	↓ 3
72	Christy	4,286	↓ 13
73	Kristin	4,264	↑ 5
74	Kristina	4,130	↓ 10
75	Vanessa	4,102	↑ 1
76	Veronica	4,062	↓ 3
77	Sandra	3,995	↓ 8
78	Catherine	3,878	↓ 6
79	Tammy	3,758	↓ 12
80	Jacqueline	3,740	↑ 1
81	Mindy	3,712	↑ 89
82	Melinda	3,705	↑ 2
83	Heidi	3,670	–
84	Kathleen	3,641	↓ 5
85	Brooke	3,505	↑ 30
86	Tonya	3,495	↓ 9
87	Teresa	3,481	↑ 1
88	Lindsay	3,466	↑ 7
89	Valerie	3,407	↑ 3
90	Pamela	3,365	↑ 19
91	Erika	3,316	↑ 13
92	Denise	3,267	↓ 7
93	Tanya	3,225	↓ 11
94	Cheryl	3,210	–
95	Robin	3,209	↓ 6
96	Gina	3,116	↓ 3
97	Jaime	3,086	↓ 27
98	Leah	3,075	↑ 10
99	Katrina	2,998	↑ 23
100	Theresa	2,995	↑ 1

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	67,713	–
2	Christopher	50,659	↑ 1
3	Jason	50,369	↓ 1
4	David	42,053	–
5	James	39,351	–
6	Matthew	35,621	–
7	John	35,410	–
8	Robert	34,015	–
9	Joshua	31,120	↑ 3
10	Brian	28,659	↓ 1
11	Joseph	28,654	↓ 1
12	Daniel	28,521	↓ 1
13	William	24,676	–
14	Ryan	23,212	–
15	Nicholas	21,344	↑ 10
16	Jeremy	21,005	↑ 2
17	Eric	20,268	↓ 1
18	Timothy	19,077	↓ 1
19	Kevin	18,733	↓ 4
20	Andrew	18,618	↑ 2
21	Anthony	17,513	↓ 1
22	Justin	17,390	↑ 6
23	Adam	17,046	↑ 6
24	Jeffrey	16,865	↓ 5
25	Richard	16,713	↓ 4
26	Thomas	16,454	↓ 3
27	Steven	16,331	↓ 3
28	Charles	14,806	↓ 1
29	Scott	14,440	↑ 1
30	Mark	14,386	↓ 4
31	Jonathan	14,331	–
32	Aaron	13,076	–
33	Benjamin	12,512	↑ 1
34	Paul	11,630	↓ 1
35	Brandon	11,302	↑ 5
36	Travis	11,037	↑ 10
37	Nathan	10,719	↓ 1
38	Chad	10,161	↓ 3
39	Patrick	9,979	↑ 3
40	Stephen	9,903	↓ 3
41	Kenneth	9,236	–
42	Gregory	9,109	↓ 4
43	Shawn	7,910	↓ 4
44	Jose	7,848	–
45	Jacob	7,545	↑ 5
46	Bryan	7,441	↓ 3
47	Bradley	6,923	↑ 6
48	Edward	6,877	↓ 1
49	Sean	6,850	↓ 4
50	Jesse	6,679	↑ 1
51	Donald	6,508	↓ 3
52	Keith	6,186	↓ 3
53	Peter	6,079	↑ 1
54	Ronald	5,694	↑ 1
55	Samuel	5,687	↑ 2
56	Kyle	5,449	↑ 7
57	George	5,263	↑ 1
58	Douglas	5,167	↑ 1
59	Gary	5,038	↑ 1
60	Todd	4,984	↓ 4
61	Juan	4,946	↑ 1
62	Dustin	4,899	↑ 6
63	Corey	4,738	↓ 2
64	Shaun	4,736	↓ 12
65	Jared	4,670	↑ 7
66	Erik	4,640	↑ 19
67	Shane	4,482	↓ 2
68	Phillip	4,422	↓ 1
69	Larry	4,393	↓ 5
70	Raymond	4,335	↓ 1
71	Joel	4,216	↑ 3
72	Derek	4,200	↑ 3
73	Carlos	4,165	↑ 5
74	Zachary	4,156	↑ 15
75	Dennis	4,080	↓ 4
76	Marcus	4,048	↓ 6
77	Craig	4,029	↓ 11
78	Frank	3,928	↓ 1
79	Antonio	3,801	–
80	Derrick	3,729	↓ 4
81	Jeremiah	3,719	–
82	Cory	3,587	↓ 9
83	Philip	3,460	↑ 1
84	Brent	3,455	↑ 3
85	Jerry	3,446	↓ 3
86	Randy	3,416	–
87	Jeffery	3,357	↓ 7
88	Jamie	3,240	↑ 7
89	Wesley	3,237	↓ 6
90	Gabriel	3,235	–
91	Curtis	3,200	↑ 5
92	Russell	3,132	↑ 1
93	Casey	3,082	↓ 1
94	Alexander	3,058	↑ 4
95	Nathaniel	3,040	↓ 1
96	Terry	3,040	↓ 5
97	Billy	2,998	↑ 2
98	Brett	2,997	↑ 14
99	Troy	2,964	↓ 11
100	Carl	2,898	–

Biggest movers of 1979

Changes in rank within the top 1,000 compared with the year before.

Rising Girls

Brianne ↑ 594 #168
Winter ↑ 294 #706
Brianna ↑ 245 #329
Leeann ↑ 242 #546
Kyla ↑ 229 #553
Joshua ↑ 219 #763
Candi ↑ 218 #692
Tana ↑ 216 #774
Alesha ↑ 214 #722
Charissa ↑ 200 #795

Falling Girls

Kenisha ↓ 313 #870
Farrah ↓ 253 #792
Lisette ↓ 244 #970
Elaina ↓ 237 #906
Kizzy ↓ 209 #648
Tomika ↓ 206 #946
Paulette ↓ 195 #937
Tawanda ↓ 192 #858
Rashida ↓ 190 #945
Mackenzie ↓ 174 #868

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Viviana, Breanne, Siobhan, Nicolette, Renata, Maren, Darci, Kylene, Alycia, Breanna, Mari, Ashanti, Tamekia, Iesha, Asia

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Christel, Chana, Carie, Reagan, Anissa, Ariane, Caren, Mitzi, Angelita, Leia, Rosalind, Sharla, Ariana, Kizzie, Lola

Rising Boys

Jonah ↑ 244 #403
Johnpaul ↑ 238 #649
Dirk ↑ 206 #643
Garret ↑ 176 #775
Brooks ↑ 172 #619
Tanner ↑ 168 #477
Bennett ↑ 167 #831
Jermey ↑ 160 #751
Jaron ↑ 156 #719
Zackary ↑ 151 #793

Falling Boys

Kristoffer ↓ 277 #734
Kenji ↓ 221 #971
Anwar ↓ 217 #914
Chet ↓ 212 #954
Tim ↓ 181 #707
Antony ↓ 176 #882
Torrey ↓ 166 #670
Errol ↓ 161 #947
Darian ↓ 152 #828
Shon ↓ 148 #982

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Jace, Tyrell, Mohammad, Bryson, Lars, Bo, Ramsey, Dillon, Kaleb, Frederic, Paris, Tyrel, Prince, Aurelio, Brook

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Kenya, Cruz, Richie, Torrance, Carmen, Westley, Taurus, Rahsaan, Tobin, Torey, Karim, Chadd, Nicklaus, Dax, Anson

Other years

Trend lists

Source: US Social Security Administration. Ranks are computed from birth counts for each sex; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are not published.