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The most popular baby names of 1979

SSA recorded 3,326,804 births in 1979 across all reported names — 1,605,268 girls and 1,721,536 boys.

Top 100 girls' names in 1979

Rank, births, and the change in rank against 1978.
#NameBirthsvs 1978
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 -12
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

Top 100 boys' names in 1979

Rank, births, and the change in rank against 1978.
#NameBirthsvs 1978
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
95 Terry 3,040 -4
97 Billy 2,998 +2
98 Brett 2,997 +14
99 Troy 2,964 -11
100 Carl 2,898 —

Names that climbed fastest in 1979

Ranked by places gained against 1978, among names with at least 200 births in both years.

NameRank 1979Rank 1978Change
Brianne girls 168 762 +594
Brianna girls 328 574 +246
Bambi girls 562 744 +182
Morgan girls 458 636 +178
Athena girls 457 622 +165
Shavon girls 531 691 +160
Alissa girls 236 388 +152
Mindi girls 578 727 +149
Tiffanie girls 554 702 +148
Tiana girls 595 741 +146
Shanika girls 493 638 +145
Natalia girls 613 750 +137
Brittney girls 639 772 +133
Leann girls 430 550 +120
Elissa girls 496 612 +116

Names that fell fastest in 1979

NameRank 1979Rank 1978Change
Farrah girls 791 539 -252
Kizzy girls 647 439 -208
Taryn girls 595 432 -163
Tori girls 543 386 -157
Vicky girls 703 547 -156
Caryn girls 670 515 -155
Kristofer boys 543 421 -122
Darrick boys 533 414 -119
Aja girls 526 412 -114
January girls 748 638 -110
Julianne girls 756 648 -108
Carey girls 497 391 -106
Selina girls 698 592 -106
Cory girls 707 602 -105
Casandra girls 771 667 -104

Names that first appear in 1979

1979 is the earliest year these names clear the SSA reporting threshold of five births.

Names that peaked in 1979

For these names, 1979 is the single biggest year in the whole 1880–2025 record.