Popular 1970s names, and how old they are now

Babies born in the 1970s are 47 to 56 years old in 2026. Social Security recorded about 32 million of them under names it lists, and by our estimate 92% are still alive: about 29 million people.

The decade's top names were Jennifer for girls and Michael for boys. Of the top ten for each, 11 still go to at least 1,000 babies a year.

Top 1970s girl names

Most popular girl names of the 1970s
#	Name	Born 1970s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Jennifer	581,729	550,000	46
2	Amy	268,994	250,000	47
3	Melissa	253,267	240,000	46
4	Michelle	249,130	230,000	48
5	Kimberly	229,097	210,000	48
6	Lisa	228,690	210,000	56
7	Angela	225,262	210,000	49
8	Heather	203,902	190,000	45
9	Stephanie	160,468	150,000	43
10	Nicole	144,667	140,000	39
11	Jessica	143,492	140,000	38
12	Elizabeth	142,845	130,000	44
13	Rebecca	137,285	130,000	48
14	Kelly	133,545	130,000	48
15	Mary	126,254	120,000	66
16	Christina	125,747	120,000	44
17	Amanda	123,920	120,000	39
18	Julie	121,919	110,000	55
19	Sarah	118,823	110,000	39
20	Laura	118,204	110,000	51
21	Shannon	113,793	110,000	46
22	Christine	103,236	97,000	57
23	Tammy	98,830	92,000	58
24	Tracy	95,536	89,000	55
25	Karen	95,173	89,000	63
26	Dawn	92,446	86,000	57
27	Susan	88,308	83,000	66
28	Andrea	86,424	81,000	42
29	Tina	84,764	79,000	56
30	Patricia	81,111	76,000	68
31	Cynthia	80,196	75,000	60
32	Lori	77,777	73,000	58
33	Rachel	77,749	73,000	38
34	April	76,946	72,000	45
35	Maria	76,373	72,000	45
36	Wendy	74,185	69,000	55
37	Crystal	73,757	70,000	43
38	Stacy	69,901	66,000	50
39	Erin	67,888	64,000	39
40	Jamie	67,845	64,000	43
41	Carrie	66,825	63,000	52
42	Tiffany	65,158	61,000	40
43	Tara	65,072	61,000	44
44	Sandra	64,340	60,000	66
45	Monica	61,680	58,000	46
46	Danielle	60,918	57,000	38
47	Stacey	59,210	56,000	50
48	Pamela	58,039	54,000	64
49	Tonya	57,789	54,000	53
50	Sara	56,958	54,000	40

Top 1970s boy names

Most popular boy names of the 1970s
#	Name	Born 1970s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	707,327	630,000	49
2	Christopher	475,423	430,000	41
3	Jason	462,709	420,000	42
4	David	445,704	400,000	52
5	James	444,713	400,000	54
6	John	402,612	360,000	55
7	Robert	397,225	360,000	58
8	Brian	322,660	290,000	48
9	William	283,401	250,000	51
10	Matthew	277,727	250,000	36
11	Joseph	244,825	220,000	45
12	Daniel	244,454	220,000	42
13	Kevin	212,231	190,000	45
14	Eric	211,481	190,000	44
15	Jeffrey	202,850	180,000	53
16	Richard	202,804	180,000	60
17	Scott	194,520	170,000	53
18	Mark	194,260	170,000	56
19	Steven	188,078	170,000	52
20	Thomas	186,739	170,000	53
21	Timothy	181,260	160,000	50
22	Anthony	174,873	160,000	40
23	Charles	163,021	150,000	54
24	Joshua	140,318	130,000	33
25	Ryan	139,635	130,000	33
26	Jeremy	139,307	130,000	39
27	Paul	136,390	120,000	57
28	Andrew	132,929	120,000	36
29	Gregory	115,563	100,000	54
30	Chad	113,534	100,000	45
31	Kenneth	111,489	100,000	57
32	Jonathan	107,926	97,000	35
33	Stephen	107,804	97,000	54
34	Shawn	105,790	95,000	45
35	Aaron	101,487	91,000	34
36	Adam	91,739	83,000	35
37	Patrick	91,240	82,000	47
38	Justin	86,539	78,000	34
39	Sean	83,819	75,000	38
40	Edward	83,425	75,000	56
41	Todd	83,319	74,000	54
42	Donald	82,435	74,000	64
43	Ronald	81,730	73,000	64
44	Benjamin	81,332	74,000	30
45	Keith	76,689	69,000	54
46	Bryan	71,338	64,000	39
47	Gary	68,261	61,000	65
48	Jose	66,390	60,000	34
49	Nathan	65,857	60,000	30
50	Douglas	65,155	58,000	59

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in the 1970s, from Social Security's records. “Alive today” estimates how many of those babies are still living, using SSA's cohort life tables. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1970s babies. How we calculate this