Popular names of 1976, and how old they are now

People born in 1976 turn 50 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3 million births in 1976 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 93% of them are still alive: about 2.8 million people.

The year's top names were Jennifer for girls and Michael for boys. Babies born that year are Gen Xers (see Gen X names).

11 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1976: Jamie, Jaime, Damon, Amie, Chasity, Jamey, Cari, Chanda, Jammie, Rico and Federico.

Top girl names of 1976

Most popular girl names of 1976
#	Name	Born 1976	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Jennifer	59,473	56,000	46
2	Amy	31,339	30,000	47
3	Melissa	25,094	24,000	46
4	Heather	24,192	23,000	45
5	Angela	22,038	21,000	49
6	Michelle	19,550	18,000	48
7	Kimberly	18,962	18,000	48
8	Jessica	18,368	17,000	38
9	Lisa	17,346	16,000	56
10	Amanda	15,588	15,000	39
11	Stephanie	15,180	14,000	43
12	Rebecca	14,491	14,000	48
13	Nicole	14,453	14,000	39
14	Christina	14,033	13,000	44
15	Sarah	13,993	13,000	39
16	Elizabeth	13,547	13,000	44
17	Shannon	13,368	13,000	46
18	Jamie	12,539	12,000	43
19	Kelly	11,791	11,000	48
20	Laura	11,252	11,000	51
21	Julie	10,839	10,000	55
22	Mary	10,315	9,800	66
23	Rachel	8,453	8,000	38
24	Erin	8,381	7,900	39
25	Andrea	8,352	7,900	42
26	Christine	8,111	7,700	57
27	Sara	8,020	7,600	40
28	Carrie	7,991	7,600	52
29	Jaime	7,838	7,400	39
30	April	7,761	7,300	45
31	Karen	7,505	7,100	63
32	Tiffany	7,482	7,100	40
33	Danielle	7,364	7,000	38
34	Maria	7,358	7,000	45
35	Dawn	7,048	6,700	57
36	Crystal	6,946	6,600	43
37	Tracy	6,822	6,500	55
38	Stacy	6,523	6,200	50
39	Wendy	6,464	6,100	55
40	Susan	6,402	6,100	66
41	Tammy	6,228	5,900	58
42	Tara	6,020	5,700	44
43	Patricia	6,017	5,700	68
44	Cynthia	6,012	5,700	60
45	Monica	5,978	5,700	46
46	Misty	5,906	5,600	46
47	Lori	5,849	5,500	58
48	Tina	5,747	5,400	56
49	Amber	5,646	5,300	37
50	Emily	5,547	5,200	29

Top boy names of 1976

Most popular boy names of 1976
#	Name	Born 1976	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	66,915	61,000	49
2	Jason	52,643	48,000	42
3	Christopher	45,190	41,000	41
4	David	39,265	36,000	52
5	James	38,294	35,000	54
6	John	33,976	31,000	55
7	Robert	33,789	31,000	58
8	Brian	30,517	28,000	48
9	Matthew	29,951	27,000	36
10	Daniel	24,702	22,000	42
11	William	24,428	22,000	51
12	Joseph	24,055	22,000	45
13	Eric	21,359	19,000	44
14	Jeremy	20,126	18,000	39
15	Kevin	18,474	17,000	45
16	Ryan	17,484	16,000	33
17	Jeffrey	17,013	15,000	53
18	Joshua	16,845	15,000	33
19	Richard	16,752	15,000	60
20	Steven	16,650	15,000	52
21	Timothy	16,620	15,000	50
22	Anthony	16,601	15,000	40
23	Thomas	16,122	15,000	53
24	Scott	15,717	14,000	53
25	Mark	15,508	14,000	56
26	Charles	13,921	13,000	54
27	Andrew	13,301	12,000	36
28	Paul	11,781	11,000	57
29	Chad	11,766	11,000	45
30	Aaron	11,344	10,000	34
31	Jonathan	11,314	10,000	35
32	Benjamin	10,672	9,700	30
33	Justin	10,144	9,200	34
34	Shawn	10,108	9,200	45
35	Gregory	10,060	9,100	54
36	Adam	9,937	9,000	35
37	Stephen	9,727	8,800	54
38	Kenneth	9,127	8,300	57
39	Nathan	8,611	7,800	30
40	Brandon	7,786	7,100	33
41	Patrick	7,642	6,900	47
42	Sean	7,565	6,900	38
43	Bryan	7,288	6,600	39
44	Jose	7,061	6,400	34
45	Edward	7,048	6,400	56
46	Travis	6,832	6,200	39
47	Donald	6,792	6,200	64
48	Keith	6,745	6,100	54
49	Ronald	6,457	5,900	64
50	Todd	6,440	5,800	54

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1976, from Social Security's records. “Alive today” estimates how many of them are still living, using SSA's cohort life tables for people born in 1976. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1976 babies. How we calculate this