Popular names of 1979, and how old they are now

People born in 1979 turn 47 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.3 million births in 1979 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 94% of them are still alive: about 3.1 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).

12 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1979: Melissa, Monica, Mindy, Trisha, Brianne, Janelle, Shauna, Latisha, Lakeisha, Melisa, Josh and Latosha.

Top girl names of 1979

Most popular girl names of 1979
#	Name	Born 1979	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Jennifer	56,712	54,000	46
2	Melissa	34,050	32,000	46
3	Amanda	31,924	30,000	39
4	Jessica	27,780	27,000	38
5	Amy	21,609	21,000	47
6	Sarah	21,015	20,000	39
7	Heather	20,834	20,000	45
8	Angela	20,256	19,000	49
9	Nicole	19,510	19,000	39
10	Michelle	19,266	18,000	48
11	Elizabeth	18,073	17,000	44
12	Kimberly	17,635	17,000	48
13	Lisa	17,286	16,000	56
14	Christina	16,454	16,000	44
15	Stephanie	16,204	15,000	43
16	Kelly	15,296	15,000	48
17	Rebecca	14,548	14,000	48
18	Crystal	13,467	13,000	43
19	Jamie	12,156	12,000	43
20	Laura	11,880	11,000	51
21	Erin	11,259	11,000	39
22	Amber	11,079	11,000	37
23	April	10,902	10,000	45
24	Mary	10,555	10,000	66
25	Shannon	10,370	9,900	46
26	Andrea	10,336	9,900	42
27	Rachel	10,230	9,800	38
28	Tiffany	9,611	9,200	40
29	Julie	9,254	8,800	55
30	Sara	8,654	8,300	40
31	Megan	8,293	7,900	35
32	Erica	8,178	7,800	40
33	Danielle	7,981	7,600	38
34	Emily	7,971	7,600	29
35	Christine	7,689	7,300	57
36	Katherine	7,464	7,100	43
37	Maria	7,339	7,000	45
38	Tara	6,806	6,500	44
39	Brandy	6,775	6,500	43
40	Monica	6,585	6,300	46
41	Carrie	6,354	6,100	52
42	Misty	5,785	5,500	46
43	Stacy	5,708	5,400	50
44	Patricia	5,650	5,400	68
45	Lauren	5,625	5,400	33
46	Karen	5,599	5,300	63
47	Alicia	5,547	5,300	41
48	Holly	5,488	5,200	45
49	Tracy	5,389	5,100	55
50	Kathryn	5,312	5,100	51

Top boy names of 1979

Most popular boy names of 1979
#	Name	Born 1979	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	67,713	62,000	49
2	Christopher	50,659	47,000	41
3	Jason	50,369	46,000	42
4	David	42,053	39,000	52
5	James	39,351	36,000	54
6	Matthew	35,621	33,000	36
7	John	35,410	33,000	55
8	Robert	34,015	31,000	58
9	Joshua	31,120	29,000	33
10	Brian	28,659	26,000	48
11	Joseph	28,654	26,000	45
12	Daniel	28,521	26,000	42
13	William	24,676	23,000	51
14	Ryan	23,212	21,000	33
15	Nicholas	21,344	20,000	33
16	Jeremy	21,005	19,000	39
17	Eric	20,268	19,000	44
18	Timothy	19,077	18,000	50
19	Kevin	18,733	17,000	45
20	Andrew	18,618	17,000	36
21	Anthony	17,513	16,000	40
22	Justin	17,390	16,000	34
23	Adam	17,046	16,000	35
24	Jeffrey	16,865	16,000	53
25	Richard	16,713	15,000	60
26	Thomas	16,454	15,000	53
27	Steven	16,331	15,000	52
28	Charles	14,806	14,000	54
29	Scott	14,440	13,000	53
30	Mark	14,386	13,000	56
31	Jonathan	14,331	13,000	35
32	Aaron	13,076	12,000	34
33	Benjamin	12,512	12,000	30
34	Paul	11,630	11,000	57
35	Brandon	11,302	10,000	33
36	Travis	11,037	10,000	39
37	Nathan	10,719	9,900	30
38	Chad	10,161	9,300	45
39	Patrick	9,979	9,200	47
40	Stephen	9,903	9,100	54
41	Kenneth	9,236	8,500	57
42	Gregory	9,109	8,400	54
43	Shawn	7,910	7,300	45
44	Jose	7,848	7,200	34
45	Jacob	7,545	6,900	26
46	Bryan	7,441	6,800	39
47	Bradley	6,923	6,400	42
48	Edward	6,877	6,300	56
49	Sean	6,850	6,300	38
50	Jesse	6,679	6,100	39

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1979, 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 1979. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1979 babies. How we calculate this