Top 100 Most Popular U.S. Baby Names Of 1978

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1978 Popular Names U.S. - Top 100 Baby Names
				Change from 1977						Change from 1977
Girls		Number of Girls	%	Rank	Number	Boys		Number of Boys	%	Rank	Number
1	Jennifer	56,321	3.426	0	-2,643	1	Michael	67,158	3.929	0	-458
2	Melissa	28,330	1.723	0	1,444	2	Jason	51,629	3.021	0	-4,024
3	Jessica	26,102	1.588	1	1,259	3	Christopher	47,259	2.765	0	510
4	Amy	23,212	1.412	-1	-3,520	4	David	40,704	2.381	0	161
5	Heather	22,271	1.355	0	-1,506	5	James	39,915	2.335	0	-139
6	Amanda	20,517	1.248	3	2,237	6	Matthew	34,310	2.007	3	2,337
7	Angela	20,511	1.248	-1	-485	7	John	34,037	1.991	-1	-190
8	Sarah	19,977	1.215	3	1,883	8	Robert	33,396	1.954	-1	-821
9	Michelle	18,860	1.147	-2	-679	9	Brian	29,451	1.723	-1	-3,051
10	Nicole	17,276	1.051	5	2,027	10	Joseph	26,671	1.560	0	178
11	Lisa	17,036	1.036	1	23	11	Daniel	26,446	1.547	0	369
12	Kelly	16,982	1.033	-2	-1,253	12	Joshua	25,217	1.475	2	3,138
13	Kimberly	16,879	1.027	-5	-1,407	13	William	24,188	1.415	-1	-581
14	Elizabeth	16,808	1.022	-1	381	14	Ryan	21,335	1.248	2	77
15	Christina	16,371	0.996	1	1,874	15	Kevin	20,111	1.177	-2	-2,364
16	Stephanie	16,231	0.987	-2	811	16	Eric	19,777	1.157	1	-971
17	Rebecca	13,799	0.839	0	-396	17	Timothy	19,602	1.147	1	1,618
18	Crystal	12,593	0.766	7	2,865	18	Jeremy	19,511	1.142	-3	-2,104
19	Laura	11,244	0.684	1	-76	19	Jeffrey	17,001	0.995	0	-484
20	Jamie	10,982	0.668	-2	-1,918	20	Anthony	16,816	0.984	1	16
21	Erin	10,791	0.656	2	593	21	Andrew	16,741	0.979	3	706
22	Shannon	10,602	0.645	-3	-1,915	22	Richard	16,732	0.979	-2	-716
23	Andrea	10,462	0.636	1	676	23	Thomas	16,493	0.965	-1	-97
24	Mary	10,043	0.611	-3	-616	24	Steven	16,403	0.960	-1	-89
25	Rachel	9,804	0.596	1	828	25	Nicholas	16,353	0.957	26	10,272
26	Julie	9,798	0.596	-4	-405	26	Mark	14,873	0.870	-1	-572
27	April	9,589	0.583	2	1,521	27	Charles	14,851	0.869	-1	110
28	Sara	8,868	0.539	-1	158	28	Justin	14,195	0.831	2	2,179
29	Christine	8,273	0.503	1	386	29	Adam	13,924	0.815	4	2,886
30	Amber	8,176	0.497	3	969	30	Scott	13,546	0.793	-3	-666
31	Danielle	7,983	0.486	0	367	31	Jonathan	12,519	0.732	-3	195
32	Tiffany	7,700	0.468	2	494	32	Aaron	12,309	0.720	0	677
33	Emily	7,480	0.455	4	601	33	Paul	11,739	0.687	-2	-72
34	Erica	7,343	0.447	4	721	34	Benjamin	11,416	0.668	-5	-694
35	Carrie	7,320	0.445	-7	-1,342	35	Chad	10,114	0.592	-1	-717
36	Maria	7,012	0.427	0	-76	36	Nathan	9,891	0.579	0	-1
37	Brandy	6,699	0.408	14	1,223	37	Stephen	9,862	0.577	1	220
38	Katherine	6,624	0.403	6	590	38	Gregory	9,351	0.547	-3	-703
39	Karen	6,372	0.388	-7	-1,072	39	Shawn	9,290	0.544	-2	-574
40	Tara	6,329	0.385	-5	-868	40	Brandon	9,249	0.541	1	967
41	Megan	5,897	0.359	13	575	41	Kenneth	9,024	0.528	-2	-430
42	Monica	5,865	0.357	-3	-500	42	Patrick	8,842	0.517	-2	533
43	Misty	5,834	0.355	-3	-480	43	Bryan	7,296	0.427	-1	-594
44	Stacy	5,776	0.351	-2	-379	44	Jose	7,148	0.418	1	230
45	Tina	5,698	0.347	13	748	45	Sean	7,071	0.414	-2	-568
46	Jill	5,674	0.345	-5	-566	46	Travis	6,953	0.407	-2	-326
47	Tracy	5,629	0.342	3	-128	47	Edward	6,486	0.379	0	-358
48	Patricia	5,501	0.335	-1	-404	48	Donald	6,425	0.376	-2	-442
49	Susan	5,417	0.330	-4	-540	49	Keith	6,173	0.361	-1	-431
50	Cynthia	5,404	0.329	-2	-378	50	Jacob	6,164	0.361	6	370

United States name popularity data is provided by the Social Security Administration and is based on Social Security card applications.

Data for a given year is not made available until well into the next year.

Data reflects what was recorded and has not been edited for errors, so for example the gender associated with a name may be incorrect.

The more babies that are given a particular name, the higher the popularity ranking. If multiple names have the same usage, the tie is broken by assigning popularity rank in alphabetical order. Therefore in the case of names with fewer occurrences, names with the same number of occurrences may have vastly different rankings because they will be interranked alphabetically.

To safeguard privacy, the SSA does not include names with less than 5 occurrences.

Please note, we update the data each May when the SSA releases new figures. All data changes at that time, including previous years, which will change minutely based on new information.