Top 100 Most Popular U.S. Baby Names Of 1979

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1979 Popular Names U.S. - Top 100 Baby Names
				Change from 1978						Change from 1978
Girls		Number of Girls	%	Rank	Number	Boys		Number of Boys	%	Rank	Number
1	Jennifer	56,717	3.291	0	396	1	Michael	67,739	3.780	0	581
2	Melissa	34,052	1.976	0	5,722	2	Christopher	50,677	2.828	1	3,418
3	Amanda	31,928	1.853	3	11,411	3	Jason	50,408	2.813	-1	-1,221
4	Jessica	27,776	1.612	-1	1,674	4	David	42,078	2.348	0	1,374
5	Amy	21,615	1.254	-1	-1,597	5	James	39,371	2.197	0	-544
6	Sarah	21,018	1.220	2	1,041	6	Matthew	35,657	1.990	0	1,347
7	Heather	20,839	1.209	-2	-1,432	7	John	35,434	1.977	0	1,397
8	Angela	20,256	1.176	-1	-255	8	Robert	34,026	1.899	0	630
9	Nicole	19,511	1.132	1	2,235	9	Joshua	31,137	1.738	3	5,920
10	Michelle	19,269	1.118	-1	409	10	Brian	28,670	1.600	-1	-781
11	Elizabeth	18,078	1.049	3	1,270	11	Joseph	28,669	1.600	-1	1,998
12	Kimberly	17,639	1.024	1	760	12	Daniel	28,529	1.592	-1	2,083
13	Lisa	17,286	1.003	-2	250	13	William	24,699	1.378	0	511
14	Christina	16,457	0.955	1	86	14	Ryan	23,218	1.296	0	1,883
15	Stephanie	16,204	0.940	1	-27	15	Nicholas	21,345	1.191	10	4,992
16	Kelly	15,297	0.888	-4	-1,685	16	Jeremy	21,010	1.173	2	1,499
17	Rebecca	14,548	0.844	0	749	17	Eric	20,273	1.131	-1	496
18	Crystal	13,466	0.781	0	873	18	Timothy	19,085	1.065	-1	-517
19	Jamie	12,156	0.705	1	1,174	19	Kevin	18,739	1.046	-4	-1,372
20	Laura	11,885	0.690	-1	641	20	Andrew	18,634	1.040	1	1,893
21	Erin	11,258	0.653	0	467	21	Anthony	17,527	0.978	-1	711
22	Amber	11,082	0.643	8	2,906	22	Justin	17,404	0.971	6	3,209
23	April	10,904	0.633	4	1,315	23	Adam	17,063	0.952	6	3,139
24	Mary	10,561	0.613	0	518	24	Jeffrey	16,873	0.942	-5	-128
25	Shannon	10,367	0.602	-3	-235	25	Richard	16,721	0.933	-3	-11
26	Andrea	10,338	0.600	-3	-124	26	Thomas	16,476	0.919	-3	-17
27	Rachel	10,232	0.594	-2	428	27	Steven	16,333	0.912	-3	-70
28	Tiffany	9,611	0.558	4	1,911	28	Charles	14,822	0.827	-1	-29
29	Julie	9,253	0.537	-3	-545	29	Scott	14,454	0.807	1	908
30	Sara	8,655	0.502	-2	-213	30	Mark	14,394	0.803	-4	-479
31	Megan	8,293	0.481	10	2,396	31	Jonathan	14,332	0.800	0	1,813
32	Erica	8,176	0.474	2	833	32	Aaron	13,077	0.730	0	768
33	Danielle	7,980	0.463	-2	-3	33	Benjamin	12,521	0.699	1	1,105
34	Emily	7,972	0.463	-1	492	34	Paul	11,649	0.650	-1	-90
35	Christine	7,689	0.446	-6	-584	35	Brandon	11,310	0.631	5	2,061
36	Katherine	7,467	0.433	2	843	36	Travis	11,055	0.617	10	4,102
37	Maria	7,329	0.425	-1	317	37	Nathan	10,740	0.599	-1	849
38	Tara	6,807	0.395	2	478	38	Chad	10,160	0.567	-3	46
39	Brandy	6,774	0.393	-2	75	39	Patrick	9,987	0.557	3	1,145
40	Monica	6,586	0.382	2	721	40	Stephen	9,904	0.553	-3	42
41	Carrie	6,356	0.369	-6	-964	41	Kenneth	9,245	0.516	0	221
42	Misty	5,786	0.336	1	-48	42	Gregory	9,114	0.509	-4	-237
43	Stacy	5,708	0.331	1	-68	43	Shawn	7,910	0.441	-4	-1,380
44	Patricia	5,650	0.328	4	149	44	Jose	7,842	0.438	0	694
45	Lauren	5,627	0.327	35	1,957	45	Jacob	7,549	0.421	5	1,385
46	Karen	5,601	0.325	-7	-771	46	Bryan	7,449	0.416	-3	153
47	Alicia	5,548	0.322	11	798	47	Bradley	6,932	0.387	6	833
48	Holly	5,489	0.319	7	516	48	Edward	6,878	0.384	-1	392
49	Tracy	5,389	0.313	-2	-240	49	Sean	6,864	0.383	-4	-207
50	Kathryn	5,312	0.308	7	503	50	Jesse	6,684	0.373	1	575

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.