Top 100 Most Popular U.S. Baby Names Of 1972

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1972 Popular Names U.S. - Top 100 Baby Names
				Change from 1971						Change from 1971
Girls		Number of Girls	%	Rank	Number	Boys		Number of Boys	%	Rank	Number
1	Jennifer	63,603	3.945	0	6,820	1	Michael	71,405	4.264	0	-6,189
2	Michelle	29,284	1.816	0	-3,876	2	Christopher	52,189	3.117	4	3,955
3	Lisa	27,549	1.709	0	-5,360	3	James	47,083	2.812	-1	-7,538
4	Kimberly	26,290	1.630	0	-4,406	4	David	46,366	2.769	-1	-6,752
5	Amy	25,873	1.605	0	-364	5	John	43,181	2.579	-1	-8,337
6	Angela	23,556	1.461	0	-2,340	6	Robert	43,037	2.570	-1	-7,617
7	Melissa	22,503	1.396	0	-1,366	7	Jason	37,446	2.236	1	3,259
8	Stephanie	16,885	1.047	3	1,742	8	Brian	36,322	2.169	1	3,685
9	Heather	16,321	1.012	3	1,301	9	William	30,529	1.823	-2	-4,903
10	Nicole	15,752	0.977	17	5,326	10	Matthew	22,943	1.370	9	387
11	Tammy	14,210	0.881	-3	-3,447	11	Scott	22,857	1.365	-1	-8,064
12	Julie	14,070	0.873	-2	-1,256	12	Joseph	22,467	1.342	3	-2,056
13	Mary	13,761	0.853	-4	-2,936	13	Kevin	22,363	1.335	1	-2,507
14	Rebecca	13,252	0.822	9	1,060	14	Richard	22,318	1.333	-3	-3,843
15	Elizabeth	12,185	0.756	4	-1,417	15	Daniel	22,111	1.320	5	326
16	Christine	11,988	0.743	2	-1,688	16	Eric	22,037	1.316	2	-938
17	Laura	11,772	0.730	-1	-2,104	17	Jeffrey	21,686	1.295	-5	-4,161
18	Tina	11,521	0.715	2	-1,746	18	Mark	21,500	1.284	-5	-3,637
19	Tracy	11,436	0.709	-6	-2,891	19	Steven	19,857	1.186	-3	-3,820
20	Dawn	11,340	0.703	-6	-2,942	20	Thomas	19,574	1.169	-3	-3,590
21	Karen	11,182	0.693	-6	-3,027	21	Timothy	17,605	1.051	0	-2,492
22	Shannon	10,965	0.680	-1	-1,687	22	Anthony	17,462	1.043	1	-1,766
23	Kelly	10,943	0.679	-1	-1,653	23	Charles	16,980	1.014	-1	-2,872
24	Susan	10,577	0.656	-7	-3,200	24	Paul	14,563	0.870	0	-2,914
25	Cynthia	10,171	0.631	-1	-1,974	25	Chad	13,399	0.800	4	1,263
26	Christina	10,170	0.631	4	256	26	Gregory	13,060	0.780	-1	-1,707
27	Patricia	9,600	0.595	-1	-1,865	27	Kenneth	12,334	0.737	-1	-2,430
28	Lori	9,434	0.585	-3	-2,400	28	Shawn	11,284	0.674	0	-1,548
29	Wendy	8,532	0.529	0	-1,532	29	Stephen	11,043	0.659	-2	-2,065
30	Andrea	8,018	0.497	5	-460	30	Andrew	10,125	0.605	3	-795
31	Sandra	7,914	0.491	0	-1,795	31	Todd	9,981	0.596	-1	-2,086
32	Maria	7,703	0.478	5	-416	32	Ronald	9,511	0.568	-1	-2,121
33	Stacy	7,603	0.472	-1	-1,511	33	Sean	9,457	0.565	3	-1,058
34	Pamela	7,476	0.464	-6	-2,667	34	Edward	9,297	0.555	-2	-1,763
35	Denise	7,383	0.458	1	-834	35	Patrick	9,282	0.554	0	-1,525
36	Michele	7,376	0.457	3	-579	36	Donald	9,263	0.553	-2	-1,609
37	Tonya	7,244	0.449	8	344	37	Jonathan	9,227	0.551	3	595
38	Tara	7,231	0.448	11	897	38	Keith	9,155	0.547	-1	-705
39	Teresa	7,177	0.445	-5	-1,385	39	Ryan	8,892	0.531	12	2,702
40	Rachel	6,414	0.398	14	294	40	Aaron	7,864	0.470	1	-543
41	Stacey	6,380	0.396	0	-1,102	41	Gary	7,766	0.464	-3	-1,425
42	Melanie	6,294	0.390	24	1,157	42	Jeremy	7,400	0.442	3	-94
43	Deborah	6,273	0.389	-10	-2,400	43	Douglas	7,392	0.441	-4	-1,345
44	Brenda	6,271	0.389	-1	-887	44	George	7,167	0.428	-2	-1,056
45	Donna	6,261	0.388	-7	-1,749	45	Bryan	7,039	0.420	3	424
46	Jessica	6,210	0.385	18	850	46	Craig	6,736	0.402	-3	-1,224
47	Monica	6,127	0.380	1	-298	47	Larry	6,604	0.394	-3	-1,160
48	April	6,121	0.380	8	183	48	Peter	6,480	0.387	-1	-551
49	Sarah	6,113	0.379	9	268	49	Troy	6,351	0.379	-3	-987
50	Sharon	6,110	0.379	-10	-1,413	50	Jose	5,932	0.354	5	-73

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.