babynamepicker

Boy Names of the 1970s

The 100 most common boy names given in the United States during the 1970s, by the number of children recorded with each name across those years.

All 100 names

  1. Michael 707,327
  2. Christopher 475,423
  3. Jason 462,709
  4. David 445,704
  5. James 444,713
  6. John 402,612
  7. Robert 397,225
  8. Brian 322,660
  9. William 283,401
  10. Matthew 277,727
  11. Joseph 244,825
  12. Daniel 244,454
  13. Kevin 212,231
  14. Eric 211,481
  15. Jeffrey 202,850
  16. Richard 202,804
  17. Scott 194,520
  18. Mark 194,260
  19. Steven 188,078
  20. Thomas 186,739
  21. Timothy 181,260
  22. Anthony 174,873
  23. Charles 163,021
  24. Joshua 140,318
  25. Ryan 139,635
  26. Jeremy 139,307
  27. Paul 136,390
  28. Andrew 132,929
  29. Gregory 115,563
  30. Chad 113,534
  31. Kenneth 111,489
  32. Jonathan 107,926
  33. Stephen 107,804
  34. Shawn 105,790
  35. Aaron 101,487
  36. Adam 91,739
  37. Patrick 91,240
  38. Justin 86,539
  39. Sean 83,819
  40. Edward 83,425
  41. Todd 83,319
  42. Donald 82,435
  43. Ronald 81,730
  44. Benjamin 81,332
  45. Keith 76,689
  46. Bryan 71,338
  47. Gary 68,261
  48. Jose 66,390
  49. Nathan 65,857
  50. Douglas 65,155
  51. Nicholas 65,068
  52. Brandon 65,047
  53. George 64,757
  54. Travis 64,103
  55. Peter 62,320
  56. Craig 58,787
  57. Bradley 58,678
  58. Larry 58,138
  59. Dennis 50,552
  60. Shane 50,279
  61. Raymond 49,332
  62. Troy 48,852
  63. Jerry 48,351
  64. Samuel 48,099
  65. Frank 46,917
  66. Jesse 44,886
  67. Jeffery 44,565
  68. Juan 43,404
  69. Terry 42,426
  70. Corey 41,000
  71. Phillip 39,845
  72. Marcus 39,464
  73. Derek 38,310
  74. Rodney 37,446
  75. Joel 37,228
  76. Carlos 36,949
  77. Randy 36,545
  78. Jacob 36,351
  79. Jamie 36,296
  80. Tony 35,676
  81. Russell 35,469
  82. Brent 35,380
  83. Antonio 33,280
  84. Billy 33,217
  85. Derrick 32,860
  86. Kyle 32,645
  87. Erik 32,094
  88. Johnny 32,024
  89. Marc 31,837
  90. Carl 31,370
  91. Philip 31,367
  92. Roger 29,714
  93. Bobby 29,077
  94. Brett 28,922
  95. Danny 28,863
  96. Curtis 28,808
  97. Jon 28,690
  98. Vincent 27,640
  99. Cory 27,509
  100. Jimmy 27,099

How 1970s boy names compare

Michael was the most common boy name of the 1970s, given to 707,327 boys across those years, with Christopher, Jason, David and James behind it. The hundredth name on the list, Jimmy, accounts for 27,099. Between them the hundred names cover 11,499,873 births. Michael was number one in every one of those ten years.

70 of these names were also in the 1960s top 100, and 30 were not. 23 are still in the 2025 top 100 — Michael, Christopher, David, James, John, Robert, William and Matthew, among others — and 58 are inside the top 500.

Those hundred names cover 69.6% of all boys born in the 1970s — 11,499,873 of 16,516,151 — and Michael alone accounts for 4.3% of them. The hundred most common names of 2025 take 38.0% between them, so naming has spread wider since. Every one of the hundred was already in the record before the 1970s began.

Questions about 1970s boy names

What was the most popular boy name of the 1970s?

Michael, given to 707,327 boys across those years. The next two were Christopher and Jason.

Are 1970s boy names still used today?

23 of the hundred are in the 2025 top 100: Michael, Christopher, David, James, John, Robert, William and Matthew, among others.