Top Baby Names in Florida, 1970s — Most Popular Boys & Girls Names

The most popular baby names in Florida from 1970 to 1979, ranked by total births during the decade.

What the Data Says About the 1970s in Florida

During the 1970s (1970–1979), the Social Security Administration recorded 493,412 births across the top 50 boy and top 50 girl names in Florida. The decade's leading boy name was Michael with 23,146 births, while Jennifer was the top girl name with 18,556 births. The top 50 boys in this decade collectively accounted for 299,482 births versus 193,930 for the top 50 girls — a common SSA pattern in which the boy-name pool is more concentrated among fewer high-frequency choices. These totals represent only names appearing five or more times per year in Florida; rarer names fall below the SSA's privacy-disclosure threshold and are excluded.

The 1970s sits within a specific cultural window of U.S. naming history. Mid-century decades like the 1970s spanned the post-war baby boom and the beginning of naming diversification, as parents increasingly departed from purely traditional choices. Michael and Jennifer leading Florida during this window reflects how regional preferences interact with broader national trends.

Decade totals are computed by summing SSA state-year records for Florida across all ten years of the 1970s. Because the SSA suppresses any name with fewer than five annual occurrences in a state, the true number of unique names given in Florida during this decade is larger than what this page lists. The dataset also treats every spelling as a separate name — for example, Kayla and Kaylah are tracked independently — so combined-spelling totals would shift the rankings somewhat. This page is provided for informational and research purposes and does not constitute naming, legal, or genealogical advice.

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

Rank Name Births
1 Michael 23,146
2 James 17,030
3 Christopher 16,686
4 Robert 14,854
5 David 14,449
6 John 14,006
7 Jason 13,923
8 William 11,291
9 Brian 8,720
10 Joseph 7,759
11 Richard 7,601
12 Daniel 7,299
13 Charles 6,892
14 Matthew 6,649
15 Eric 6,373
16 Kevin 6,304
17 Thomas 5,918
18 Anthony 5,746
19 Timothy 5,610
20 Steven 5,376
21 Mark 5,077
22 Scott 4,969
23 Jeffrey 4,763
24 Kenneth 4,326
25 Paul 3,947
26 Joshua 3,775
27 Stephen 3,676
28 Gregory 3,584
29 Shawn 3,528
30 Jonathan 3,430
31 Ryan 3,417
32 Donald 3,258
33 Andrew 3,225
34 Ronald 3,101
35 Sean 3,059
36 Jeremy 3,015
37 Edward 2,811
38 Patrick 2,762
39 George 2,610
40 Keith 2,544
41 Adam 2,484
42 Chad 2,376
43 Gary 2,333
44 Larry 2,302
45 Justin 2,301
46 Bryan 2,288
47 Benjamin 2,263
48 Aaron 2,257
49 Willie 2,200
50 Travis 2,169

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

Rank Name Births
1 Jennifer 18,556
2 Kimberly 8,842
3 Michelle 8,521
4 Melissa 8,286
5 Angela 7,462
6 Lisa 6,811
7 Heather 6,761
8 Amy 6,592
9 Stephanie 5,593
10 Christina 5,138
11 Elizabeth 4,417
12 Jessica 4,329
13 Mary 4,256
14 Shannon 4,214
15 Kelly 4,046
16 Nicole 3,893
17 Rebecca 3,820
18 Amanda 3,816
19 Tammy 3,602
20 Laura 3,373
21 Tracy 3,187
22 Julie 3,184
23 Dawn 3,062
24 Patricia 3,050
25 April 2,991
26 Christine 2,944
27 Karen 2,905
28 Tiffany 2,902
29 Tina 2,852
30 Cynthia 2,852
31 Susan 2,561
32 Wendy 2,468
33 Andrea 2,442
34 Tonya 2,242
35 Sarah 2,240
36 Pamela 2,224
37 Lori 2,189
38 Tara 2,125
39 Rachel 2,111
40 Sandra 2,053
41 Teresa 2,053
42 Maria 2,022
43 Stacy 2,015
44 Crystal 1,982
45 Barbara 1,943
46 Monica 1,905
47 Stacey 1,852
48 Donna 1,781
49 Dana 1,742
50 Erin 1,723

Nearby Rankings

Related decade and state views for Florida

Compare 1970s leaders: Michael vs Jennifer → or pick any two names →

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files, 1910–2024 (ssa.gov).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year are included (ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html).

Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details.