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

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

What the Data Says About the 1970s in Mississippi

During the 1970s (1970–1979), the Social Security Administration recorded 182,706 births across the top 50 boy and top 50 girl names in Mississippi. The decade's leading boy name was James with 8,070 births, while Jennifer was the top girl name with 5,421 births. The top 50 boys in this decade collectively accounted for 110,943 births versus 71,763 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 Mississippi; 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. James and Jennifer leading Mississippi during this window reflects how regional preferences interact with broader national trends.

Decade totals are computed by summing SSA state-year records for Mississippi 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 Mississippi 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 James 8,070
2 Michael 7,486
3 Christopher 6,728
4 John 5,390
5 Robert 5,182
6 William 4,800
7 Jason 4,276
8 David 4,244
9 Charles 3,478
10 Anthony 2,843
11 Timothy 2,710
12 Joseph 2,494
13 Kevin 2,485
14 Brian 2,245
15 Eric 2,150
16 Richard 2,148
17 Thomas 2,146
18 Kenneth 1,868
19 Steven 1,851
20 Willie 1,809
21 Marcus 1,677
22 Daniel 1,616
23 Gregory 1,572
24 Larry 1,542
25 Jeremy 1,479
26 Jeffrey 1,468
27 Mark 1,449
28 Patrick 1,413
29 Jonathan 1,392
30 Jerry 1,370
31 Matthew 1,341
32 Terry 1,329
33 Derrick 1,290
34 Stephen 1,260
35 Paul 1,140
36 Billy 1,134
37 Johnny 1,113
38 Jimmy 1,090
39 George 1,087
40 Tony 1,081
41 Donald 1,043
42 Bobby 1,028
43 Jeffery 1,007
44 Joshua 991
45 Gary 973
46 Edward 968
47 Rodney 967
48 Ronald 945
49 Keith 915
50 Antonio 860

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

Rank Name Births
1 Jennifer 5,421
2 Angela 4,278
3 Kimberly 3,668
4 Mary 2,706
5 Melissa 2,672
6 Stephanie 2,634
7 Amy 2,537
8 Amanda 2,369
9 Lisa 1,940
10 Pamela 1,562
11 Tammy 1,557
12 Heather 1,492
13 Sharon 1,489
14 Tracy 1,412
15 Cynthia 1,380
16 Elizabeth 1,289
17 Tonya 1,283
18 Michelle 1,267
19 Tina 1,252
20 Rebecca 1,231
21 Patricia 1,230
22 April 1,191
23 Teresa 1,157
24 Tiffany 1,156
25 Christy 1,140
26 Shannon 1,126
27 Jessica 1,096
28 Karen 1,023
29 Linda 1,016
30 Stacy 995
31 Sandra 988
32 Laura 986
33 Monica 964
34 Susan 954
35 Felicia 937
36 Yolanda 928
37 Kelly 887
38 Wendy 863
39 Jacqueline 861
40 Rhonda 857
41 Donna 856
42 Christina 835
43 Crystal 834
44 Brandy 798
45 Julie 791
46 Barbara 787
47 Andrea 786
48 Tanya 772
49 Dana 762
50 Regina 748

Nearby Rankings

Related decade and state views for Mississippi

Compare 1970s leaders: James 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.