Top Baby Names of 1973

Most popular names for boys and girls in 1973.

What the Data Says About 1973

The Social Security Administration's national 1973 file shows 1,884,435 births concentrated in the top 100 boy and top 100 girl names, the segment of U.S. baby-name data released to the public for that year. The #1 boy name of 1973 was Michael, with 67,808 births registered nationally. The #1 girl name of 1973 was Jennifer, with 62,447 births nationally. The top 100 boys captured 1,091,928 births compared with 792,507 for the top 100 girls — consistent with the historical SSA pattern in which a smaller pool of boy names dominates a larger share of annual births while girl names are more evenly distributed.

1973 sits within a specific era of U.S. naming trends. Late-20th-century years like 1973 reflect accelerating naming diversification, with rising popularity of names like Michael, Jennifer, and Jason and the gradual fragmentation of top-10 dominance. Michael and Jennifer leading 1973 fits this broader cultural signature.

These rankings come directly from Social Security Administration card applications and represent approximately 96% of all U.S. births in 1973. Names with fewer than five occurrences nationally in 1973 are excluded from SSA's public file to protect privacy, meaning the true number of unique names given in 1973 is significantly larger than any public top-100 list can show. Each spelling variation is counted separately — Sophia and Sofia, Aiden and Ayden — so rankings reflect only the specific spelling filed on the SS card, not combined name pools. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute naming advice.

Top 100 Boys' Names Boy

Rank Name Births
1 Michael 67,808
2 Christopher 48,309
3 Jason 46,678
4 James 42,838
5 David 41,085
6 John 39,169
7 Robert 38,698
8 Brian 35,688
9 William 28,015
10 Matthew 24,535
11 Daniel 23,673
12 Joseph 21,327
13 Eric 20,802
14 Kevin 20,771
15 Mark 20,372
16 Richard 19,943
17 Jeffrey 19,215
18 Scott 18,981
19 Thomas 17,924
20 Steven 17,177
21 Anthony 16,415
22 Timothy 16,035
23 Charles 15,751
24 Paul 12,903
25 Chad 12,885
26 Gregory 11,673
27 Shawn 11,451
28 Kenneth 10,981
29 Andrew 10,729
30 Ryan 10,513
31 Jonathan 10,271
32 Stephen 9,958
33 Jeremy 9,364
34 Aaron 9,231
35 Todd 8,678
36 Sean 8,556
37 Patrick 8,483
38 Donald 8,361
39 Edward 8,359
40 Ronald 8,328
41 Keith 8,167
42 Joshua 8,058
43 Bryan 7,112
44 Gary 6,851
45 Adam 6,841
46 George 6,603
47 Douglas 6,595
48 Craig 6,294
49 Jose 6,096
50 Larry 6,080
51 Justin 6,077
52 Peter 5,913
53 Travis 5,867
54 Shane 5,711
55 Benjamin 5,227
56 Dennis 5,176
57 Jerry 5,097
58 Brandon 5,066
59 Troy 5,065
60 Raymond 4,833
61 Frank 4,784
62 Bradley 4,747
63 Nathan 4,735
64 Jeffery 4,407
65 Terry 4,375
66 Samuel 4,266
67 Juan 4,087
68 Rodney 4,059
69 Derek 3,920
70 Jamie 3,913
71 Phillip 3,861
72 Marcus 3,715
73 Joel 3,570
74 Carlos 3,568
75 Jesse 3,442
76 Billy 3,437
77 Russell 3,397
78 Tony 3,348
79 Randy 3,346
80 Brent 3,287
81 Marc 3,275
82 Johnny 3,267
83 Danny 3,180
84 Nicholas 3,154
85 Roger 3,154
86 Erik 3,060
87 Derrick 3,056
88 Brett 3,031
89 Corey 3,019
90 Carl 3,013
91 Philip 2,998
92 Antonio 2,964
93 Bobby 2,889
94 Jon 2,799
95 Jimmy 2,735
96 Chris 2,703
97 Christian 2,693
98 Curtis 2,691
99 Vincent 2,685
100 Shannon 2,636

Top 100 Girls' Names Girl

Rank Name Births
1 Jennifer 62,447
2 Amy 26,964
3 Michelle 26,936
4 Kimberly 23,531
5 Lisa 22,673
6 Melissa 22,480
7 Angela 20,898
8 Heather 19,346
9 Stephanie 17,264
10 Rebecca 14,869
11 Nicole 13,922
12 Julie 12,784
13 Elizabeth 12,358
14 Mary 12,313
15 Tammy 11,245
16 Christina 10,888
17 Christine 10,549
18 Kelly 10,514
19 Laura 10,343
20 Tracy 9,913
21 Dawn 9,890
22 Shannon 9,803
23 Karen 9,352
24 Tina 9,308
25 Susan 9,279
26 Cynthia 8,744
27 Patricia 8,477
28 Lori 8,472
29 Wendy 7,811
30 Andrea 7,766
31 Maria 7,665
32 Stacy 7,339
33 April 7,265
34 Jessica 7,228
35 Sarah 7,214
36 Tonya 7,185
37 Tara 6,708
38 Denise 6,615
39 Sandra 6,584
40 Monica 6,379
41 Stacey 6,253
42 Rachel 6,103
43 Melanie 6,079
44 Michele 5,996
45 Teresa 5,986
46 Carrie 5,836
47 Pamela 5,813
48 Crystal 5,769
49 Danielle 5,648
50 Tanya 5,632
51 Amanda 5,626
52 Tiffany 5,501
53 Brenda 5,379
54 Holly 5,114
55 Donna 5,058
56 Deborah 4,979
57 Sharon 4,963
58 Kristen 4,936
59 Dana 4,934
60 Robin 4,805
61 Linda 4,731
62 Jill 4,538
63 Barbara 4,434
64 Katherine 4,419
65 Heidi 4,396
66 Tamara 4,286
67 Catherine 4,262
68 Kathleen 4,250
69 Theresa 4,179
70 Rhonda 4,161
71 Veronica 4,152
72 Melinda 4,144
73 Christy 4,121
74 Cheryl 4,010
75 Leslie 3,954
76 Sherry 3,952
77 Nancy 3,945
78 Kristin 3,904
79 Erin 3,877
80 Renee 3,846
81 Erica 3,794
82 Brandy 3,715
83 Gina 3,699
84 Debra 3,652
85 Diana 3,519
86 Anna 3,507
87 Paula 3,504
88 Jacqueline 3,500
89 Sara 3,479
90 Misty 3,475
91 Alicia 3,432
92 Cindy 3,280
93 Ann 3,255
94 Margaret 3,167
95 Victoria 3,070
96 Valerie 3,042
97 Kristina 3,038
98 Suzanne 3,036
99 Emily 3,027
100 Jodi 3,024

Nearby Year & Decade Rankings

Compare 1973 with adjacent years and the surrounding decade

Compare 1973 leaders: Michael vs Jennifer → or pick any two names →

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data (ssa.gov/oact/babynames).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are excluded to protect privacy.

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