Top Baby Names of 1976

Most popular names for boys and girls in 1976.

What the Data Says About 1976

The Social Security Administration's national 1976 file shows 1,882,246 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 1976 was Michael, with 66,917 births registered nationally. The #1 girl name of 1976 was Jennifer, with 59,472 births nationally. The top 100 boys captured 1,087,594 births compared with 794,652 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.

1976 sits within a specific era of U.S. naming trends. Late-20th-century years like 1976 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 1976 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 1976. Names with fewer than five occurrences nationally in 1976 are excluded from SSA's public file to protect privacy, meaning the true number of unique names given in 1976 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 66,917
2 Jason 52,650
3 Christopher 45,194
4 David 39,273
5 James 38,298
6 John 33,979
7 Robert 33,791
8 Brian 30,524
9 Matthew 29,952
10 Daniel 24,704
11 William 24,433
12 Joseph 24,056
13 Eric 21,363
14 Jeremy 20,128
15 Kevin 18,476
16 Ryan 17,486
17 Jeffrey 17,014
18 Joshua 16,846
19 Richard 16,753
20 Steven 16,652
21 Timothy 16,621
22 Anthony 16,603
23 Thomas 16,122
24 Scott 15,719
25 Mark 15,511
26 Charles 13,923
27 Andrew 13,303
28 Paul 11,783
29 Chad 11,766
30 Aaron 11,345
31 Jonathan 11,315
32 Benjamin 10,672
33 Justin 10,146
34 Shawn 10,110
35 Gregory 10,061
36 Adam 9,939
37 Stephen 9,726
38 Kenneth 9,128
39 Nathan 8,609
40 Brandon 7,790
41 Patrick 7,642
42 Sean 7,565
43 Bryan 7,289
44 Jose 7,061
45 Edward 7,048
46 Travis 6,833
47 Donald 6,795
48 Keith 6,744
49 Ronald 6,459
50 Todd 6,441
51 Bradley 5,978
52 Gary 5,592
53 George 5,558
54 Peter 5,445
55 Jesse 5,301
56 Douglas 5,228
57 Shane 5,095
58 Juan 5,053
59 Samuel 5,026
60 Larry 4,841
61 Craig 4,732
62 Jamie 4,621
63 Jacob 4,509
64 Corey 4,433
65 Raymond 4,218
66 Dennis 4,169
67 Jerry 4,070
68 Frank 3,899
69 Phillip 3,790
70 Carlos 3,787
71 Antonio 3,774
72 Joel 3,725
73 Troy 3,715
74 Marcus 3,680
75 Terry 3,668
76 Jeffery 3,564
77 Nicholas 3,465
78 Brent 3,405
79 Randy 3,320
80 Kyle 3,309
81 Gabriel 3,303
82 Dustin 3,212
83 Cory 3,183
84 Derek 3,168
85 Billy 3,158
86 Tony 3,067
87 Russell 2,999
88 Rodney 2,984
89 Philip 2,943
90 Jared 2,930
91 Derrick 2,921
92 Johnny 2,874
93 Jeremiah 2,873
94 Erik 2,755
95 Carl 2,670
96 Zachary 2,646
97 Bobby 2,644
98 Shannon 2,611
99 Marc 2,598
100 Victor 2,527

Top 100 Girls' Names Girl

Rank Name Births
1 Jennifer 59,472
2 Amy 31,339
3 Melissa 25,094
4 Heather 24,192
5 Angela 22,039
6 Michelle 19,551
7 Kimberly 18,962
8 Jessica 18,369
9 Lisa 17,348
10 Amanda 15,589
11 Stephanie 15,180
12 Rebecca 14,490
13 Nicole 14,452
14 Christina 14,035
15 Sarah 13,996
16 Elizabeth 13,546
17 Shannon 13,369
18 Jamie 12,538
19 Kelly 11,791
20 Laura 11,251
21 Julie 10,840
22 Mary 10,319
23 Rachel 8,454
24 Erin 8,383
25 Andrea 8,352
26 Christine 8,111
27 Sara 8,020
28 Carrie 7,991
29 Jaime 7,838
30 April 7,761
31 Karen 7,505
32 Tiffany 7,483
33 Danielle 7,364
34 Maria 7,358
35 Dawn 7,048
36 Crystal 6,947
37 Tracy 6,823
38 Stacy 6,524
39 Wendy 6,464
40 Susan 6,403
41 Tammy 6,228
42 Tara 6,020
43 Patricia 6,017
44 Cynthia 6,012
45 Monica 5,979
46 Misty 5,906
47 Lori 5,849
48 Tina 5,746
49 Amber 5,646
50 Emily 5,549
51 Stacey 5,391
52 Jill 5,283
53 Melanie 5,241
54 Erica 5,236
55 Brandy 5,232
56 Holly 5,173
57 Katherine 5,053
58 Tonya 4,965
59 Sandra 4,861
60 Christy 4,853
61 Tanya 4,819
62 Megan 4,464
63 Michele 4,443
64 Dana 4,408
65 Leslie 4,311
66 Teresa 4,056
67 Allison 4,028
68 Veronica 4,022
69 Denise 3,986
70 Heidi 3,890
71 Alicia 3,791
72 Catherine 3,779
73 Kristen 3,653
74 Kristin 3,627
75 Robin 3,623
76 Courtney 3,619
77 Brenda 3,587
78 Anna 3,585
79 Brandi 3,537
80 Natalie 3,500
81 Sharon 3,454
82 Kathleen 3,406
83 Valerie 3,386
84 Pamela 3,364
85 Samantha 3,348
86 Renee 3,314
87 Nancy 3,281
88 Kathryn 3,263
89 Theresa 3,174
90 Linda 3,138
91 Tamara 3,086
92 Victoria 3,038
93 Donna 3,032
94 Gina 3,010
95 Melinda 2,995
96 Deborah 2,992
97 Kristina 2,972
98 Barbara 2,968
99 Jacqueline 2,948
100 Mandy 2,924

Nearby Year & Decade Rankings

Compare 1976 with adjacent years and the surrounding decade

Compare 1976 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.