Most Popular Baby Names of 1976

In 1976, Jennifer was the most popular name for girls, given to 59,473 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 66,915. Jennifer held on to number one for a seventh year in a row, and Michael held on to number one for a 16th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,465,099 girls and 1,569,007 boys born in 1976 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 10,913 different girls' names and 6,495 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1976

Top girls' names, 1976
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1975
1	Jennifer	59,473	same
2	Amy	31,339	same
3	Melissa	25,094	up 1
4	Heather	24,192	down 1
5	Angela	22,038	same
6	Michelle	19,550	same
7	Kimberly	18,962	same
8	Jessica	18,368	up 5
9	Lisa	17,346	down 1
10	Amanda	15,588	up 4
11	Stephanie	15,180	down 2
12	Rebecca	14,491	down 1
13	Nicole	14,453	down 3
14	Christina	14,033	down 2
15	Sarah	13,993	up 2
16	Elizabeth	13,547	down 1
17	Shannon	13,368	up 4
18	Jamie	12,539	up 50
19	Kelly	11,791	down 3
20	Laura	11,252	same
21	Julie	10,839	down 3
22	Mary	10,315	down 3
23	Rachel	8,453	up 3
24	Erin	8,381	up 14
25	Andrea	8,352	up 3
26	Christine	8,111	down 4
27	Sara	8,020	up 27
28	Carrie	7,991	up 1
29	Jaime	7,838	up 234
30	April	7,761	down 5
31	Karen	7,505	down 4
32	Tiffany	7,482	up 5
33	Danielle	7,364	up 9
34	Maria	7,358	down 4
35	Dawn	7,048	down 12
36	Crystal	6,946	up 7
37	Tracy	6,822	down 13
38	Stacy	6,523	down 4
39	Wendy	6,464	down 6
40	Susan	6,402	down 8
41	Tammy	6,228	down 10
42	Tara	6,020	down 1
43	Patricia	6,017	down 7
44	Cynthia	6,012	down 4
45	Monica	5,978	up 4
46	Misty	5,906	up 1
47	Lori	5,849	down 8
48	Tina	5,747	down 13
49	Amber	5,646	up 10
50	Emily	5,547	down 2
51	Stacey	5,390	down 7
52	Jill	5,283	down 6
53	Melanie	5,241	down 1
54	Erica	5,236	up 9
55	Brandy	5,232	up 2
56	Holly	5,173	down 1
57	Katherine	5,051	up 1
58	Tonya	4,966	down 13
59	Sandra	4,861	down 8
60	Christy	4,853	down 7
61	Tanya	4,819	down 11
62	Megan	4,463	up 7
63	Michele	4,443	down 7
64	Dana	4,408	down 2
65	Leslie	4,311	up 6
66	Teresa	4,056	down 5
67	Allison	4,028	up 22
68	Veronica	4,022	up 4
69	Denise	3,986	down 5
70	Heidi	3,890	down 4
71	Alicia	3,791	up 5
72	Catherine	3,780	up 1
73	Kristen	3,653	down 13
74	Kristin	3,627	same
75	Robin	3,623	down 10
76	Courtney	3,619	up 26
77	Brenda	3,587	down 10
78	Anna	3,584	up 1
79	Brandi	3,537	up 9
80	Natalie	3,499	up 30
81	Sharon	3,453	down 6
82	Kathleen	3,405	down 2
83	Valerie	3,386	up 9
84	Pamela	3,364	down 14
85	Samantha	3,347	up 16
86	Renee	3,314	up 1
87	Nancy	3,281	down 5
88	Kathryn	3,262	up 11
89	Theresa	3,173	down 11
90	Linda	3,138	down 9
91	Tamara	3,086	down 14
92	Victoria	3,036	up 13
93	Donna	3,032	down 8
94	Gina	3,010	down 10
95	Melinda	2,995	down 4
96	Deborah	2,992	down 10
97	Kristina	2,972	up 6
98	Barbara	2,968	down 15
99	Jacqueline	2,948	down 9
100	Mandy	2,924	up 6

Top boys' names, 1976
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1975
1	Michael	66,915	same
2	Jason	52,643	same
3	Christopher	45,190	same
4	David	39,265	up 1
5	James	38,294	down 1
6	John	33,976	up 1
7	Robert	33,789	down 1
8	Brian	30,517	same
9	Matthew	29,951	same
10	Daniel	24,702	up 1
11	William	24,428	down 1
12	Joseph	24,055	same
13	Eric	21,359	same
14	Jeremy	20,126	up 10
15	Kevin	18,474	same
16	Ryan	17,484	up 7
17	Jeffrey	17,013	down 3
18	Joshua	16,845	up 8
19	Richard	16,752	down 3
20	Steven	16,650	down 2
21	Timothy	16,620	up 1
22	Anthony	16,601	down 1
23	Thomas	16,122	down 3
24	Scott	15,717	down 7
25	Mark	15,508	down 6
26	Charles	13,921	down 1
27	Andrew	13,301	up 1
28	Paul	11,781	up 1
29	Chad	11,766	down 2
30	Aaron	11,344	up 2
31	Jonathan	11,314	down 1
32	Benjamin	10,672	up 4
33	Justin	10,144	up 4
34	Shawn	10,108	down 3
35	Gregory	10,060	down 2
36	Adam	9,937	up 2
37	Stephen	9,727	down 3
38	Kenneth	9,127	down 3
39	Nathan	8,611	up 6
40	Brandon	7,786	up 4
41	Patrick	7,642	down 2
42	Sean	7,565	down 2
43	Bryan	7,288	up 4
44	Jose	7,061	up 4
45	Edward	7,048	down 4
46	Travis	6,832	up 5
47	Donald	6,792	down 5
48	Keith	6,745	up 1
49	Ronald	6,457	down 3
50	Todd	6,440	down 7
51	Bradley	5,976	up 1
52	Gary	5,592	down 2
53	George	5,556	same
54	Peter	5,445	same
55	Jesse	5,300	up 9
56	Douglas	5,224	down 1
57	Shane	5,095	same
58	Juan	5,053	up 2
59	Samuel	5,025	up 2
60	Larry	4,842	down 4
61	Craig	4,732	down 3
62	Jamie	4,621	same
63	Jacob	4,509	up 12
64	Corey	4,432	up 7
65	Raymond	4,218	down 2
66	Dennis	4,169	down 7
67	Jerry	4,070	down 2
68	Frank	3,899	down 2
69	Phillip	3,789	up 3
70	Carlos	3,787	up 3
71	Antonio	3,774	up 6
72	Joel	3,722	up 2
73	Troy	3,715	down 4
74	Marcus	3,681	down 6
75	Terry	3,668	down 8
76	Jeffery	3,564	down 6
77	Nicholas	3,466	up 4
78	Brent	3,405	up 1
79	Randy	3,320	down 1
80	Kyle	3,308	up 8
81	Gabriel	3,303	up 25
82	Dustin	3,212	up 14
83	Cory	3,182	up 16
84	Derek	3,168	down 1
85	Billy	3,158	down 1
86	Tony	3,067	down 6
87	Russell	2,999	down 5
88	Rodney	2,984	down 12
89	Philip	2,943	down 4
90	Jared	2,929	up 10
91	Derrick	2,921	down 1
92	Johnny	2,874	down 6
93	Jeremiah	2,872	up 56
94	Erik	2,754	down 7
95	Carl	2,670	down 4
96	Bobby	2,644	down 3
97	Zachary	2,644	up 48
98	Shannon	2,611	up 3
99	Marc	2,598	down 10
100	Victor	2,528	down 5

Biggest climbers in 1976

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1975.

Girls

Jayme: up 282 places, from 703rd to 421st
Lindsay: up 263 places, from 396th to 133rd
Rosalyn: up 250 places, from 993rd to 743rd
Jaime: up 234 places, from 263rd to 29th
Lindsey: up 230 places, from 497th to 267th
Spring: up 209 places, from 832nd to 623rd
Cortney: up 208 places, from 749th to 541st
Alejandra: up 206 places, from 772nd to 566th
Bree: up 197 places, from 840th to 643rd
Charla: up 197 places, from 952nd to 755th

Boys

Deangelo: up 177 places, from 947th to 770th
Weston: up 164 places, from 874th to 710th
Jan: up 163 places, from 848th to 685th
Jamil: up 160 places, from 864th to 704th
Josiah: up 143 places, from 893rd to 750th
Jeramie: up 142 places, from 695th to 553rd
Jarred: up 141 places, from 790th to 649th
Isaiah: up 136 places, from 715th to 579th
Rory: up 128 places, from 648th to 520th
Jonah: up 126 places, from 723rd to 597th

New to the top 1,000 in 1976

Girls

Farrah, 276th (its first time ever)
Tennille, 300th (its first time ever)
Nadia, 360th (its first time ever)
Jaimie, 431st (its first time ever)
Jaclyn, 539th (back after dropping out)
Liberty, 543rd (back after dropping out)
Rhiannon, 593rd (its first time ever)
Jillian, 615th (its first time ever)
Jammie, 622nd (its first time ever)
Khalilah, 716th (its first time ever)

Boys

Jamaal, 532nd (its first time ever)
Jovan, 737th (its first time ever)
Seneca, 808th (its first time ever)
Jermey, 826th (its first time ever)
Quintin, 830th (back after dropping out)
Torey, 865th (its first time ever)
Anson, 873rd (back after dropping out)
Hakim, 880th (its first time ever)
Corbin, 895th (back after dropping out)
Aurelio, 897th (back after dropping out)

How spread out were names in 1976?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 17.2% of the girls counted in 1976, and the top ten boys' names to 25.2% of the boys. In 1956, those shares were 21.4% for girls and 31.5% for boys.

Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.