Most Popular Baby Names of 1978

In 1978, Jennifer was the most popular name for girls, given to 56,314 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 67,127. Jennifer held on to number one for a ninth year in a row, and Michael held on to number one for a 18th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,531,859 girls and 1,641,837 boys born in 1978 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 11,475 different girls' names and 6,762 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1978

Top girls' names, 1978
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1977
1	Jennifer	56,314	same
2	Melissa	28,327	same
3	Jessica	26,102	up 1
4	Amy	23,213	down 1
5	Heather	22,270	same
6	Amanda	20,520	up 3
7	Angela	20,517	down 1
8	Sarah	19,976	up 3
9	Michelle	18,856	down 2
10	Nicole	17,279	up 5
11	Lisa	17,033	up 1
12	Kelly	16,976	down 2
13	Kimberly	16,879	down 5
14	Elizabeth	16,807	down 1
15	Christina	16,367	up 1
16	Stephanie	16,233	down 2
17	Rebecca	13,796	same
18	Crystal	12,594	up 7
19	Laura	11,240	up 1
20	Jamie	10,982	down 2
21	Erin	10,786	up 2
22	Shannon	10,598	down 3
23	Andrea	10,461	up 1
24	Mary	10,040	down 3
25	Rachel	9,802	up 1
26	Julie	9,794	down 4
27	April	9,590	up 2
28	Sara	8,869	down 1
29	Christine	8,272	up 1
30	Amber	8,174	up 3
31	Danielle	7,983	same
32	Tiffany	7,701	up 2
33	Emily	7,473	up 4
34	Erica	7,340	up 4
35	Carrie	7,318	down 7
36	Maria	7,021	same
37	Brandy	6,699	up 14
38	Katherine	6,625	up 6
39	Karen	6,371	down 7
40	Tara	6,330	down 5
41	Megan	5,895	up 13
42	Monica	5,867	down 3
43	Misty	5,834	down 3
44	Stacy	5,776	down 2
45	Tina	5,699	up 13
46	Jill	5,676	down 5
47	Tracy	5,631	up 3
48	Patricia	5,498	down 1
49	Susan	5,418	down 4
50	Cynthia	5,403	down 2
51	Kristy	5,332	up 17
52	Dawn	5,217	down 9
53	Stacey	4,998	up 3
54	Melanie	4,996	down 1
55	Holly	4,972	down 3
56	Wendy	4,918	down 7
57	Kathryn	4,808	up 13
58	Alicia	4,752	up 2
59	Christy	4,661	same
60	Lori	4,631	down 3
61	Brandi	4,500	up 10
62	Kristen	4,368	up 10
63	Leslie	4,342	up 2
64	Kristina	4,229	up 19
65	Anna	4,173	up 9
66	Natalie	4,165	up 3
67	Tammy	4,070	down 12
68	Courtney	4,031	up 8
69	Sandra	4,005	down 8
70	Jaime	4,003	down 24
71	Dana	4,002	down 9
72	Catherine	3,958	up 3
73	Veronica	3,933	same
74	Samantha	3,886	up 11
75	Allison	3,864	down 9
76	Vanessa	3,853	up 14
77	Tonya	3,826	down 13
78	Kristin	3,807	up 4
79	Kathleen	3,743	up 1
80	Lauren	3,669	up 34
81	Jacqueline	3,576	up 11
82	Tanya	3,576	down 15
83	Heidi	3,567	down 2
84	Melinda	3,563	up 12
85	Denise	3,519	down 7
86	Michele	3,484	down 9
87	Ashley	3,482	up 19
88	Teresa	3,472	down 9
89	Robin	3,440	down 5
90	Katie	3,426	up 25
91	Sabrina	3,350	down 28
92	Valerie	3,299	down 6
93	Gina	3,220	down 5
94	Cheryl	3,167	up 41
95	Lindsay	3,123	up 15
96	Mandy	3,110	down 2
97	Nancy	3,044	down 8
98	Kristi	2,992	up 6
99	Renee	2,969	down 12
100	Linda	2,932	down 1

Top boys' names, 1978
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1977
1	Michael	67,127	same
2	Jason	51,600	same
3	Christopher	47,236	same
4	David	40,684	same
5	James	39,894	same
6	Matthew	34,282	up 3
7	John	34,014	same
8	Robert	33,374	down 2
9	Brian	29,432	down 1
10	Joseph	26,663	same
11	Daniel	26,441	same
12	Joshua	25,204	up 2
13	William	24,170	down 1
14	Ryan	21,322	up 2
15	Kevin	20,094	down 2
16	Eric	19,761	up 1
17	Timothy	19,597	up 1
18	Jeremy	19,509	down 3
19	Jeffrey	16,989	same
20	Anthony	16,808	up 1
21	Richard	16,734	down 1
22	Andrew	16,720	up 2
23	Thomas	16,481	down 1
24	Steven	16,390	down 1
25	Nicholas	16,342	up 26
26	Mark	14,851	down 1
27	Charles	14,844	down 1
28	Justin	14,183	up 2
29	Adam	13,918	up 4
30	Scott	13,539	down 3
31	Jonathan	12,514	down 3
32	Aaron	12,299	same
33	Paul	11,733	down 2
34	Benjamin	11,414	down 5
35	Chad	10,107	down 1
36	Nathan	9,890	same
37	Stephen	9,854	up 1
38	Gregory	9,340	down 3
39	Shawn	9,289	down 2
40	Brandon	9,241	up 1
41	Kenneth	9,021	down 2
42	Patrick	8,830	down 2
43	Bryan	7,291	down 1
44	Jose	7,148	up 1
45	Sean	7,059	down 2
46	Travis	6,953	down 2
47	Edward	6,473	same
48	Donald	6,423	down 2
49	Keith	6,172	down 1
50	Jacob	6,161	up 6
51	Jesse	6,107	up 3
52	Shaun	6,105	up 51
53	Bradley	6,096	down 4
54	Peter	5,872	up 1
55	Ronald	5,758	down 2
56	Todd	5,497	down 6
57	Samuel	5,394	up 3
58	George	5,297	down 1
59	Douglas	5,151	same
60	Gary	5,111	down 2
61	Corey	4,942	down 9
62	Juan	4,837	up 1
63	Kyle	4,517	up 16
64	Larry	4,514	down 2
65	Shane	4,480	down 4
66	Craig	4,472	down 2
67	Phillip	4,362	up 3
68	Dustin	4,177	up 13
69	Raymond	4,134	down 4
70	Marcus	3,995	up 2
71	Dennis	3,861	down 3
72	Jared	3,847	up 4
73	Cory	3,842	down 6
74	Joel	3,810	down 1
75	Derek	3,800	up 9
76	Derrick	3,786	up 4
77	Frank	3,775	down 6
78	Carlos	3,729	down 4
79	Antonio	3,677	down 2
80	Jeffery	3,543	down 2
81	Jeremiah	3,445	down 12
82	Jerry	3,427	down 7
83	Wesley	3,306	down 17
84	Philip	3,298	up 6
85	Erik	3,261	up 9
86	Randy	3,220	same
87	Brent	3,181	down 2
88	Troy	3,152	same
89	Zachary	3,127	up 6
90	Gabriel	3,126	down 3
91	Terry	3,089	down 8
92	Casey	3,003	up 10
93	Russell	2,984	down 4
94	Nathaniel	2,925	up 13
95	Jamie	2,864	down 13
96	Curtis	2,825	up 4
97	Tony	2,770	down 5
98	Alexander	2,738	down 2
99	Billy	2,695	down 8
100	Carl	2,606	down 1

Biggest climbers in 1978

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1977.

Girls

Lacy: up 454 places, from 895th to 441st
Corrine: up 289 places, from 892nd to 603rd
Jacklyn: up 286 places, from 984th to 698th
Elaina: up 283 places, from 952nd to 669th
Lacey: up 280 places, from 573rd to 293rd
Abby: up 258 places, from 607th to 349th
Mayra: up 248 places, from 731st to 483rd
Quiana: up 248 places, from 840th to 592nd
Devon: up 236 places, from 543rd to 307th
January: up 235 places, from 873rd to 638th

Boys

Conor: up 259 places, from 940th to 681st
Chance: up 226 places, from 695th to 469th
Jedidiah: up 206 places, from 908th to 702nd
Nickolas: up 188 places, from 498th to 310th
Leif: up 187 places, from 946th to 759th
Tarik: up 183 places, from 980th to 797th
Jedediah: up 161 places, from 762nd to 601st
Dane: up 148 places, from 653rd to 505th
Khalid: up 148 places, from 977th to 829th
Efren: up 145 places, from 949th to 804th

New to the top 1,000 in 1978

Girls

Chrissy, 378th (its first time ever)
Kylie, 406th (its first time ever)
Aja, 412th (its first time ever)
Devin, 473rd (its first time ever)
Meghann, 572nd (its first time ever)
Crissy, 616th (its first time ever)
Kiley, 620th (its first time ever)
Meaghan, 646th (its first time ever)
Shavon, 693rd (its first time ever)
Brianne, 762nd (its first time ever)

Boys

Anwar, 697th (its first time ever)
Nicholaus, 745th (its first time ever)
Kenji, 750th (its first time ever)
Parker, 819th (back after dropping out)
Nikolas, 823rd (its first time ever)
Demario, 827th (its first time ever)
Brandy, 865th (back after dropping out)
Johnpaul, 887th (its first time ever)
Nestor, 888th (back after dropping out)
Ahmed, 891st (back after dropping out)

How spread out were names in 1978?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 16.5% of the girls counted in 1978, and the top ten boys' names to 24.6% of the boys. In 1958, those shares were 18.6% for girls and 30% 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.