Name.Baby Names by year 1970s 1971 Most Popular Baby Names of 1971 Social Security has card records for 3,570,657 people born in the U.S. in 1971. Jennifer was the top girl name (56,771 babies) and Michael the top boy name (77,577).
Top 100 names of 1971 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1971, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Jennifer 56,771 #586 2 Michelle 33,160 #465 3 Lisa 32,907 #987 4 Kimberly 30,708 #302 5 Amy 26,237 #257 6 Angela 25,901 #408 7 Melissa 23,875 #419 8 Tammy 17,656 #3,645 9 Mary 16,703 #125 10 Julie 15,322 #872 11 Stephanie 15,135 #557 12 Heather 15,017 #1,261 13 Tracy 14,330 #2,153 14 Dawn 14,288 #2,173 15 Karen 14,214 #1,279 16 Laura 13,875 #379 17 Susan 13,782 #1,085 18 Christine 13,678 #1,272 19 Elizabeth 13,606 #17 20 Tina 13,266 #2,778 21 Shannon 12,647 #2,387 22 Kelly 12,599 #851 23 Rebecca 12,192 #349 24 Cynthia 12,143 #1,013 25 Lori 11,829 #1,721 26 Patricia 11,470 #1,334 27 Nicole 10,423 #382 28 Pamela 10,149 #2,239 29 Wendy 10,063 #1,341 30 Christina 9,915 #770 31 Sandra 9,714 #1,207 32 Stacy 9,117 #1,652 33 Deborah 8,675 #862 34 Teresa 8,563 #908 35 Andrea 8,483 #235 36 Denise 8,219 #1,673 37 Maria 8,141 #87 38 Donna 8,013 #1,962 39 Michele 7,955 #4,758 40 Sharon 7,523 #1,250 41 Stacey 7,482 #3,067 42 Linda 7,376 #902 43 Brenda 7,160 #1,525 44 Dana 6,934 #1,027 45 Tonya 6,897 #8,860 46 Rhonda 6,649 #6,116 47 Barbara 6,453 #968 48 Monica 6,426 #736 49 Tara 6,336 #844 50 Cheryl 6,327 #4,352
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1971, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Robin 6,213 #704 52 Nancy 6,212 #965 53 Kathleen 6,154 #1,150 54 Rachel 6,115 #250 55 Carrie 5,977 #2,719 56 April 5,939 #542 57 Debra 5,928 #4,460 58 Sarah 5,843 #90 59 Jill 5,724 #5,722 60 Sherry 5,562 #5,410 61 Theresa 5,446 #1,548 62 Tiffany 5,414 #878 63 Paula 5,379 #853 64 Jessica 5,359 #665 65 Catherine 5,337 #313 66 Melanie 5,135 #142 67 Katherine 5,120 #186 68 Leslie 5,111 #712 69 Gina 4,922 #2,076 70 Cindy 4,904 #1,927 71 Kristin 4,861 #4,661 72 Tanya 4,855 #3,712 73 Renee 4,830 #1,098 74 Tracey 4,789 #7,885 75 Jacqueline 4,784 #558 76 Holly 4,747 #416 77 Heidi 4,714 #340 78 Ann 4,558 #1,076 79 Crystal 4,530 #1,144 80 Tamara 4,486 #1,808 81 Sheila 4,333 #2,645 82 Diana 4,211 #244 83 Diane 4,208 #2,607 84 Amanda 4,130 #493 85 Melinda 4,057 #1,981 86 Margaret 4,001 #112 87 Kristen 3,967 #1,990 88 Suzanne 3,932 #2,387 89 Christy 3,930 #4,172 90 Regina 3,874 #395 91 Kathy 3,863 #3,249 92 Carol 3,857 #2,239 93 Erin 3,856 #833 94 Jodi 3,826 #3,975 95 Deanna 3,791 #2,173 96 Laurie 3,749 #2,822 97 Victoria 3,722 #54 98 Yolanda 3,721 #3,211 99 Danielle 3,716 #549 100 Beth 3,686 #3,389
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1971, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 77,577 #21 2 James 54,597 #6 3 David 53,113 #35 4 John 51,512 #23 5 Robert 50,634 #92 6 Christopher 48,225 #68 7 William 35,413 #9 8 Jason 34,173 #165 9 Brian 32,624 #339 10 Scott 30,901 #534 11 Richard 26,154 #234 12 Jeffrey 25,834 #552 13 Mark 25,132 #244 14 Kevin 24,850 #221 15 Joseph 24,517 #29 16 Steven 23,686 #271 17 Thomas 23,149 #34 18 Eric 22,962 #273 19 Matthew 22,543 #32 20 Daniel 21,785 #22 21 Timothy 20,089 #203 22 Charles 19,851 #48 23 Anthony 19,223 #46 24 Paul 17,469 #262 25 Kenneth 14,763 #294 26 Gregory 14,760 #593 27 Stephen 13,102 #383 28 Shawn 12,825 #681 29 Chad 12,137 #1,699 30 Todd 12,055 #1,609 31 Ronald 11,617 #637 32 Edward 11,062 #224 33 Andrew 10,911 #73 34 Donald 10,872 #690 35 Patrick 10,808 #235 36 Sean 10,510 #489 37 Keith 9,851 #800 38 Gary 9,190 #1,073 39 Douglas 8,737 #807 40 Jonathan 8,628 #89 41 Aaron 8,403 #80 42 George 8,226 #126 43 Craig 7,957 #1,644 44 Larry 7,763 #1,084 45 Jeremy 7,498 #292 46 Troy 7,340 #532 47 Peter 7,025 #187 48 Bryan 6,611 #336 49 Dennis 6,584 #707 50 Jerry 6,572 #906
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1971, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Ryan 6,184 #99 52 Raymond 6,104 #394 53 Jeffery 6,100 #1,554 54 Frank 6,089 #513 55 Jose 6,004 #95 56 Terry 5,858 #1,115 57 Adam 5,846 #101 58 Bradley 5,780 #403 59 Rodney 5,195 #1,091 60 Shane 5,093 #635 61 Travis 5,016 #434 62 Tony 4,889 #783 63 Derek 4,667 #284 64 Russell 4,545 #345 65 Marcus 4,410 #258 66 Samuel 4,407 #18 67 Randy 4,345 #1,084 68 Chris 4,293 #646 69 Benjamin 4,251 #11 70 Marc 4,212 #1,235 71 Roger 4,129 #832 72 Carl 4,055 #1,132 73 Brent 4,053 #1,509 74 Johnny 3,939 #457 75 Billy 3,907 #1,068 76 Phillip 3,850 #651 77 Corey 3,766 #778 78 Jon 3,717 #951 79 Bobby 3,652 #1,097 80 Joshua 3,650 #66 81 Juan 3,648 #159 82 Danny 3,611 #628 83 Gerald 3,588 #1,204 84 Derrick 3,582 #850 85 Lawrence 3,523 #518 86 Joel 3,499 #219 87 Vincent 3,435 #107 88 Carlos 3,426 #150 88 Curtis 3,426 #984 90 Brett 3,357 #1,382 91 Walter 3,356 #251 92 Wayne 3,331 #652 93 Jimmy 3,315 #846 94 Philip 3,302 #527 95 Brandon 3,263 #261 96 Jamie 3,231 #577 97 Erik 3,212 #545 98 Lance 3,175 #862 99 Alan 3,168 #191 100 Darren 3,156 #1,132
Entered the top 100 in 1971
