The most popular baby names in the U.S. tend to remain the same from one year to the next, but when you examine parents’ choices over longer periods of time, some interesting trends emerge.
Some names rise from obscurity to dominate the charts, others totally fall off the map and still others seem to ebb and flow through different periods.
Using the Social Security Administration’s baby naming database, we took a look at the most popular names 50 years ago to see how they compare to the top picks today. While plenty remain popular (think classics like James, Michael and Elizabeth), you’d be hard-pressed to find many of these trendy ’70s choices on birth certificates these days (shoutout to Tammy, Dawn, Keith and Craig).
Below, find the 50 most popular baby names for boys and girls born in 1973.
Girls
- Jennifer
- Amy
- Michelle
- Kimberly
- Lisa
- Melissa
- Angela
- Heather
- Stephanie
- Rebecca
- Nicole
- Julie
- Elizabeth
- Mary
- Tammy
- Christina
- Christine
- Kelly
- Laura
- Tracy
- Dawn
- Shannon
- Karen
- Tina
- Susan
- Cynthia
- Patricia
- Lori
- Wendy
- Andrea
- Maria
- Stacy
- April
- Jessica
- Sarah
- Tonya
- Tara
- Denise
- Sandra
- Monica
- Stacey
- Rachel
- Melanie
- Michele
- Teresa
- Carrie
- Pamela
- Crystal
- Danielle
- Tanya
Boys
- Michael
- Christopher
- Jason
- James
- David
- John
- Robert
- Brian
- William
- Matthew
- Daniel
- Joseph
- Eric
- Kevin
- Mark
- Richard
- Jeffrey
- Scott
- Thomas
- Steven
- Anthony
- Timothy
- Charles
- Paul
- Chad
- Gregory
- Shawn
- Kenneth
- Andrew
- Ryan
- Jonathan
- Stephen
- Jeremy
- Aaron
- Todd
- Sean
- Patrick
- Edward
- Donald
- Ronald
- Keith
- Joshua
- Bryan
- Gary
- Adam
- George
- Douglas
- Craig
- Jose
- Larry