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The list of the most popular baby names in the U.S. doesn’t change dramatically from one year to the next, but if you look back over longer periods of time, some interesting shifts emerge.
Thankfully, the Social Security Administration’s baby names database shows parents’ top picks going back to the 1880s, so it’s easy to compare trends of the past to what’s in fashion today. We took a look at the most popular names exactly 50 years ago.
While many top choices in 1974 remain popular today (think classics like James, Michael and Elizabeth), others have fallen significantly down the ranking (a la Lisa, Dawn, Todd and Keith.)
Below, find the 50 most popular baby names for boys and girls born in 1974.
Girls
- Jennifer
- Amy
- Michelle
- Heather
- Angela
- Kimberly
- Melissa
- Lisa
- Stephanie
- Rebecca
- Nicole
- Elizabeth
- Mary
- Julie
- Kelly
- Christina
- Jessica
- Shannon
- Christine
- Sarah
- Laura
- Dawn
- Tracy
- Tammy
- Tina
- Karen
- Susan
- April
- Patricia
- Lori
- Maria
- Wendy
- Cynthia
- Amanda
- Andrea
- Rachel
- Tonya
- Stacy
- Tara
- Danielle
- Tiffany
- Carrie
- Monica
- Sandra
- Kristen
- Tanya
- Erin
- Stacey
- Crystal
- Michele
Boys
- Michael
- Jason
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Robert
- Brian
- Matthew
- William
- Daniel
- Joseph
- Eric
- Kevin
- Jeffrey
- Mark
- Richard
- Scott
- Steven
- Thomas
- Anthony
- Timothy
- Charles
- Jeremy
- Ryan
- Chad
- Paul
- Andrew
- Joshua
- Shawn
- Gregory
- Aaron
- Jonathan
- Kenneth
- Stephen
- Adam
- Sean
- Patrick
- Todd
- Edward
- Donald
- Ronald
- Justin
- Keith
- Bryan
- Benjamin
- Jose
- Gary
- George
- Peter