Most popular baby names of 1975

Looking at the baby name trends between 1974 and 1975, there's remarkable stability in the top ranks. In the US, the top three remained identical for both boys and girls, with Jennifer, Amy, and Heather leading the girls' list and Michael, Jason, and Christopher dominating for boys. Over in the UK, there was also perfect consistency in the top three with Nicola, Karen, and Susan maintaining their positions for girls, while David, John, and Paul remained firmly at the top for boys. This kind of stability suggests strong cultural attachment to these names during the mid-1970s.

Among the top 10 girls' names in the US for 1975, there was some notable movement. Melissa climbed from 7th to 4th place, showing increased popularity. Angela maintained its 5th position, while Michelle slipped from 3rd to 6th. The traditional name Elizabeth made a modest climb from 12th to 15th, showing the enduring appeal of classic names. Interestingly, the top 10 featured several names ending in 'a' or with soft sounds, including Jennifer, Angela, Melissa, and Lisa. Names with the 'ee' sound ending (like Amy, Kimberly, Stephanie) were also trending strongly.

For US boys in 1975, the top 10 showed very little change from 1974. The top 9 names remained exactly the same, with Michael, Jason, Christopher, James, David, Robert, John, Brian, and Matthew holding their positions. William rounded out the top 10, maintaining its rank from the previous year. Traditional biblical names continued their strong showing with Michael, James, David, John, and Matthew all in the top 10. Notably, the previously popular name Timothy dropped slightly from position 22 to 23, continuing a gradual decline.

Looking at broader naming patterns across both countries, there was a clear preference for softer endings in girls' names, with many top names ending in vowel sounds. For boys, traditional biblical and royal names remained dominant, especially in the UK where names like David, John, James, and William featured prominently. Two-syllable names were particularly popular for both genders in this period. Interestingly, while the US and UK shared some popular names (like David and John for boys, and Jennifer for girls), there were distinct national preferences, with Nicola being the top UK girls' name while ranking nowhere in the US top 100.

Top baby names of 1975