Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1972

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby girl names are since 1972. These names are taken directly from the Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States.

The table below shows the top 50 most popular baby girl names since 1972, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1972.

Rank Name Count
1 Jennifer 1,147,802
2 Jessica 1,017,000
3 Ashley 846,661
4 Sarah 781,174
5 Emily 766,655
6 Amanda 736,052
7 Elizabeth 727,504
8 Samantha 566,221
9 Stephanie 565,084
10 Melissa 562,170
11 Nicole 549,086
12 Michelle 485,038
13 Emma 479,338
14 Olivia 472,701
15 Amy 470,769
16 Kimberly 467,199
17 Heather 454,960
18 Rachel 453,297
19 Lauren 446,408
20 Megan 427,703
21 Hannah 425,252
22 Rebecca 423,541
23 Madison 399,286
24 Angela 385,405
25 Abigail 383,531
26 Christina 364,597
27 Sophia 364,317
28 Isabella 362,604
29 Amber 360,985
30 Victoria 359,209
31 Brittany 358,983
32 Danielle 346,284
33 Katherine 342,768
34 Kayla 339,902
35 Mary 337,936
36 Alexis 335,950
37 Laura 326,757
38 Taylor 325,629
39 Tiffany 319,525
40 Natalie 314,560
41 Anna 314,234
42 Andrea 313,557
43 Alyssa 308,527
44 Kelly 301,111
45 Lisa 297,885
46 Sara 295,319
47 Ava 292,572
48 Maria 287,024
49 Erin 286,433
50 Crystal 283,387

More Popular Baby Names

You can also use the links below to research more about the most popular baby names.

Top 1000 most popular boy names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Top 1000 most popular girl names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Historical Data for Baby Names

If you're interested to see how the trends and popularity of baby names have changed, you can use the links below to view the historical data by decade.

Most popular first names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular boy names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular girl names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Data Source(s)

All of the data on this page is sourced from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and excludes any names with fewer than 5 occurrences in any geographic area.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

  • "Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1972". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 31, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1972/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1972". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1972/. Accessed 31 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Girl Names Since 1972. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-girl-names-since-1972/.