If you are Gen Xer reading this, there’s a statistically decent chance that your parents named you one of these popular Gen X names.
You’ll also find some other first names you’ll recognize from school, even if you didn’t see them on your own birth certificate.
In fact, there is a roughly 25% chance that your name is on one of these lists (which means you could probably always find your name on the personalized keychain displays… unlike some of us).
We downloaded the most common first names for babies born from 1965 to 1980, and then ran the math.
In all, the top 25 lists below account for more than 16.5 million people — nearly 6 million girls, and 10.5 million boys. (That’s out of a total 65 million Gen Xers!)
Among other things, these retro stats show that there are a lot more female names in circulation, while parents tend to stick to the standards when choosing male names.
Check out the Top 50 names of our generation!
Note: The original data comes from the US Social Security Administration, which records births in the United States. The information contains only the descriptors “male name” and “female name.” Spelling variations are not included.
Most popular Gen X names for girls
| Rank | Name | How many |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jennifer | 752,352 |
| 2 | Lisa | 508,538 |
| 3 | Michelle | 410,002 |
| 4 | Kimberly | 406,767 |
| 5 | Melissa | 348,050 |
| 6 | Amy | 343,519 |
| 7 | Angela | 341,775 |
| 8 | Elizabeth | 240,890 |
| 9 | Heather | 223,892 |
| 10 | Mary | 214,725 |
| 11 | Stephanie | 192,809 |
| 12 | Laura | 192,740 |
| 13 | Julie | 164,195 |
| 14 | Kelly | 157,204 |
| 15 | Tammy | 157,085 |
| 16 | Jessica | 154,606 |
| 17 | Karen | 147,967 |
| 18 | Nicole | 143,472 |
| 19 | Susan | 139,188 |
| 20 | Amanda | 134,785 |
| 21 | Rebecca | 129,530 |
| 22 | Christine | 126,987 |
| 23 | Sarah | 119,801 |
| 24 | Christina | 112,213 |
| 25 | Patricia | 92,176 |
ALSO SEE: Remember the magic of baby aspirin, and how much kids loved those little orange pills?
Most popular Gen X names for boys
| Rank | Name | How many |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael | 1,186,970 |
| 2 | David | 816,345 |
| 3 | James | 799,412 |
| 4 | John | 755,998 |
| 5 | Robert | 727,036 |
| 6 | Christopher | 673,805 |
| 7 | Jason | 511,104 |
| 8 | William | 499,776 |
| 9 | Brian | 493,642 |
| 10 | Joseph | 408,304 |
| 11 | Daniel | 389,968 |
| 12 | Richard | 338,413 |
| 13 | Kevin | 338,168 |
| 14 | Jeffrey | 331,281 |
| 15 | Mark | 310,985 |
| 16 | Matthew | 295,591 |
| 17 | Steven | 273,712 |
| 18 | Scott | 268,443 |
| 19 | Thomas | 264,990 |
| 20 | Eric | 234,188 |
| 21 | Timothy | 233,995 |
| 22 | Joshua | 131,358 |
| 23 | Charles | 110,292 |
| 24 | Ryan | 108,130 |
| 25 | Jeremy | 102,178 |
