1970s spelling families

Counted together, the Brian family spellings would rank #8 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Brian, ranked #8 on its own.

Yearly data for the Brian family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1970–1979

Year	Brian	Bryan	Combined
1970	31,917	6,452	38,369
1971	32,624	6,611	39,235
1972	36,306	7,035	43,341
1973	35,686	7,110	42,796
1974	34,449	7,226	41,675
1975	30,578	6,998	37,576
1976	30,517	7,288	37,805
1977	32,492	7,886	40,378
1978	29,432	7,291	36,723
1979	28,659	7,441	36,100

Brian family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1970s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Brian	322,660	#8	81.9%
Bryan	71,338	#46	18.1%

Why these are grouped: Brian and Bryan are established spelling forms recorded separately; this family combines their counts while retaining each variant as its own entry.

Counted together, the Michelle family spellings would rank #2 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Michelle, ranked #4 on its own.

Yearly data for the Michelle family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1970–1979

Year	Michelle	Michele	Combined
1970	34,047	10,090	44,137
1971	33,160	7,955	41,115
1972	29,285	7,380	36,665
1973	26,935	5,996	32,931
1974	25,826	5,587	31,413
1975	22,665	5,033	27,698
1976	19,550	4,443	23,993
1977	19,540	3,711	23,251
1978	18,856	3,484	22,340
1979	19,266	2,881	22,147

Michelle family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1970s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Michelle	249,130	#4	81.5%
Michele	56,560	#51	18.5%

Why these are grouped: Michelle and Michele are established spellings that chart separately; the family view combines only their same-sex decade records.

Counted together, the Steven family spellings would rank #9 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Steven, ranked #19 on its own.

Yearly data for the Steven family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1970–1979

Year	Steven	Stephen	Combined
1970	26,793	14,758	41,551
1971	23,686	13,102	36,788
1972	19,851	11,037	30,888
1973	17,175	9,955	27,130
1974	17,663	10,101	27,764
1975	17,055	9,732	26,787
1976	16,650	9,727	26,377
1977	16,484	9,635	26,119
1978	16,390	9,854	26,244
1979	16,331	9,903	26,234

Steven family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1970s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Steven	188,078	#19	63.6%
Stephen	107,804	#33	36.4%

Why these are grouped: Steven and Stephen are established U.S. spelling forms with a shared conventional pronunciation in most use; the family view keeps both underlying records visible.

Counted together, the Jeffrey family spellings would rank #11 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Jeffrey, ranked #15 on its own.

Yearly data for the Jeffrey family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1970–1979

Year	Jeffrey	Jeffery	Combined
1970	30,139	6,701	36,840
1971	25,834	6,100	31,934
1972	21,677	5,063	26,740
1973	19,216	4,407	23,623
1974	19,320	4,363	23,683
1975	18,316	3,903	22,219
1976	17,013	3,564	20,577
1977	17,481	3,564	21,045
1978	16,989	3,543	20,532
1979	16,865	3,357	20,222

Jeffrey family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1970s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Jeffrey	202,850	#15	82.0%
Jeffery	44,565	#67	18.0%

Why these are grouped: Jeffrey and Jeffery are direct transposition spellings recorded separately by SSA; Geoffrey is deliberately excluded as a less certain semantic match.

Counted together, the Eric family spellings would rank #13 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Eric, ranked #14 on its own.

Yearly data for the Eric family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1970–1979

Year	Eric	Erik	Combined
1970	23,571	3,245	26,816
1971	22,962	3,212	26,174
1972	22,027	3,398	25,425
1973	20,802	3,062	23,864
1974	20,193	2,881	23,074
1975	19,793	2,855	22,648
1976	21,359	2,754	24,113
1977	20,745	2,786	23,531
1978	19,761	3,261	23,022
1979	20,268	4,640	24,908

Eric family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1970s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Eric	211,481	#14	86.8%
Erik	32,094	#87	13.2%

Why these are grouped: Eric and Erik are established English and Scandinavian spelling forms; this reviewed grouping exposes their combined U.S. footprint without erasing the distinction.

Counted together, the Sean family spellings would rank #15 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Shawn, ranked #34 on its own.

Yearly data for the Sean family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1970–1979

Year	Sean	Shawn	Shaun	Combined
1970	10,341	10,945	989	22,275
1971	10,510	12,825	1,086	24,421
1972	9,444	11,277	948	21,669
1973	8,553	11,451	749	20,753
1974	8,290	11,438	802	20,530
1975	7,582	10,682	699	18,963
1976	7,565	10,108	625	18,298
1977	7,625	9,865	2,578	20,068
1978	7,059	9,289	6,105	22,453
1979	6,850	7,910	4,736	19,496

Sean family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1970s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Sean	83,819	#39	40.1%
Shawn	105,790	#34	50.6%
Shaun	19,317	#139	9.2%

Why these are grouped: Sean, Shawn, and Shaun are established U.S. spelling forms with separate rankings; grouping them shows the broader sound-and-spelling pattern.