Top Names of 1979 — Rankings & Counts

The most popular names recorded in 1979 were Rebecca for girls and Michael for boys. Full top-50 lists below, from official NSW & VIC BDM data.

Girls

#	Name	Babies
1	Rebecca	1,237
2	Melissa	1,042
3	Michelle	941
4	Amanda	929
5	Sarah	874
6	Nicole	858
7	Kelly	829
8	Lisa	805
9	Kylie	762
10	Belinda	686
11	Kristy	621
12	Emma	552
13	Natalie	541
14	Angela	533
15	Jennifer	500
16	Amy	489
17	Danielle	471
18	Kate	455
19	Renee	453
20	Melanie	435
21	Karen	433
22	Alison	423
23	Rachel	405
24	Samantha	395
25	Elizabeth	389
26	Katrina	379
27	Megan	372
28	Jodie	359
29	Joanne	354
30	Tanya	340
31	Katherine	339
32	Fiona	336
33	Lauren	326
34	Vanessa	320
35	Kim	309
36	Julie	305
37	Anna	301
38	Catherine	293
39	Louise	276
40	Natasha	275
41	Tracey	270
42	Jessica	269
43	Kathryn	256
44	Brooke	255
45	Kellie	255
46	Christine	252
47	Katie	252
48	Leanne	247
49	Susan	238
50	Linda	235

Boys

#	Name	Babies
1	Michael	2,039
2	Daniel	1,710
3	David	1,699
4	Matthew	1,699
5	Andrew	1,580
6	Benjamin	1,375
7	Christopher	1,308
8	Adam	1,215
9	Mark	1,126
10	Peter	1,075
11	Nathan	991
12	Jason	945
13	Paul	943
14	Luke	935
15	James	927
16	Scott	910
17	Timothy	903
18	Robert	826
19	Anthony	783
20	John	775
21	Steven	725
22	Shane	708
23	Aaron	671
24	Craig	592
25	Bradley	573
26	Brett	559
27	Nicholas	525
28	Stephen	501
29	Troy	499
30	Justin	438
31	Simon	430
32	Damien	420
33	Joshua	396
34	Ryan	386
35	Gregory	353
36	Richard	336
37	Phillip	311
38	Trent	305
39	Mathew	299
40	Jamie	295
41	Joel	293
42	William	293
43	Cameron	286
44	Adrian	282
45	Dean	275
46	Joseph	271
47	Wayne	271
48	Darren	267
49	Brendan	266
50	Shaun	260