Most Popular Baby Names of the 1980s

Across the 1980s, Jessica was the most popular girls' name, given to 469,510 babies, and Michael led the boys with 663,807.

That's out of 17,175,531 girls and 18,458,907 boys counted between 1980 and 1989, under 24,334 different girls' names and 14,280 boys' names.

Number one, year by year

Most popular names each year, 1980 to 1989
Year	Girls	Boys
1980	Jennifer	Michael
1981	Jennifer	Michael
1982	Jennifer	Michael
1983	Jennifer	Michael
1984	Jennifer	Michael
1985	Jessica	Michael
1986	Jessica	Michael
1987	Jessica	Michael
1988	Jessica	Michael
1989	Jessica	Michael

Top 100 names of the 1980s

Top girls' names, 1980–1989
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1970s
1	Jessica	469,510	up 10
2	Jennifer	440,914	down 1
3	Amanda	369,727	up 14
4	Ashley	352,185	not top 100 in 1970s
5	Sarah	272,637	up 14
6	Stephanie	218,173	up 3
7	Melissa	217,922	down 4
8	Nicole	210,494	up 2
9	Elizabeth	198,972	up 3
10	Heather	191,852	down 2
11	Tiffany	158,625	up 31
12	Michelle	154,027	down 8
13	Amber	153,951	up 52
14	Megan	153,500	up 75
15	Amy	150,662	down 13
16	Rachel	146,675	up 17
17	Kimberly	146,452	down 12
18	Christina	146,008	down 2
19	Lauren	145,161	not top 100 in 1970s
20	Crystal	141,007	up 17
21	Brittany	140,854	not top 100 in 1970s
22	Rebecca	136,248	down 9
23	Laura	134,608	down 3
24	Danielle	134,379	up 22
25	Emily	131,764	up 41
26	Samantha	121,124	not top 100 in 1970s
27	Angela	116,595	down 20
28	Erin	115,811	up 11
29	Kelly	109,539	down 15
30	Sara	104,682	up 20
31	Lisa	102,610	down 25
32	Katherine	99,175	up 23
33	Andrea	98,263	down 5
34	Jamie	96,556	up 6
35	Mary	95,862	down 20
36	Erica	93,159	up 23
37	Courtney	84,309	not top 100 in 1970s
38	Kristen	83,228	up 34
39	Shannon	78,420	down 18
40	April	75,950	down 6
41	Katie	72,883	not top 100 in 1970s
42	Lindsey	71,940	not top 100 in 1970s
43	Kristin	70,558	up 31
44	Lindsay	68,491	not top 100 in 1970s
45	Christine	68,016	down 23
46	Alicia	66,966	up 36
47	Maria	65,778	down 12
48	Vanessa	65,731	not top 100 in 1970s
49	Kathryn	62,443	up 43
50	Allison	62,327	up 45
51	Julie	61,682	down 33
52	Anna	57,327	up 35
53	Tara	56,338	down 10
54	Kayla	55,291	not top 100 in 1970s
55	Natalie	54,428	not top 100 in 1970s
56	Victoria	53,272	not top 100 in 1970s
57	Monica	51,863	down 12
58	Jacqueline	51,561	up 27
59	Holly	49,653	down 1
60	Kristina	45,947	up 39
61	Patricia	45,127	down 31
62	Cassandra	44,911	not top 100 in 1970s
63	Brandy	44,527	up 18
64	Whitney	44,373	not top 100 in 1970s
65	Chelsea	43,163	not top 100 in 1970s
66	Brandi	42,890	not top 100 in 1970s
67	Catherine	42,437	up 6
68	Cynthia	41,666	down 37
69	Kathleen	39,394	same
70	Veronica	39,231	up 13
71	Leslie	38,729	down 1
72	Natasha	38,213	not top 100 in 1970s
73	Krystal	37,496	not top 100 in 1970s
74	Stacy	36,990	down 36
75	Diana	36,904	up 22
76	Erika	36,852	not top 100 in 1970s
77	Dana	36,826	down 20
78	Jenna	36,601	not top 100 in 1970s
79	Meghan	36,206	not top 100 in 1970s
80	Carrie	36,079	down 39
81	Leah	36,056	not top 100 in 1970s
82	Melanie	35,952	down 26
83	Brooke	34,977	not top 100 in 1970s
84	Karen	34,914	down 59
85	Alexandra	34,817	not top 100 in 1970s
86	Valerie	34,629	up 10
87	Caitlin	33,584	not top 100 in 1970s
88	Julia	33,354	not top 100 in 1970s
89	Alyssa	32,952	not top 100 in 1970s
90	Jasmine	32,952	not top 100 in 1970s
91	Hannah	32,702	not top 100 in 1970s
92	Stacey	32,138	down 45
93	Brittney	31,532	not top 100 in 1970s
94	Susan	30,549	down 67
95	Margaret	30,352	not top 100 in 1970s
96	Sandra	30,048	down 52
97	Candice	29,847	not top 100 in 1970s
98	Latoya	29,537	not top 100 in 1970s
99	Bethany	29,331	not top 100 in 1970s
100	Misty	29,114	down 25

Top boys' names, 1980–1989
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1970s
1	Michael	663,807	same
2	Christopher	554,863	same
3	Matthew	458,951	up 7
4	Joshua	396,524	up 20
5	David	383,687	down 1
6	James	356,491	down 1
7	Daniel	345,537	up 5
8	Robert	321,655	down 1
9	John	321,150	down 3
10	Joseph	299,411	up 1
11	Jason	292,120	down 8
12	Justin	289,825	up 26
13	Andrew	285,074	up 15
14	Ryan	278,938	up 11
15	William	248,277	down 6
16	Brian	233,993	down 8
17	Brandon	232,206	up 35
18	Jonathan	229,953	up 14
19	Nicholas	223,308	up 32
20	Anthony	211,861	up 2
21	Eric	204,230	down 7
22	Adam	195,086	up 14
23	Kevin	188,670	down 10
24	Thomas	177,817	down 4
25	Steven	177,454	down 6
26	Timothy	172,835	down 5
27	Richard	154,745	down 11
28	Jeremy	153,413	down 2
29	Jeffrey	144,789	down 14
30	Kyle	141,947	up 56
31	Benjamin	141,366	up 13
32	Aaron	138,357	up 3
33	Charles	131,902	down 10
34	Mark	129,442	down 16
35	Jacob	124,254	up 43
36	Stephen	113,631	down 3
37	Patrick	111,408	same
38	Scott	108,144	down 21
39	Nathan	105,987	up 10
40	Paul	104,397	down 13
41	Sean	103,870	down 2
42	Travis	102,927	up 12
43	Zachary	101,818	not top 100 in 1970s
44	Dustin	97,314	not top 100 in 1970s
45	Gregory	93,655	down 16
46	Kenneth	89,110	down 15
47	Jose	86,647	up 1
48	Tyler	86,451	not top 100 in 1970s
49	Jesse	85,908	up 17
50	Alexander	82,010	not top 100 in 1970s
51	Bryan	80,502	down 5
52	Samuel	73,456	up 12
53	Derek	72,923	up 20
54	Bradley	69,352	up 3
55	Chad	69,051	down 25
56	Shawn	65,598	down 22
57	Edward	60,832	down 17
58	Jared	60,308	not top 100 in 1970s
59	Cody	60,289	not top 100 in 1970s
60	Jordan	57,172	not top 100 in 1970s
61	Peter	56,713	down 6
62	Corey	53,598	up 8
63	Keith	52,647	down 18
64	Marcus	51,807	up 8
65	Juan	51,447	up 3
66	Donald	50,843	down 24
67	Ronald	46,670	down 24
68	George	45,712	down 15
69	Phillip	45,707	up 2
70	Cory	44,358	up 29
71	Joel	43,566	up 4
72	Shane	43,169	down 12
73	Douglas	41,746	down 23
74	Antonio	41,616	up 9
75	Carlos	41,506	up 1
76	Raymond	41,504	down 15
77	Brett	41,289	up 17
78	Gary	40,230	down 31
79	Alex	38,712	not top 100 in 1970s
80	Nathaniel	38,652	not top 100 in 1970s
81	Craig	38,095	down 25
82	Ian	37,770	not top 100 in 1970s
83	Luis	37,447	not top 100 in 1970s
84	Erik	36,350	up 3
85	Derrick	36,342	same
86	Casey	35,968	not top 100 in 1970s
87	Philip	35,733	up 4
88	Frank	33,590	down 23
89	Evan	32,484	not top 100 in 1970s
90	Gabriel	32,320	not top 100 in 1970s
91	Victor	32,286	not top 100 in 1970s
92	Vincent	32,054	up 6
93	Austin	31,307	not top 100 in 1970s
94	Brent	31,279	down 12
95	Larry	31,278	down 37
96	Seth	31,129	not top 100 in 1970s
97	Wesley	31,088	not top 100 in 1970s
98	Dennis	30,463	down 39
99	Todd	30,325	down 58
100	Christian	30,289	not top 100 in 1970s

Names that peaked in the 1980s

These were among the decade's top 1,000 and reached their highest share of babies in a year between 1980 and 1989. The year each one peaked is in brackets.

Girls

Jessica (1987)
Amanda (1987)
Ashley (1987)
Sarah (1981)
Stephanie (1984)
Nicole (1983)
Tiffany (1988)
Amber (1986)
Megan (1985)
Rachel (1985)

Boys

Christopher (1984)
Matthew (1983)
Joshua (1985)
Daniel (1985)
Justin (1988)
Andrew (1987)
Ryan (1985)
Brandon (1985)
Jonathan (1985)
Anthony (1987)

Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.