Most Popular Baby Names of 1984

In 1984, Jennifer was the most popular name for girls, given to 50,564 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 67,735. Jennifer held on to number one for a 15th year in a row, and Michael held on to number one for a 24th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,683,817 girls and 1,804,848 boys born in 1984 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 12,181 different girls' names and 7,341 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1984

Top girls' names, 1984
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1983
1	Jennifer	50,564	same
2	Jessica	45,857	same
3	Ashley	38,773	up 1
4	Amanda	33,915	down 1
5	Sarah	25,887	same
6	Stephanie	23,025	up 2
7	Nicole	22,270	same
8	Melissa	21,896	down 2
9	Heather	21,489	same
10	Elizabeth	20,360	same
11	Megan	16,984	up 10
12	Crystal	16,560	down 1
13	Amy	15,988	down 1
14	Tiffany	15,861	same
15	Rachel	15,839	up 5
16	Danielle	15,670	up 13
17	Michelle	15,499	down 4
18	Amber	15,369	down 1
19	Laura	14,818	up 4
20	Christina	14,705	down 4
21	Lauren	14,475	up 3
22	Kimberly	14,445	down 7
23	Rebecca	13,348	down 4
24	Emily	12,786	up 1
25	Erin	12,622	down 7
26	Angela	11,291	down 4
27	Kelly	11,216	down 1
28	Andrea	10,350	up 2
29	Lisa	10,238	down 2
30	Katherine	10,157	up 4
31	Jamie	9,761	down 3
32	Sara	9,314	down 1
33	Mary	9,293	down 1
34	Erica	9,278	down 1
35	Lindsey	9,005	same
36	Lindsay	8,510	same
37	Shannon	8,476	up 1
38	Kristen	8,385	down 1
39	Samantha	8,038	up 1
40	Alicia	7,820	up 1
41	Brittany	7,665	up 23
42	April	7,566	down 3
43	Christine	7,299	up 4
44	Katie	7,175	up 1
45	Vanessa	7,156	up 4
46	Courtney	7,150	down 2
47	Kristin	7,007	down 5
48	Kathryn	6,538	up 2
49	Tara	6,284	up 2
50	Maria	6,136	down 7
51	Allison	6,041	up 8
52	Julie	5,942	down 6
53	Holly	5,928	down 5
54	Jenna	5,882	up 161
55	Natalie	5,555	down 3
56	Jacqueline	5,549	down 3
57	Anna	5,306	down 2
58	Monica	5,131	down 4
59	Victoria	5,076	down 1
60	Latoya	5,051	up 30
61	Brandi	4,848	down 5
62	Cynthia	4,622	same
63	Cassandra	4,583	up 7
64	Brandy	4,580	down 7
65	Meghan	4,505	up 10
66	Patricia	4,476	down 6
67	Stacy	4,447	down 6
68	Kristina	4,328	down 5
69	Catherine	4,240	down 3
70	Veronica	4,013	down 2
71	Kathleen	3,985	up 2
72	Diana	3,965	down 3
73	Dana	3,939	down 1
74	Krystal	3,933	up 4
75	Leslie	3,817	down 8
76	Valerie	3,722	down 2
77	Natasha	3,709	down 6
78	Carrie	3,691	down 13
79	Stacey	3,649	down 3
80	Sheena	3,597	up 27
81	Erika	3,542	down 1
82	Karen	3,536	down 5
83	Leah	3,535	down 1
84	Chelsea	3,530	up 18
85	Melanie	3,516	down 6
86	Candice	3,393	down 2
87	Julia	3,359	down 2
88	Joanna	3,332	up 51
89	Alexis	3,292	down 6
90	Susan	3,116	down 4
91	Tracy	3,051	down 2
92	Margaret	3,033	same
93	Bethany	2,980	up 6
94	Sandra	2,881	down 6
95	Kara	2,855	up 6
96	Alexandra	2,814	up 67
97	Nichole	2,806	down 4
98	Misty	2,792	down 11
99	Brooke	2,749	down 3
100	Kayla	2,681	down 19

Top boys' names, 1984
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1983
1	Michael	67,735	same
2	Christopher	60,021	same
3	Matthew	49,767	same
4	Joshua	40,266	up 1
5	David	38,492	down 1
6	Daniel	36,531	up 2
7	James	35,859	down 1
8	John	32,610	up 1
9	Robert	31,768	up 1
10	Joseph	30,513	up 1
11	Jason	29,953	down 4
12	Ryan	28,724	up 1
13	Justin	26,769	down 1
14	Andrew	25,916	up 1
15	Brandon	25,673	up 2
16	William	24,900	same
17	Brian	24,720	down 3
18	Adam	23,939	same
19	Jonathan	23,345	same
20	Nicholas	21,017	up 1
21	Anthony	20,956	up 1
22	Eric	20,955	down 2
23	Steven	18,217	same
24	Kevin	17,858	up 1
25	Thomas	17,596	down 1
26	Timothy	16,987	same
27	Richard	15,607	same
28	Jeffrey	14,758	same
29	Aaron	13,401	same
30	Benjamin	13,266	up 2
31	Jeremy	13,250	down 1
32	Mark	13,214	down 1
33	Charles	12,942	same
34	Kyle	12,546	same
35	Stephen	12,096	same
36	Patrick	11,524	up 1
37	Jacob	11,358	down 1
38	Nathan	10,614	up 2
39	Scott	10,574	down 1
40	Paul	10,460	down 1
41	Dustin	10,403	up 2
42	Travis	10,241	down 1
43	Sean	10,024	up 1
44	Gregory	9,688	down 2
45	Zachary	9,065	up 5
46	Kenneth	8,790	down 1
47	Tyler	8,705	up 10
48	Bryan	8,270	down 1
49	Jose	8,013	down 1
50	Jesse	7,606	down 4
51	Chad	7,062	down 2
52	Derek	6,972	down 1
53	Bradley	6,567	down 1
54	Alexander	6,492	up 9
55	Samuel	6,362	down 1
56	Shawn	6,049	down 3
57	Marcus	5,996	up 1
58	Edward	5,914	down 3
59	Jared	5,685	down 3
60	Peter	5,633	down 1
61	Keith	5,327	same
62	Cody	5,209	up 19
63	Donald	5,062	down 3
64	Juan	4,644	down 2
65	Jordan	4,540	up 7
66	Joel	4,524	up 1
67	Ronald	4,507	down 3
68	George	4,265	down 3
69	Corey	4,243	up 5
70	Phillip	4,234	down 4
71	Douglas	4,142	down 2
72	Brett	4,096	up 1
73	Raymond	3,971	down 2
74	Carlos	3,964	up 1
75	Craig	3,959	down 5
76	Gary	3,951	down 8
77	Antonio	3,880	down 1
78	Ian	3,796	down 1
79	Derrick	3,661	down 1
80	Nathaniel	3,600	down 1
81	Philip	3,519	up 1
82	Casey	3,511	up 8
83	Cory	3,505	same
84	Erik	3,422	down 4
85	Shane	3,335	down 1
86	Frank	3,330	same
87	Gabriel	3,325	up 2
88	Luis	3,261	same
89	Brent	3,186	up 5
90	Victor	3,178	up 5
91	Larry	3,105	down 6
92	Todd	3,104	down 5
93	Alex	3,026	up 30
94	Jeffery	3,025	down 3
95	Vincent	2,972	up 2
96	Curtis	2,959	up 4
97	Dennis	2,953	down 5
98	Evan	2,937	down 5
99	Seth	2,911	down 1
100	Randy	2,909	down 4

Biggest climbers in 1984

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1983.

Girls

Jena: up 435 places, from 862nd to 427th
Bailey: up 307 places, from 959th to 652nd
India: up 296 places, from 858th to 562nd
Chloe: up 255 places, from 842nd to 587th
Dominique: up 245 places, from 454th to 209th
Kendall: up 245 places, from 687th to 442nd
Julianne: up 240 places, from 695th to 455th
Elyse: up 220 places, from 699th to 479th
Shayna: up 213 places, from 673rd to 460th
Shaina: up 211 places, from 781st to 570th

Boys

Shea: up 316 places, from 854th to 538th
Chance: up 306 places, from 556th to 250th
Brenton: up 267 places, from 527th to 260th
Skylar: up 180 places, from 902nd to 722nd
Cale: up 168 places, from 764th to 596th
Gonzalo: up 162 places, from 912th to 750th
Tyrell: up 161 places, from 528th to 367th
Ashton: up 160 places, from 795th to 635th
Aric: up 160 places, from 895th to 735th
Bronson: up 140 places, from 892nd to 752nd

New to the top 1,000 in 1984

Girls

Brittani, 626th (its first time ever)
Tasia, 735th (its first time ever)
Santana, 757th (its first time ever)
Grisel, 785th (its first time ever)
Shanell, 787th (back after dropping out)
Kristian, 795th (its first time ever)
Shena, 804th (back after dropping out)
Alycia, 807th (back after dropping out)
Kaylee, 824th (its first time ever)
Tyler, 830th (its first time ever)

Boys

Ryne, 605th (its first time ever)
Tad, 762nd (back after dropping out)
Darrius, 854th (back after dropping out)
Kip, 864th (back after dropping out)
Coty, 879th (its first time ever)
Grayson, 882nd (its first time ever)
Brody, 884th (back after dropping out)
Augustine, 901st (back after dropping out)
Cooper, 918th (back after dropping out)
Jerrad, 923rd (its first time ever)

How spread out were names in 1984?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 18.1% of the girls counted in 1984, and the top ten boys' names to 23.5% of the boys. In 1964, those shares were 15.6% for girls and 29% for boys.

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.