Most Popular Baby Names of 1986

In 1986, Jessica was the most popular name for girls, given to 52,682 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 64,235. Jessica held on to number one for a second year in a row, and Michael held on to number one for a 26th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,715,547 girls and 1,841,515 boys born in 1986 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 12,836 different girls' names and 7,830 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1986

Top girls' names, 1986
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985
1	Jessica	52,682	same
2	Ashley	49,671	same
3	Amanda	40,532	up 1
4	Jennifer	36,187	down 1
5	Sarah	28,163	same
6	Stephanie	22,651	same
7	Nicole	21,292	same
8	Brittany	20,313	up 9
9	Heather	19,790	down 1
10	Elizabeth	19,074	down 1
11	Megan	18,590	down 1
12	Melissa	17,667	down 1
13	Amber	16,954	up 3
14	Lauren	16,684	up 1
15	Rachel	15,455	down 2
16	Danielle	14,942	up 2
17	Tiffany	14,483	up 6
18	Kimberly	14,420	up 1
19	Christina	14,384	down 7
20	Laura	14,172	down 6
21	Samantha	14,092	up 8
22	Amy	13,452	down 2
23	Michelle	13,303	down 1
24	Emily	13,236	same
25	Crystal	12,689	down 4
26	Rebecca	11,793	down 1
27	Sara	11,052	up 3
28	Katherine	10,570	up 4
29	Kelly	10,411	down 1
30	Erin	10,068	down 4
31	Erica	9,973	up 3
32	Whitney	9,536	up 41
33	Angela	9,267	down 2
34	Jamie	9,234	down 7
35	Courtney	9,122	up 8
36	Andrea	8,639	down 3
37	Mary	8,507	down 2
38	Katie	8,333	up 1
39	Lindsey	8,051	down 2
40	Lisa	7,907	down 4
41	Kristen	7,844	down 3
42	Allison	7,575	up 4
43	Vanessa	7,469	down 1
44	Shannon	7,403	down 3
45	Alicia	7,017	same
46	Lindsay	6,952	down 6
47	Christine	6,917	down 3
48	Kathryn	6,393	same
49	Maria	6,142	up 3
50	Kristin	6,000	down 1
51	Anna	5,908	up 3
52	Natalie	5,707	up 6
53	April	5,677	down 6
54	Victoria	5,676	up 5
55	Jenna	5,416	down 5
56	Tara	5,085	down 5
57	Jacqueline	5,036	up 3
58	Julie	5,016	down 3
59	Monica	5,013	up 2
60	Cassandra	4,989	up 2
61	Krystal	4,929	down 8
62	Kristina	4,840	down 5
63	Holly	4,838	down 7
64	Kayla	4,657	up 45
65	Brittney	4,593	up 19
66	Patricia	4,246	down 2
67	Catherine	4,242	down 2
68	Kathleen	4,129	same
69	Caitlin	3,881	up 8
70	Natasha	3,872	up 9
71	Meghan	3,869	down 8
72	Alexandra	3,808	up 20
73	Chelsea	3,753	up 2
74	Erika	3,678	up 6
75	Diana	3,669	down 1
76	Valerie	3,618	down 5
77	Veronica	3,580	down 5
78	Leah	3,457	same
79	Brandi	3,432	down 10
80	Casey	3,423	up 34
81	Cynthia	3,422	down 15
82	Hannah	3,388	up 35
83	Mallory	3,325	up 61
84	Brandy	3,295	down 14
85	Alyssa	3,225	up 45
86	Leslie	3,224	down 10
87	Stacy	3,220	down 20
88	Julia	3,109	down 3
89	Felicia	3,084	up 12
90	Margaret	3,084	same
91	Bethany	3,082	up 3
92	Dana	3,076	down 10
93	Krista	3,054	up 41
94	Stacey	3,043	down 5
95	Jasmine	2,993	up 8
96	Alison	2,975	up 1
97	Melanie	2,973	down 9
98	Dominique	2,944	down 15
99	Katrina	2,828	down 6
100	Karen	2,801	down 13

Top boys' names, 1986
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985
1	Michael	64,235	same
2	Christopher	56,693	same
3	Matthew	46,929	same
4	Joshua	37,542	same
5	David	37,150	up 1
6	Daniel	36,573	down 1
7	James	34,057	same
8	Andrew	33,858	up 3
9	Robert	31,350	down 1
10	John	30,209	down 1
11	Ryan	29,524	up 1
12	Joseph	28,834	down 2
13	Brandon	27,254	same
14	Justin	26,638	up 1
15	William	24,333	up 1
16	Jonathan	23,973	up 1
17	Nicholas	22,800	up 2
18	Jason	22,415	down 4
19	Anthony	21,956	up 1
20	Brian	21,027	down 2
21	Kevin	19,935	up 2
22	Eric	19,528	down 1
23	Kyle	19,315	up 4
24	Adam	18,157	down 2
25	Steven	18,099	down 1
26	Thomas	17,362	down 1
27	Timothy	16,875	down 1
28	Jeremy	16,269	up 2
29	Richard	15,014	down 1
30	Benjamin	13,793	up 1
31	Jacob	13,652	up 4
32	Jeffrey	13,651	down 3
33	Aaron	12,692	same
34	Charles	12,625	same
35	Mark	12,615	down 3
36	Stephen	11,877	same
37	Sean	11,784	up 1
38	Zachary	11,725	up 1
39	Patrick	11,410	down 2
40	Tyler	10,912	up 3
41	Alexander	10,609	up 9
42	Dustin	10,317	down 1
43	Nathan	9,996	down 3
44	Scott	9,965	same
45	Paul	9,715	down 3
46	Gregory	9,529	down 1
47	Bryan	8,651	up 1
48	Jesse	8,542	up 3
49	Travis	8,480	down 3
50	Kenneth	8,453	down 3
51	Jose	8,363	down 2
52	Samuel	7,579	up 2
53	Jordan	7,302	up 9
54	Bradley	7,044	down 1
55	Shawn	7,018	same
56	Cody	6,934	down 4
57	Derek	6,900	down 1
58	Jared	6,119	same
59	Chad	6,026	down 2
60	Peter	5,797	same
61	Edward	5,777	down 2
62	Corey	5,762	up 1
63	Marcus	5,278	down 2
64	Alex	5,111	up 16
65	Juan	5,076	same
66	Keith	5,040	down 2
67	Shane	4,929	up 1
68	Cory	4,871	up 13
69	Brett	4,729	up 1
70	Phillip	4,705	down 1
71	Donald	4,661	down 5
72	Joel	4,507	down 5
73	Antonio	4,406	same
74	George	4,348	down 2
75	Ronald	4,224	down 4
76	Carlos	4,090	down 2
77	Raymond	4,055	down 2
78	Nathaniel	4,032	down 1
79	Luis	4,028	up 6
80	Craig	3,926	down 1
81	Evan	3,887	up 10
82	Douglas	3,763	down 6
83	Casey	3,762	up 3
84	Gary	3,719	down 2
85	Ian	3,713	down 7
86	Philip	3,665	down 2
87	Derrick	3,326	down 4
88	Victor	3,293	same
89	Christian	3,214	up 12
90	Austin	3,202	up 17
91	Frank	3,178	down 1
92	Erik	3,110	down 5
93	Vincent	3,092	up 2
94	Brent	3,061	down 5
95	Gabriel	3,046	down 3
96	Wesley	3,043	down 2
97	Seth	2,980	up 7
98	Trevor	2,978	up 7
99	Adrian	2,943	down 6
100	Curtis	2,910	down 2

Biggest climbers in 1986

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1985.

Girls

Nikita: up 711 places, from 961st to 250th
Kayleigh: up 473 places, from 794th to 321st
Jaimie: up 402 places, from 827th to 425th
Alexa: up 384 places, from 816th to 432nd
Cristal: up 316 places, from 705th to 389th
Ali: up 303 places, from 964th to 661st
Sade: up 300 places, from 513th to 213th
Kaylee: up 287 places, from 728th to 441st
Madison: up 259 places, from 625th to 366th
Stephany: up 237 places, from 938th to 701st

Boys

Dakota: up 381 places, from 869th to 488th
Rashad: up 299 places, from 684th to 385th
Jeramie: up 243 places, from 959th to 716th
Aldo: up 217 places, from 927th to 710th
Westley: up 196 places, from 945th to 749th
Antony: up 185 places, from 906th to 721st
Jeremey: up 184 places, from 863rd to 679th
Moshe: up 174 places, from 821st to 647th
Akeem: up 172 places, from 698th to 526th
Jaron: up 166 places, from 755th to 589th

New to the top 1,000 in 1986

Girls

Ashton, 267th (its first time ever)
Eliana, 451st (its first time ever)
Halley, 580th (its first time ever)
Kaleigh, 642nd (its first time ever)
Nakita, 684th (its first time ever)
Allie, 764th (back after dropping out)
Phylicia, 789th (its first time ever)
Alexander, 809th (its first time ever)
Alysia, 810th (back after dropping out)
Janessa, 820th (back after dropping out)

Boys

Addison, 514th (back after dropping out)
Cordell, 608th (back after dropping out)
Cordero, 690th (its first time ever)
Jayce, 695th (its first time ever)
Jakob, 752nd (back after dropping out)
Jerel, 819th (back after dropping out)
Torrey, 830th (back after dropping out)
Maximilian, 843rd (its first time ever)
Yaakov, 853rd (its first time ever)
Johnpaul, 864th (back after dropping out)

How spread out were names in 1986?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 18.1% of the girls counted in 1986, and the top ten boys' names to 22.2% of the boys. In 1966, those shares were 16% for girls and 28.2% 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.