Most Popular Baby Names of 1989

In 1989, Jessica was the most popular name for girls, given to 47,887 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 65,415. Jessica held on to number one for a fifth year in a row, and Michael held on to number one for a 29th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,843,552 girls and 2,000,928 boys born in 1989 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 14,550 different girls' names and 9,232 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1989

Top girls' names, 1989
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1988
1	Jessica	47,887	same
2	Ashley	47,588	same
3	Brittany	37,792	up 3
4	Amanda	36,834	down 1
5	Sarah	27,797	down 1
6	Samantha	24,792	up 2
7	Jennifer	24,006	down 2
8	Stephanie	22,766	down 1
9	Lauren	21,065	up 2
10	Elizabeth	20,298	same
11	Megan	19,780	up 1
12	Nicole	19,032	down 3
13	Emily	17,323	up 5
14	Amber	16,760	up 1
15	Heather	16,248	down 1
16	Tiffany	15,716	down 3
17	Danielle	15,366	same
18	Rachel	15,357	up 1
19	Melissa	15,203	down 3
20	Kayla	14,903	same
21	Courtney	13,452	up 3
22	Michelle	13,376	down 1
23	Christina	13,141	down 1
24	Rebecca	12,436	up 2
25	Laura	11,740	down 2
26	Katherine	11,415	up 1
27	Chelsea	11,252	up 6
28	Kimberly	11,037	down 3
29	Sara	9,706	up 1
30	Jasmine	9,549	up 23
31	Kelsey	9,256	up 33
32	Crystal	9,103	down 4
33	Alyssa	9,042	up 14
34	Erica	9,025	down 3
35	Amy	8,899	down 6
36	Kristen	8,803	same
37	Kelly	8,759	down 5
38	Mary	8,645	down 4
39	Andrea	8,410	down 4
40	Erin	8,144	down 3
41	Brittney	7,834	up 11
42	Hannah	7,830	up 19
43	Alexandra	7,680	up 6
44	Victoria	7,637	down 2
45	Katie	7,290	down 5
46	Allison	7,282	same
47	Angela	7,199	down 9
48	Lindsey	7,069	same
49	Caitlin	7,025	down 5
50	Vanessa	6,962	down 9
51	Anna	6,898	up 3
52	Jamie	6,845	down 7
53	Alicia	6,817	down 3
54	Cassandra	6,698	up 5
55	Lisa	6,573	down 12
56	Maria	6,345	up 4
57	Whitney	6,305	down 18
58	Kathryn	6,294	down 3
59	Christine	6,134	down 8
60	Kristin	6,064	down 2
61	Shannon	5,660	down 5
62	Natalie	5,630	up 1
63	Lindsay	5,525	down 6
64	Jacqueline	5,444	down 2
65	Kristina	4,803	up 3
66	April	4,734	down 1
67	Catherine	4,559	up 2
68	Monica	4,502	up 2
69	Morgan	4,426	up 9
70	Tara	4,370	down 3
71	Jenna	4,339	down 5
72	Jordan	4,281	up 64
73	Erika	4,190	up 3
74	Brooke	4,148	up 13
75	Taylor	4,069	up 27
76	Katelyn	4,036	up 8
77	Brianna	3,995	up 19
78	Julie	3,942	down 7
79	Holly	3,893	down 7
80	Meghan	3,856	up 1
81	Marissa	3,794	up 20
82	Krystal	3,787	down 8
83	Leah	3,784	down 1
84	Cynthia	3,778	down 5
85	Veronica	3,712	down 2
86	Diana	3,687	down 1
87	Natasha	3,668	down 14
88	Melanie	3,628	up 11
89	Patricia	3,603	down 12
90	Kathleen	3,596	down 15
91	Bianca	3,593	up 17
92	Alexis	3,518	up 5
93	Molly	3,460	down 7
94	Abigail	3,405	up 24
95	Kaitlyn	3,392	up 11
96	Julia	3,370	down 8
97	Margaret	3,285	down 4
98	Brandi	3,250	down 7
99	Kendra	3,230	down 19
100	Kaitlin	3,171	down 2

Top boys' names, 1989
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1988
1	Michael	65,415	same
2	Christopher	53,186	same
3	Matthew	45,375	same
4	Joshua	44,100	same
5	David	35,225	up 1
6	Daniel	35,007	up 2
7	Andrew	34,817	down 2
8	Justin	32,852	down 1
9	James	32,720	same
10	Robert	30,072	same
11	Joseph	29,884	up 1
12	John	29,853	down 1
13	Ryan	28,408	same
14	Nicholas	28,230	same
15	William	24,673	up 1
16	Anthony	24,423	up 2
17	Jonathan	23,608	down 2
18	Brandon	23,310	down 1
19	Kevin	21,209	up 1
20	Kyle	20,882	up 1
21	Eric	18,977	down 2
22	Steven	18,929	up 2
23	Thomas	18,439	same
24	Brian	18,106	down 2
25	Zachary	18,077	up 4
26	Jacob	17,831	up 2
27	Adam	16,928	down 1
28	Timothy	16,427	down 3
29	Benjamin	15,733	up 1
30	Tyler	15,594	up 3
31	Aaron	15,308	same
32	Alexander	14,523	up 2
33	Richard	14,133	down 1
34	Jeremy	13,081	up 1
35	Jason	12,614	down 8
36	Charles	12,245	up 1
37	Jeffrey	12,013	down 1
38	Patrick	11,987	up 4
39	Sean	11,895	down 1
40	Stephen	11,736	same
41	Travis	11,526	same
42	Mark	11,320	down 3
43	Nathan	10,904	up 1
44	Jordan	10,882	up 8
45	Cody	10,823	down 2
46	Jose	10,331	up 3
47	Samuel	10,107	down 2
48	Dustin	9,715	same
49	Paul	9,029	down 3
50	Jesse	8,853	up 5
51	Scott	8,850	down 4
52	Gregory	8,760	down 2
53	Kenneth	8,555	down 2
54	Derek	8,365	down 1
55	Corey	8,003	up 1
56	Bryan	7,851	down 2
57	Jared	7,018	up 3
58	Bradley	6,977	down 1
59	Austin	6,886	up 4
60	Alex	6,543	down 2
61	Cory	6,450	down 2
62	Edward	5,849	same
63	Juan	5,781	up 5
64	Cameron	5,593	up 5
65	Shawn	5,479	down 4
66	Peter	5,411	down 2
67	Marcus	5,395	down 1
68	Ian	4,948	up 9
69	Evan	4,926	up 5
70	Keith	4,893	same
71	Shane	4,860	down 4
72	Taylor	4,859	up 19
73	Luis	4,852	up 2
74	Chad	4,723	down 9
75	Phillip	4,721	down 4
76	Antonio	4,719	down 4
77	Carlos	4,638	up 3
78	Christian	4,625	up 8
79	George	4,513	down 1
80	Vincent	4,495	up 2
81	Brett	4,428	down 8
82	Donald	4,323	down 6
83	Trevor	4,166	up 4
84	Nathaniel	4,121	down 3
85	Ronald	4,110	down 6
86	Raymond	4,106	down 2
87	Ethan	4,056	up 174
88	Joel	3,939	down 3
89	Victor	3,905	same
90	Casey	3,850	down 7
91	Caleb	3,788	up 17
92	Douglas	3,700	down 4
93	Mitchell	3,645	up 2
94	Seth	3,633	down 4
95	Erik	3,630	down 3
96	Devin	3,596	up 2
97	Blake	3,521	up 6
98	Wesley	3,457	down 5
99	Derrick	3,442	down 2
100	Adrian	3,418	up 1

Biggest climbers in 1989

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1988.

Girls

Kiara: up 705 places, from 820th to 115th
Kiera: up 432 places, from 943rd to 511th
Kierra: up 384 places, from 847th to 463rd
Cecily: up 295 places, from 793rd to 498th
Arianna: up 275 places, from 747th to 472nd
Paulina: up 272 places, from 959th to 687th
Cassondra: up 251 places, from 906th to 655th
Adrianna: up 240 places, from 522nd to 282nd
Kylee: up 234 places, from 639th to 405th
Christin: up 224 places, from 510th to 286th

Boys

Nico: up 444 places, from 990th to 546th
Arsenio: up 375 places, from 854th to 479th
Brittany: up 284 places, from 962nd to 678th
Darian: up 246 places, from 963rd to 717th
Hayden: up 245 places, from 893rd to 648th
Dominque: up 219 places, from 960th to 741st
Akeem: up 200 places, from 640th to 440th
Colten: up 198 places, from 816th to 618th
Zechariah: up 188 places, from 993rd to 805th
German: up 184 places, from 779th to 595th

New to the top 1,000 in 1989

Girls

Stephani, 391st (back after dropping out)
Elizabet, 524th (its first time ever)
Infant, 568th (its first time ever)
Alexandr, 678th (its first time ever)
Britny, 713th (its first time ever)
Katherin, 717th (its first time ever)
Mikayla, 754th (its first time ever)
Audrianna, 759th (its first time ever)
Iliana, 770th (back after dropping out)
Kirstie, 773rd (its first time ever)

Boys

Christop, 241st (its first time ever)
Infant, 492nd (its first time ever)
Alexande, 556th (its first time ever)
Hakeem, 586th (its first time ever)
Unknown, 610th (back after dropping out)
Garrick, 616th (back after dropping out)
Kwame, 658th (back after dropping out)
Jaren, 693rd (back after dropping out)
Kadeem, 701st (its first time ever)
Gage, 755th (its first time ever)

How spread out were names in 1989?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 16.9% of the girls counted in 1989, and the top ten boys' names to 20.4% of the boys. In 1969, those shares were 15.9% for girls and 27.7% 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.