Most Popular Baby Names of 1990

In 1990, Jessica was the most popular name for girls, given to 46,486 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 65,321. Jessica held on to number one for a sixth year in a row, and Michael held on to number one for a 30th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,898,547 girls and 2,054,038 boys born in 1990 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 15,234 different girls' names and 9,493 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1990

Top girls' names, 1990
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1989
1	Jessica	46,486	same
2	Ashley	45,561	same
3	Brittany	36,536	same
4	Amanda	34,413	same
5	Samantha	25,868	up 1
6	Sarah	25,824	down 1
7	Stephanie	24,864	up 1
8	Jennifer	22,236	down 1
9	Elizabeth	20,750	up 1
10	Lauren	20,506	down 1
11	Megan	20,259	same
12	Emily	19,370	up 1
13	Nicole	17,954	down 1
14	Kayla	17,538	up 6
15	Amber	15,866	down 1
16	Rachel	15,710	up 2
17	Courtney	15,380	up 4
18	Danielle	14,339	down 1
19	Heather	14,220	down 4
20	Melissa	14,000	down 1
21	Rebecca	13,677	up 3
22	Michelle	13,425	same
23	Tiffany	13,160	down 7
24	Chelsea	12,785	up 3
25	Christina	11,927	down 2
26	Katherine	11,625	same
27	Alyssa	11,263	up 6
28	Jasmine	11,037	up 2
29	Laura	10,914	down 4
30	Hannah	10,283	up 12
31	Kimberly	10,191	down 3
32	Kelsey	9,494	down 1
33	Victoria	9,109	up 11
34	Sara	8,979	down 5
35	Mary	8,670	up 3
36	Erica	8,608	down 2
37	Alexandra	8,508	up 6
38	Amy	8,463	down 3
39	Crystal	8,218	down 7
40	Andrea	8,214	down 1
41	Kelly	8,137	down 4
42	Kristen	8,073	down 6
43	Erin	7,989	down 3
44	Brittney	7,427	down 3
45	Anna	7,293	up 6
46	Taylor	7,262	up 29
47	Maria	7,186	up 9
48	Allison	7,136	down 2
49	Cassandra	7,054	up 5
50	Caitlin	7,026	down 1
51	Lindsey	6,782	down 3
52	Angela	6,666	down 5
53	Katie	6,514	down 8
54	Alicia	6,511	down 1
55	Jamie	6,509	down 3
56	Vanessa	6,409	down 6
57	Kathryn	6,353	up 1
58	Morgan	6,047	up 11
59	Jordan	5,957	up 13
60	Whitney	5,905	down 3
61	Brianna	5,680	up 16
62	Christine	5,679	down 3
63	Natalie	5,637	down 1
64	Lisa	5,347	down 9
65	Kristin	5,300	down 5
66	Alexis	5,257	up 26
67	Jacqueline	5,237	down 3
68	Shannon	5,190	down 7
69	Lindsay	5,040	down 6
70	Brooke	4,990	up 4
71	Catherine	4,894	down 4
72	Olivia	4,626	up 50
73	April	4,572	down 7
74	Erika	4,569	down 1
75	Katelyn	4,489	up 1
76	Monica	4,453	down 8
77	Kristina	4,389	down 12
78	Kaitlyn	4,312	up 17
79	Paige	4,113	up 45
80	Molly	3,965	up 13
81	Jenna	3,956	down 10
82	Leah	3,924	up 1
83	Julia	3,914	up 13
84	Bianca	3,829	up 7
85	Tara	3,826	down 15
86	Melanie	3,813	up 2
87	Marissa	3,806	down 6
88	Cynthia	3,797	down 4
89	Holly	3,772	down 10
90	Abigail	3,719	up 4
91	Meghan	3,695	down 11
92	Kathleen	3,670	down 2
93	Julie	3,657	down 15
94	Ariel	3,607	up 115
95	Alexandria	3,595	up 9
96	Veronica	3,588	down 11
97	Patricia	3,579	down 8
98	Diana	3,548	down 12
99	Gabrielle	3,541	up 13
100	Shelby	3,517	up 129

Top boys' names, 1990
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1989
1	Michael	65,321	same
2	Christopher	52,362	same
3	Matthew	44,826	same
4	Joshua	43,237	same
5	Daniel	33,830	up 1
6	David	33,748	down 1
7	Andrew	33,673	same
8	James	32,359	up 1
9	Justin	30,649	down 1
10	Joseph	30,137	up 1
11	Ryan	29,263	up 2
12	John	29,089	same
13	Robert	28,886	down 3
14	Nicholas	27,913	same
15	Anthony	25,088	up 1
16	William	24,906	down 1
17	Jonathan	24,077	same
18	Kyle	22,710	up 2
19	Brandon	22,163	down 1
20	Jacob	22,022	up 6
21	Tyler	20,646	up 9
22	Zachary	20,430	up 3
23	Kevin	20,413	down 4
24	Eric	19,430	down 3
25	Steven	18,764	down 3
26	Thomas	18,231	down 3
27	Brian	16,935	down 3
28	Alexander	16,194	up 4
29	Jordan	16,137	up 15
30	Timothy	15,700	down 2
31	Cody	15,399	up 14
32	Adam	14,713	down 5
33	Benjamin	14,633	down 4
34	Aaron	14,557	down 3
35	Richard	13,580	down 2
36	Patrick	12,377	up 2
37	Sean	12,018	up 2
38	Charles	12,000	down 2
39	Stephen	11,943	up 1
40	Jeremy	11,689	down 6
41	Jose	11,519	up 5
42	Travis	11,462	down 1
43	Jeffrey	10,980	down 6
44	Nathan	10,934	down 1
45	Samuel	10,894	up 2
46	Jason	10,694	down 11
47	Mark	10,689	down 5
48	Jesse	8,977	up 2
49	Paul	8,579	same
50	Dustin	8,457	down 2
51	Gregory	8,378	up 1
52	Kenneth	8,262	up 1
53	Scott	8,086	down 2
54	Derek	8,083	same
55	Austin	7,915	up 4
56	Corey	7,692	down 1
57	Bryan	7,439	down 1
58	Ethan	6,989	up 29
59	Alex	6,951	up 1
60	Christian	6,786	up 18
61	Juan	6,743	up 2
62	Cameron	6,660	up 2
63	Jared	6,643	down 6
64	Taylor	6,579	up 8
65	Bradley	6,437	down 7
66	Luis	5,795	up 7
67	Cory	5,765	down 6
68	Edward	5,746	down 6
69	Shawn	5,721	down 4
70	Ian	5,460	down 2
71	Evan	5,308	down 2
72	Marcus	5,304	down 5
73	Shane	5,274	down 2
74	Peter	5,224	down 8
75	Carlos	5,213	up 2
76	Trevor	5,141	up 7
77	Antonio	4,867	down 1
78	Vincent	4,804	up 2
79	George	4,567	same
80	Keith	4,481	down 10
81	Phillip	4,454	down 6
82	Victor	4,445	up 7
83	Dylan	4,414	up 32
84	Brett	4,394	down 3
85	Chad	4,351	down 11
86	Nathaniel	4,348	down 2
87	Donald	4,177	down 5
88	Caleb	4,154	up 3
89	Casey	4,134	up 1
90	Jesus	4,131	up 13
91	Blake	4,103	up 6
92	Raymond	4,062	down 6
93	Mitchell	4,021	same
94	Adrian	4,000	up 6
95	Joel	4,000	down 7
96	Erik	3,956	down 1
97	Ronald	3,899	down 12
98	Devin	3,866	down 2
99	Garrett	3,757	up 3
100	Gabriel	3,699	up 10

Biggest climbers in 1990

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1989.

Girls

Shaniqua: up 627 places, from 954th to 327th
Angelia: up 491 places, from 991st to 500th
Jordyn: up 345 places, from 825th to 480th
Raven: up 329 places, from 495th to 166th
Kirstie: up 316 places, from 773rd to 457th
Mariah: up 303 places, from 562nd to 259th
Cheyenne: up 256 places, from 587th to 331st
Viviana: up 236 places, from 904th to 668th
Tayler: up 233 places, from 941st to 708th
Tianna: up 227 places, from 939th to 712th

Boys

Gage: up 395 places, from 755th to 360th
Dalton: up 280 places, from 473rd to 193rd
Hayden: up 269 places, from 648th to 379th
Ladarius: up 222 places, from 971st to 749th
Ezequiel: up 189 places, from 954th to 765th
Shelby: up 169 places, from 694th to 525th
Kadeem: up 163 places, from 701st to 538th
Jessy: up 156 places, from 914th to 758th
Trevon: up 149 places, from 992nd to 843rd
Efren: up 144 places, from 913th to 769th

New to the top 1,000 in 1990

Girls

Isamar, 531st (its first time ever)
Skylar, 561st (its first time ever)
Dakota, 596th (its first time ever)
Macy, 641st (back after dropping out)
Devan, 669th (its first time ever)
Latifah, 701st (its first time ever)
Kanisha, 717th (its first time ever)
Iesha, 732nd (back after dropping out)
Rubi, 734th (its first time ever)
Skyler, 737th (its first time ever)

Boys

Tevin, 381st (its first time ever)
Denzel, 444th (its first time ever)
Male, 702nd (its first time ever)
Laquan, 825th (its first time ever)
Alexandro, 833rd (back after dropping out)
Kiefer, 855th (its first time ever)
Greggory, 865th (back after dropping out)
Ibrahim, 866th (its first time ever)
Jorden, 868th (its first time ever)
Mykel, 872nd (its first time ever)

How spread out were names in 1990?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 16% of the girls counted in 1990, and the top ten boys' names to 19.5% of the boys. In 1970, those shares were 16.3% for girls and 26.8% 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.