Most Popular Baby Names of 1991

In 1991, Ashley was the most popular name for girls, given to 43,477 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 60,810. Ashley took the top spot from Jessica, and Michael held on to number one for a 31st year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,875,007 girls and 2,020,328 boys born in 1991 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 15,466 different girls' names and 9,648 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1991

Top girls' names, 1991
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1990
1	Ashley	43,477	up 1
2	Jessica	43,398	down 1
3	Brittany	29,093	same
4	Amanda	28,896	same
5	Samantha	25,651	same
6	Sarah	25,233	same
7	Stephanie	22,775	same
8	Jennifer	20,673	same
9	Elizabeth	20,395	same
10	Emily	20,311	up 2
11	Megan	19,278	same
12	Kayla	18,545	up 2
13	Lauren	18,412	down 3
14	Rachel	16,344	up 2
15	Nicole	16,046	down 2
16	Amber	14,992	down 1
17	Danielle	13,619	up 1
18	Chelsea	13,509	up 6
19	Courtney	13,441	down 2
20	Melissa	13,348	same
21	Rebecca	13,298	same
22	Michelle	12,213	same
23	Heather	11,703	down 4
24	Jasmine	11,524	up 4
25	Katherine	11,495	up 1
26	Kelsey	11,435	up 6
27	Tiffany	11,155	down 4
28	Victoria	10,912	up 5
29	Hannah	10,769	up 1
30	Alyssa	10,678	down 3
31	Christina	10,564	down 6
32	Taylor	10,253	up 14
33	Shelby	10,220	up 67
34	Kimberly	9,799	down 3
35	Laura	9,644	down 6
36	Alexandra	9,460	up 1
37	Sara	8,846	down 3
38	Mary	8,764	down 3
39	Andrea	7,995	up 1
40	Erica	7,800	down 4
41	Crystal	7,727	down 2
42	Kelly	7,515	down 1
43	Amy	7,275	down 5
44	Erin	7,207	down 1
45	Maria	7,136	up 2
46	Anna	7,119	down 1
47	Alexis	7,009	up 19
48	Kristen	6,816	down 6
49	Morgan	6,794	up 9
50	Allison	6,773	down 2
51	Brianna	6,561	up 10
52	Lindsey	6,460	down 1
53	Katie	6,425	same
54	Cassandra	6,408	down 5
55	Caitlin	6,384	down 5
56	Vanessa	5,926	same
57	Kathryn	5,832	same
58	Brittney	5,829	down 14
59	Angela	5,802	down 7
60	Jamie	5,781	down 5
61	Olivia	5,602	up 11
62	Jordan	5,561	down 3
63	Alicia	5,558	down 9
64	Natalie	5,557	down 1
65	Brooke	5,551	up 5
66	Ariel	5,411	up 28
67	Julia	5,365	up 16
68	Whitney	5,239	down 8
69	Mariah	5,192	up 190
70	Jacqueline	4,989	down 3
71	Shannon	4,845	down 3
72	Catherine	4,815	down 1
73	Christine	4,806	down 11
74	Molly	4,652	up 6
75	Katelyn	4,560	same
76	Paige	4,516	up 3
77	Lindsay	4,483	down 8
78	Alexandria	4,470	up 17
79	Haley	4,463	up 29
80	Jenna	4,460	up 1
81	Marissa	4,421	up 6
82	Kaitlyn	4,407	down 4
83	Lisa	4,395	down 19
84	Erika	4,310	down 10
85	Monica	4,156	down 9
86	Kristin	4,087	down 21
87	Kristina	3,876	down 10
88	April	3,857	down 15
89	Bianca	3,844	down 5
90	Miranda	3,820	up 22
91	Leah	3,816	down 9
92	Abigail	3,799	down 2
93	Cynthia	3,707	down 5
94	Meghan	3,704	down 3
95	Briana	3,689	up 14
96	Melanie	3,580	down 10
97	Gabrielle	3,578	up 2
98	Julie	3,571	down 5
99	Kaitlin	3,486	up 2
100	Veronica	3,441	down 4

Top boys' names, 1991
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1990
1	Michael	60,810	same
2	Christopher	47,111	same
3	Matthew	41,647	same
4	Joshua	41,226	same
5	Andrew	31,539	up 2
6	Daniel	30,935	down 1
7	James	30,514	up 1
8	David	30,416	down 2
9	Joseph	29,840	up 1
10	John	27,809	up 2
11	Ryan	27,536	same
12	Nicholas	27,357	up 2
13	Robert	26,839	same
14	Justin	26,797	down 5
15	Brandon	26,021	up 4
16	Tyler	25,209	up 5
17	Jacob	25,200	up 3
18	Anthony	24,447	down 3
19	William	23,860	down 3
20	Jonathan	22,975	down 3
21	Kyle	21,610	down 3
22	Zachary	21,387	same
23	Kevin	20,262	same
24	Cody	18,980	up 7
25	Eric	18,051	down 1
26	Alexander	17,640	up 2
27	Steven	16,863	down 2
28	Thomas	16,789	down 2
29	Jordan	16,020	same
30	Brian	14,915	down 3
31	Aaron	14,242	up 3
32	Timothy	14,154	down 2
33	Benjamin	13,877	same
34	Richard	12,553	up 1
35	Patrick	12,412	up 1
36	Adam	12,308	down 4
37	Jose	11,727	up 4
38	Charles	11,336	same
39	Samuel	11,234	up 6
40	Sean	11,182	down 3
41	Stephen	10,525	down 2
42	Nathan	10,500	up 2
43	Jeremy	10,403	down 3
44	Travis	10,134	down 2
45	Jeffrey	9,894	down 2
46	Dylan	9,763	up 37
47	Mark	9,684	same
48	Christian	9,447	up 12
49	Jason	9,387	down 3
50	Austin	9,054	up 5
51	Jesse	8,367	down 3
52	Taylor	7,972	up 12
53	Paul	7,680	down 4
54	Kenneth	7,576	down 2
55	Gregory	7,555	down 4
56	Dustin	7,383	down 6
57	Scott	7,114	down 4
58	Corey	6,931	down 2
59	Derek	6,893	down 5
60	Juan	6,843	up 1
61	Bryan	6,757	down 4
62	Cameron	6,697	same
63	Alex	6,673	down 4
64	Jared	6,214	down 1
65	Ethan	6,129	down 7
66	Luis	5,896	same
67	Bradley	5,723	down 2
68	Edward	5,572	same
69	Trevor	5,531	up 7
70	Evan	5,448	up 1
71	Shawn	5,415	down 2
72	Carlos	5,330	up 3
73	Ian	5,326	down 3
74	Cory	5,121	down 7
75	Shane	5,106	down 2
76	Marcus	5,069	down 4
77	Peter	4,959	down 3
78	Caleb	4,864	up 10
79	Antonio	4,616	down 2
80	Jesus	4,601	up 10
81	Vincent	4,493	down 3
82	Gabriel	4,414	up 18
83	Devin	4,388	up 15
84	Nathaniel	4,367	up 2
85	Victor	4,335	down 3
86	Blake	4,275	up 5
87	George	4,179	down 8
88	Brett	4,153	down 4
89	Keith	4,124	down 9
90	Casey	4,107	down 1
91	Garrett	4,054	up 8
92	Miguel	3,948	up 9
93	Adrian	3,921	up 1
94	Logan	3,893	up 10
95	Erik	3,892	up 1
96	Mitchell	3,882	down 3
97	Raymond	3,865	down 5
98	Phillip	3,851	down 17
99	Seth	3,812	up 3
100	Joel	3,762	down 5

Biggest climbers in 1991

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1990.

Girls

Iesha: up 575 places, from 732nd to 157th
Shelbi: up 407 places, from 882nd to 475th
Moriah: up 299 places, from 798th to 499th
Haleigh: up 293 places, from 963rd to 670th
Karly: up 287 places, from 891st to 604th
Carlie: up 285 places, from 925th to 640th
Ivette: up 284 places, from 853rd to 569th
Dulce: up 279 places, from 912th to 633rd
Carley: up 277 places, from 761st to 484th
Karli: up 264 places, from 929th to 665th

Boys

Codie: up 231 places, from 933rd to 702nd
Trevon: up 192 places, from 843rd to 651st
Kelby: up 185 places, from 931st to 746th
Conner: up 168 places, from 625th to 457th
Travon: up 158 places, from 854th to 696th
Unknown: up 150 places, from 738th to 588th
Jaquan: up 147 places, from 754th to 607th
Kiefer: up 145 places, from 855th to 710th
Julien: up 134 places, from 954th to 820th
Irving: up 133 places, from 684th to 551st

New to the top 1,000 in 1991

Girls

Shelbie, 576th (its first time ever)
Demi, 656th (its first time ever)
Harley, 678th (its first time ever)
Ieshia, 718th (its first time ever)
Makenzie, 732nd (its first time ever)
Shanequa, 733rd (its first time ever)
Karlee, 742nd (its first time ever)
Eliana, 745th (back after dropping out)
Haylee, 759th (its first time ever)
Cheyanne, 766th (its first time ever)

Boys

Devonte, 630th (its first time ever)
Sage, 637th (its first time ever)
Dillan, 681st (its first time ever)
Gunnar, 707th (its first time ever)
Garth, 717th (back after dropping out)
Shaquille, 719th (its first time ever)
Dimitri, 728th (back after dropping out)
Dillion, 747th (its first time ever)
Dylon, 794th (its first time ever)
Storm, 851st (its first time ever)

How spread out were names in 1991?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 14.9% of the girls counted in 1991, and the top ten boys' names to 18.4% of the boys. In 1971, those shares were 16.8% for girls and 26.5% 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.