Most Popular Baby Names of 1996

In 1996, Emily was the most popular name for girls, given to 25,150 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 38,373. Emily took the top spot from Jessica, and Michael held on to number one for a 36th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,753,007 girls and 1,894,300 boys born in 1996 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 15,894 different girls' names and 10,536 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1996

Top girls' names, 1996
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1995
1	Emily	25,150	up 2
2	Jessica	24,201	down 1
3	Ashley	23,678	down 1
4	Sarah	21,048	up 1
5	Samantha	20,552	down 1
6	Taylor	19,155	same
7	Hannah	18,596	same
8	Alexis	16,592	up 6
9	Rachel	16,121	up 3
10	Elizabeth	16,003	same
11	Kayla	15,269	same
12	Megan	14,770	up 1
13	Amanda	13,980	down 4
14	Brittany	13,797	down 6
15	Madison	13,412	up 14
16	Lauren	12,595	down 1
17	Brianna	11,925	up 4
18	Victoria	11,859	up 2
19	Jennifer	11,732	down 1
20	Stephanie	11,643	down 4
21	Courtney	11,344	down 4
22	Nicole	11,135	down 3
23	Alyssa	11,024	up 4
24	Rebecca	10,626	up 4
25	Morgan	10,295	down 2
26	Alexandra	10,025	same
27	Amber	9,771	down 5
28	Jasmine	9,707	down 3
29	Danielle	9,286	down 5
30	Haley	9,042	up 2
31	Katherine	8,877	down 1
32	Abigail	8,604	up 4
33	Anna	8,575	down 2
34	Olivia	8,126	up 5
35	Shelby	7,950	up 3
36	Kelsey	7,655	down 3
37	Maria	7,598	up 7
38	Allison	7,455	down 4
39	Sydney	7,259	up 4
40	Kaitlyn	7,241	up 2
41	Kimberly	7,176	down 4
42	Melissa	7,170	down 7
43	Savannah	7,000	up 25
44	Mary	6,968	down 4
45	Brooke	6,724	up 7
46	Natalie	6,693	up 5
47	Michelle	6,598	down 6
48	Julia	6,314	up 14
49	Jordan	6,299	up 1
50	Sara	6,288	down 2
51	Erin	6,256	down 2
52	Tiffany	6,158	down 6
53	Emma	6,151	up 14
54	Gabrielle	5,888	up 7
55	Chelsea	5,864	down 8
56	Destiny	5,856	up 10
57	Christina	5,804	down 12
58	Sabrina	5,774	up 37
59	Marissa	5,752	down 6
60	Vanessa	5,746	up 3
61	Andrea	5,671	down 6
62	Sierra	5,487	down 2
63	Mariah	5,446	up 8
64	Katelyn	5,421	down 5
65	Paige	5,342	down 7
66	Laura	5,227	down 10
67	Madeline	4,912	up 12
68	Cheyenne	4,866	up 18
69	Jacqueline	4,862	up 1
70	Kristen	4,851	down 5
71	Heather	4,759	down 17
72	Briana	4,735	up 2
73	Kelly	4,734	down 9
74	Breanna	4,701	up 2
75	Mackenzie	4,597	up 13
76	Miranda	4,568	down 19
77	Alexandria	4,563	down 5
78	Caroline	4,466	up 14
79	Erica	4,460	down 10
80	Shannon	4,337	down 7
81	Katie	4,329	down 4
82	Monica	4,326	up 5
83	Jenna	4,288	up 1
84	Caitlin	4,268	down 3
85	Bailey	4,192	up 11
86	Lindsey	4,112	down 4
87	Kathryn	4,102	down 4
88	Amy	4,067	down 13
89	Cassandra	4,018	down 11
90	Angela	3,867	down 5
91	Alicia	3,861	down 2
92	Crystal	3,786	down 12
93	Hailey	3,762	up 18
94	Grace	3,742	up 3
95	Catherine	3,739	down 5
96	Jamie	3,599	down 3
97	Angelica	3,404	up 4
98	Leah	3,326	up 5
99	Molly	3,312	down 1
100	Alexa	3,260	same

Top boys' names, 1996
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1995
1	Michael	38,373	same
2	Matthew	32,077	same
3	Jacob	31,925	up 1
4	Christopher	30,904	down 1
5	Joshua	29,175	same
6	Nicholas	27,724	up 1
7	Tyler	26,956	down 1
8	Brandon	25,847	same
9	Austin	25,663	up 1
10	Andrew	25,244	up 1
11	Daniel	25,128	down 2
12	Joseph	24,758	same
13	David	23,022	up 3
14	Zachary	22,369	same
15	John	22,188	down 2
16	Ryan	21,809	down 1
17	James	21,165	same
18	William	20,546	up 2
19	Anthony	20,508	same
20	Justin	20,015	down 2
21	Jonathan	18,602	up 2
22	Alexander	17,964	down 1
23	Robert	17,676	down 1
24	Christian	15,824	up 4
25	Kyle	15,600	down 1
26	Kevin	14,589	down 1
27	Jordan	13,852	up 2
28	Thomas	13,804	down 1
29	Benjamin	13,784	up 2
30	Samuel	13,629	up 3
31	Cody	12,954	down 5
32	Jose	12,155	up 3
33	Dylan	12,037	up 1
34	Aaron	11,971	down 4
35	Eric	11,611	down 3
36	Brian	10,476	same
37	Nathan	10,287	up 2
38	Steven	9,650	down 1
39	Adam	9,557	down 1
40	Timothy	8,919	same
41	Jason	8,695	same
42	Logan	8,374	up 9
43	Charles	8,248	up 1
44	Patrick	8,194	down 1
45	Richard	8,182	down 3
46	Sean	7,896	down 1
47	Hunter	7,603	up 6
48	Caleb	7,550	up 6
49	Cameron	7,388	same
50	Noah	7,184	up 49
51	Jesse	7,075	down 5
52	Juan	7,010	down 2
53	Alex	6,915	down 6
54	Connor	6,911	up 1
55	Mark	6,599	down 3
56	Jeremy	6,412	down 8
57	Luis	6,407	up 2
58	Dakota	6,067	down 2
59	Stephen	6,008	down 2
60	Devin	6,001	down 2
61	Gabriel	5,900	up 4
62	Ethan	5,853	up 13
63	Trevor	5,842	down 2
64	Jared	5,821	down 1
65	Evan	5,577	down 5
66	Bryan	5,560	up 4
67	Carlos	5,464	up 1
68	Tristan	5,458	up 53
69	Nathaniel	5,420	up 4
70	Ian	5,411	down 3
71	Isaiah	5,324	up 38
72	Jeffrey	5,263	down 8
73	Travis	5,159	down 7
74	Jesus	5,115	up 2
75	Luke	5,017	up 7
76	Chase	4,992	up 19
77	Kenneth	4,973	down 5
78	Paul	4,883	down 7
79	Dustin	4,874	down 17
80	Antonio	4,866	up 5
81	Elijah	4,818	up 12
82	Taylor	4,798	down 13
83	Bradley	4,755	down 5
84	Blake	4,747	down 7
85	Garrett	4,653	down 5
86	Isaac	4,566	up 12
87	Marcus	4,546	down 6
88	Mitchell	4,391	down 9
89	Jack	4,245	up 21
90	Tanner	4,180	down 4
91	Miguel	4,160	up 3
92	Adrian	4,112	up 4
93	Lucas	4,106	down 2
94	Corey	4,087	down 20
95	Peter	4,082	down 6
96	Edward	4,073	down 8
97	Malik	4,026	up 34
98	Gregory	3,994	down 14
99	Dalton	3,980	down 12
100	Victor	3,924	down 10

Biggest climbers in 1996

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1995.

Girls

Keely: up 404 places, from 922nd to 518th
Lesley: up 310 places, from 741st to 431st
Annika: up 306 places, from 971st to 665th
Lesly: up 298 places, from 969th to 671st
Shania: up 276 places, from 447th to 171st
Gillian: up 267 places, from 871st to 604th
Zoey: up 219 places, from 875th to 656th
Tristen: up 186 places, from 910th to 724th
Shyann: up 183 places, from 960th to 777th
Peyton: up 182 places, from 437th to 255th

Boys

Dangelo: up 350 places, from 741st to 391st
Hudson: up 346 places, from 997th to 651st
Mateo: up 300 places, from 996th to 696th
Tristian: up 280 places, from 872nd to 592nd
Dontae: up 242 places, from 960th to 718th
Tristin: up 230 places, from 604th to 374th
Juwan: up 194 places, from 684th to 490th
Triston: up 184 places, from 526th to 342nd
Armani: up 183 places, from 921st to 738th
Asher: up 156 places, from 932nd to 776th

New to the top 1,000 in 1996

Girls

Tamia, 498th (its first time ever)
Moesha, 548th (its first time ever)
Estefania, 591st (back after dropping out)
Odalys, 681st (its first time ever)
Yamilex, 707th (its first time ever)
Zaria, 729th (its first time ever)
Mireya, 747th (its first time ever)
Alize, 749th (its first time ever)
Xena, 758th (its first time ever)
Dania, 764th (its first time ever)

Boys

Keshawn, 707th (its first time ever)
Keyshawn, 783rd (its first time ever)
Trystan, 796th (its first time ever)
Braeden, 828th (its first time ever)
Brayan, 844th (its first time ever)
Tarik, 852nd (back after dropping out)
Mickey, 864th (back after dropping out)
Shamar, 865th (its first time ever)
Keion, 870th (its first time ever)
Raquan, 877th (its first time ever)

How spread out were names in 1996?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 11.5% of the girls counted in 1996, and the top ten boys' names to 15.5% of the boys. In 1976, those shares were 17.2% for girls and 25.2% 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.