1980s Baby Names

10,009 names were given to children in the United States between 1980 and 1989, ranked below by how many.

A name's place is its total across those ten years. Names that appear in only some of the decade say so, because a name recorded once is a different fact from one recorded every year.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#415
Terrance Terrance respells Terrence, and the name descends from a Roman playwright born enslaved in North Africa — Terence was freed by his owner and his Latin became a school text for centuries.
12,713 in the 1980s
#417
Dominic Dominic is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "of the Lord," from dominus.
12,646 in the 1980s
#422
Noah Noah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "rest" or "comfort," from Noach.
12,488 in the 1980s
#423
Rafael Rafael is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God heals."
12,431 in the 1980s
#424
Jerome Jerome is a boy's name meaning sacred name, and it belongs to the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin — the version Western Europe read for over a thousand years.
12,309 in the 1980s
#425
Pedro Pedro means stone, and the name records a nickname Jesus gave — Simon was renamed Cephas in Aramaic, which Greek translated as Petros, so the pun on rock survives through three languages.
12,295 in the 1980s
#426
Raul Raul means wolf counsel, and it is the same name as Ralph and Rudolph — one Norse compound that entered Spanish, English and German separately and ended up looking like three different names.
12,242 in the 1980s
#430
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
12,198 in the 1980s
#432
Theodore Theodore is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God," formed from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
12,046 in the 1980s
#436
Neil Neil means champion or cloud, from Irish, and it traveled to Iceland with the Vikings and back to England with the Normans — so the English Neil arrived by way of Scandinavia and France.
11,926 in the 1980s
#439
Tyrone Tyrone means Eoghan's land, an Irish county, and it reached American use almost entirely through one actor — Tyrone Power, whose grandfather took the name from the county his family came from.
11,735 in the 1980s
#441
Edgar Edgar is a boy's name meaning wealthy spear, and it is one of very few Old English names still in wide use.
11,730 in the 1980s
#443
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
11,627 in the 1980s
#445
Eduardo Eduardo means wealthy guardian, and it is one of very few Old English names that spread across the Catholic world — carried by Edward the Confessor's cult rather than by English settlement.
11,547 in the 1980s
#447
Ivan Ivan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious."
11,410 in the 1980s
#449
Ernest Ernest is a boy's name from a Germanic word meaning serious or resolute, and it is far stronger in Europe than in America — 252nd in England and Wales and 276th in France against 1,042nd in the United States.
11,343 in the 1980s
#450
Jake Jake is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter," a short form of Jacob that became a name in its own right.
11,325 in the 1980s
#459
Dale Dale is a name from the Old English word for a valley, and like Craig and Heather it is a plain landscape noun rather than a compound.
10,923 in the 1980s
#466
Terrence Terrence descends from a Roman playwright who was born enslaved in North Africa — Terence was freed by his owner, wrote six comedies that survive complete, and shaped Latin prose style for centuries.
10,783 in the 1980s
#467
Kurt Kurt means bold counsel, shortened from Konrad — and the courteous reading commonly given is a false friend, coming from an unrelated French word that only sounds similar.
10,733 in the 1980s
#468
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
10,684 in the 1980s
#469
Ramon Ramon means protecting counsel, and both halves are Germanic — the Visigoths brought it to Iberia, so a name that reads as thoroughly Spanish is Gothic underneath, like Fernando and Alonzo.
10,647 in the 1980s
#471
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
10,601 in the 1980s
#473
Leonard Leonard is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "lion-strong," and its saint is the patron of prisoners and of women in labor.
10,558 in the 1980s
#475
Ethan Ethan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "firm," "enduring," or "strong."
10,525 in the 1980s
#476
Armando Armando means army man, and it is the same name as Herman — one Germanic compound that reached Spanish through the Visigoths and English through the Normans, ending up unrecognisably different.
10,519 in the 1980s
#478
Bryce Bryce means speckled or freckled, from a Gaulish saint's name whose meaning is not certain.
10,506 in the 1980s
#479
Steve Steve is a boy's name, the short form of Steven or Stephen, meaning crown or garland.
10,495 in the 1980s
#480
Darryl Darryl does not mean darling.
10,465 in the 1980s
#484
Nicolas Nicolas is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "victory of the people."
10,345 in the 1980s
#485
Preston Preston means the priest's settlement — land held by the church rather than by a lord, which is why so many English places carry the name.
10,324 in the 1980s
#486
Glenn Glenn is a boy's name from the Gaelic word for a narrow valley, and like Craig and Dale it is a plain landscape noun.
10,305 in the 1980s
#488
Andres Andres is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "manly" or "brave."
10,171 in the 1980s
#489
Alberto Alberto means bright nobility, and both halves are compliments — the Germanic joins a word for noble descent to one meaning bright or famous, with nothing descriptive about the person at all.
10,171 in the 1980s
#495
Barry Barry is a boy's name from an Irish surname generally traced to a word for a spear, though a Welsh island gives a competing route.
10,005 in the 1980s
#499
Marco Marco means dedicated to Mars, and it has the tightest seven-market spread on this site — the United States 370th, Ireland and England both 467th, Scotland 477th, Northern Ireland 501st and France 502nd, all inside 132 places.
9,921 in the 1980s
#501
Emmanuel Emmanuel is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is with us."
9,879 in the 1980s
#506
Bryant Bryant means noble or high, and the t is a French accident — Norman scribes added it to the Irish Brian, so the surname carries a letter the original name never had.
9,748 in the 1980s
#507
Byron Byron means at the cattle sheds — a working place name that became shorthand for romantic poetry, which is a longer journey than most names make.
9,730 in the 1980s
#509
Clifford Clifford is a boy's name from an English place name meaning a ford by a cliff — a river crossing below a steep bank.
9,650 in the 1980s
#511
Karl Karl means free man, and it is the original German spelling behind Charles — the word named a free peasant, so it began at the bottom of the free classes and rose to name emperors.
9,622 in the 1980s
#514
Melvin Melvin is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, and the gentle chieftain reading usually given for it is an invention — the source is a Norman family who took their name from Malleville in France.
9,540 in the 1980s
#516
Julio Julio means downy-bearded, and France ranks it 517th — above the United States at 641st, which is not where a Spanish form of a Roman family name would be expected to lead.
9,454 in the 1980s
#518
Rene Rene is a name from the Latin for reborn, given at baptism to mark spiritual rebirth.
9,416 in the 1980s
#522
Stanley Stanley is a boy's name of Old English origin meaning "stony clearing."
9,297 in the 1980s
#523
Harold Harold is a boy's name from Norse and Old English elements meaning army ruler, and it belongs to the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, killed at Hastings in 1066.
9,277 in the 1980s
#525
Cesar Cesar is a boy's name from the Roman family name Caesar, whose own meaning the Romans could not agree on.
9,245 in the 1980s
#526
Jarrod
9,229 in the 1980s

What Made a 1980s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1980 and 1989. A name's position here is how many of them were.

Why Some Names Only Cover Part of the Decade

A name that appears in three of the ten years either arrived partway through or faded out — and either is more interesting than the total on its own. The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.

Where to Go Next

Open any name to see its full curve — most of these have a hundred and forty years of it. Or compare the ends of the same measurement: the most popular names now and the rarest.