1980s Baby Names

9,885 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

#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
#431
Ronnie Ronnie is a name of Old Norse origin meaning "ruler's counsel."
12,091 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 1042nd 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
#465
Francis Francis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "Frenchman" or "free man."
10,838 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
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
#489
Andres Andres is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "manly" or "brave."
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
#502
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

What made a 1980s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1980 and 1989, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1980s names" you will find elsewhere is somebody's sense of the period; this one is the register.

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.