1980s Baby Names
17,873 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.
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#1,547Colette Colette is a girl's name meaning victory of the people, a French diminutive of Nicole.1,790 in the 1980s
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#1,550Sophie Sophie is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom," the French form of Sophia.1,786 in the 1980s
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#1,562Valeria Valeria is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "strong" or "healthy."1,754 in the 1980s
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#1,584Paola Paola is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," the Italian form of Paula.1,694 in the 1980s
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#1,612Pearl Pearl is a girl's name taken from the gem, and it charts in all seven markets we track.1,650 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 The statistics offices do not publish names given to very few children in a year, so a gap can also mean the count dropped below the threshold rather than to nothing.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.