1980s Baby Names

17,980 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

#406
Suzanne Suzanne is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "lily," from shoshannah.
13,040 in the 1980s
#407
Shawna Shawna means God is gracious, and it reaches English from Hebrew through four languages — Yochanan to Greek to Latin to Irish Seán, respelled Shawn and then given an American feminine ending.
13,010 in the 1980s
#408
Haley Haley means hay meadow, from an English place name.
12,918 in the 1980s
#409
Trisha Trisha is the fourth spelling of Patricia on this site, and England now ranks it above America — 1,123rd in England and Wales against 3,484th in the United States, having set its English peak this year.
12,841 in the 1980s
#410
Adriana Adriana means from Hadria, a small town in northern Italy that also named the Adriatic Sea — so both the name and the sea are called after a settlement most people have never heard of.
12,804 in the 1980s
#416
Mindy Mindy has no source of its own — it shortens Melinda, whose second half is transparent and whose first half nobody has explained, so the name inherits half a meaning.
12,685 in the 1980s
#418
Janelle Janelle is an American elaboration rather than an inherited name — Jane with a French-looking ending attached, built in the twentieth century by the same habit that produced Danielle, Rochelle and Michelle.
12,637 in the 1980s
#419
Bianca Bianca means white, and France ranks it 242nd — ahead of Ireland at 373rd, the United States at 501st, England and Wales at 548th and Scotland at 742nd.
12,554 in the 1980s
#420
Carly Carly means free man, and the Germanic word named a free peasant rather than a lord — so a name that now reads as light and modern began at the bottom of the free classes.
12,548 in the 1980s
#421
Kaitlin Kaitlin reached English through Irish, not from it — Catherine went into Old French as Cateline, into Irish as Caitlín, and back out again respelled.
12,498 in the 1980s
#427
Toni Toni has no established meaning, because Antonia does not — the Roman family name Antonius is probably Etruscan, and the flower reading attached to Anthony is a Renaissance invention.
12,229 in the 1980s
#428
Summer Summer is a girl's name of Old English origin taken from the season, from sumor.
12,227 in the 1980s
#429
Bonnie Bonnie is a girl's name of Scots origin meaning "pretty" or "fine."
12,213 in the 1980s
#434
Robyn Robyn is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
11,988 in the 1980s
#435
Abby Abby means my father is joy, and France ranks it 322nd — ahead of Scotland at 359th, Ireland at 453rd and the United States at 731st, which is not where an English diminutive of a Hebrew name should lead.
11,945 in the 1980s
#437
Grace Grace is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "favor" or "blessing," from gratia.
11,855 in the 1980s
#438
Joy Joy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning exactly what it says, taken from the English word.
11,813 in the 1980s
#440
Alexandria Alexandria is the city before it is the name — Alexander founded it in 331 BC, and the feminine given name was formed from the place rather than directly from Alexandra, which took a different route.
11,733 in the 1980s
#444
Gabrielle Gabrielle is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my strength," the French feminine of Gabriel.
11,624 in the 1980s
#446
Yolanda Yolanda means violet, and the flower reaches it through a chain of respellings — the Greek Iolanthe became Violante in Italian by association with viola, and Spanish then rendered that form as the Yolanda we know.
11,495 in the 1980s
#448
Kellie Kellie has no settled meaning — the Irish Ceallach has been read as bright-headed, as strife, and as one who frequents churches, and the three readings are not close to reconciling.
11,367 in the 1980s
#451
Ruth Ruth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin usually given as "companion" or "friend," though the derivation is not secure.
11,312 in the 1980s
#452
Mayra
11,308 in the 1980s
#453
Diane Diane is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "divine" or "heavenly," the French form of the Roman goddess Diana.
11,270 in the 1980s
#454
Paula Paula is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
11,195 in the 1980s
#455
Lydia Lydia is a girl's name meaning "woman from Lydia," an ancient kingdom in what is now western Turkey.
11,122 in the 1980s
#456
Evelyn Evelyn is a girl's name of English and French origin meaning "desired" or "wished for".
11,111 in the 1980s
#457
Rosa Rosa is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "rose."
10,939 in the 1980s
#458
Kaitlyn Kaitlyn is a girl's name that respells the Irish Caitlín — which came into Irish from French, and into French from Greek.
10,928 in the 1980s
#460
Briana Briana is a feminine of Brian, and it first appears in Spenser's Faerie Queene in 1590 — which makes it one of very few names whose earliest recorded use is a specific poem.
10,920 in the 1980s
#461
Krystle
10,913 in the 1980s
#462
Naomi Naomi is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "pleasantness," from No'omi.
10,912 in the 1980s
#463
Claire Claire is a girl's name of French origin meaning "clear" or "bright," from the Latin clarus.
10,896 in the 1980s
#464
Sophia Sophia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom," taken directly from the Greek word sophía.
10,875 in the 1980s
#470
Nikki Nikki means victory of the people, and both halves of the Greek are collective — nike is the victory and laos is the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
10,643 in the 1980s
#474
Gloria Gloria is a girl's name that is simply the Latin word for glory, taken unchanged.
10,556 in the 1980s
#477
Paige Paige is a girl's name from a medieval job title meaning a young male servant, and it reached women by way of a surname.
10,515 in the 1980s
#481
Emma Emma is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "whole" or "universal," from the element ermen, found in older names such as Ermintrude.
10,443 in the 1980s
#482
Melody Melody is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "song" or "singing," from melodia.
10,433 in the 1980s
#483
Marisa Marisa is a blend rather than an inherited name — Italian joined Maria to Luisa, and the result reads as though it means sea, which it does not, since Maria's own meaning is unsettled.
10,388 in the 1980s
#487
Ellen Ellen is a girl's name of Greek origin, a medieval English form of Helen whose meaning has never been settled.
10,280 in the 1980s
#490
Shanna
10,166 in the 1980s
#491
Justine Justine means just or fair, from the Latin word behind justice — and it ranks 407th in France against 3,738th in the United States, which is one of the widest market splits anywhere in this group.
10,114 in the 1980s
#492
Britney
10,070 in the 1980s
#493
Jeanette Jeanette means God is gracious, a French double diminutive of Jeanne.
10,011 in the 1980s
#494
Shana
10,011 in the 1980s
#496
Sasha Sasha is a unisex name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," the Russian familiar form of Alexander.
9,980 in the 1980s
#497
Randi
9,960 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.