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.

All Girls Boys Unisex

Rankings for

#402
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
13,187 in the 1980s
#404
Donna Donna is a girl's name from the Italian word for a lady, a title used as a name.
13,117 in the 1980s
#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 — 1123rd in England and Wales against 3484th 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
#442
Jodi Jodi serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why the wider Jody family never settled on one sex — three unrelated Hebrew parents pulling in different directions.
11,726 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 3738th 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

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.