1980s Baby Names

2,345 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

#18
Ryan Ryan is a boy's name of Irish origin, anglicized from Ó Riain.
285,116 in the 1980s
#62
Kelly Kelly is a name from the Irish surname Ó Ceallaigh, borne almost entirely by men for most of its history and now 86 percent female on record.
119,313 in the 1980s
#65
Jamie Jamie is a unisex name of Hebrew origin, a Scottish diminutive of James meaning "supplanter" or "holder of the heel."
114,968 in the 1980s
#82
Courtney Courtney is a name from a Norman family whose surname is usually read as short nose, though a place-name derivation competes.
92,054 in the 1980s
#87
Shannon Shannon is a name from Ireland's longest river, and it is 86 percent female on record.
86,539 in the 1980s
#97
Jordan Jordan is a name from the river, whose Hebrew name Yarden means "to descend" or "flow down" — the Jordan drops sharply from its source to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the earth's land surface.
70,959 in the 1980s
#106
Casey Casey is a name of Irish origin meaning "vigilant" or "watchful."
63,886 in the 1980s
#134
Brandy Brandy is named for the drink, and the drink means burned wine — the Dutch brandewijn described wine heated to distil it, so the name records a manufacturing process rather than a quality.
45,102 in the 1980s
#180
Stacey Stacey is the e-spelling of Stacy, from Eustace or Anastasia.
33,294 in the 1980s
#183
Taylor Taylor is an occupational surname meaning one who cuts cloth, now used mostly for girls at 72 percent female.
33,043 in the 1980s
#186
Angel Angel is a name of Greek origin meaning "messenger," from angelos.
32,534 in the 1980s
#189
Tracy Tracy is a Norman place name that became a surname, then a boys' name, then overwhelmingly a girls' name — about 81 percent of recorded births are female.
32,028 in the 1980s
#194
Morgan Morgan is a Welsh name meaning sea-born, and it charts in all seven markets within a range of just over three hundred places — one of the most evenly distributed names on this site.
31,493 in the 1980s
#196
Alexis Alexis is a Greek name meaning helper or defender, and it is split by country: a boys' name in France, where it ranks 256th, and majority female in the United States.
31,363 in the 1980s
#222
Cameron Cameron is a name of Scottish origin meaning "crooked nose," from the Gaelic cam, crooked, and sròn, nose.
26,721 in the 1980s
#224
Robin Robin is a name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
26,526 in the 1980s
#228
Blake Blake is a name of Old English origin with two opposite meanings.
26,145 in the 1980s
#261
Jessie Jessie is a name that arrives from two unrelated directions — the Scottish pet form of Janet, and a feminine of the Hebrew Jesse.
22,527 in the 1980s
#294
Dominique Dominique is a French name meaning of the Lord, given to children born on a Sunday.
20,182 in the 1980s
#324
Kari Kari descends from the same unexplained Greek root as Kaitlin in this group, but by a Scandinavian route — through Karen and Katarina rather than through Irish, and the pure gloss is equally unproven on both paths.
17,681 in the 1980s
#326
Michele Michele is a girl's name, the single-l spelling of Michelle, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God.
17,636 in the 1980s
#340
Drew Drew shortens Andrew, meaning manly, and there is a second unrelated Drew from a Germanic word for a ghost or phantom.
16,294 in the 1980s
#359
Spencer Spencer is a name of Middle English origin meaning "steward" or "dispenser of provisions."
15,528 in the 1980s
#379
Devon Devon is the English county, named for the Dumnonii — a Celtic people whose own name may mean the deep ones, possibly referring to mining.
14,452 in the 1980s
#414
Kasey Kasey means vigilant, and it is one of the more evenly divided names on this site — 73 percent of recorded births are female, against an Irish surname that was of course carried by both.
12,721 in the 1980s
#431
Ronnie Ronnie is a name of Old Norse origin meaning "ruler's counsel."
12,091 in the 1980s
#433
Kerry Kerry is 53 percent female on record — the fourth-closest to an even split on this site, behind only Emerson, Riley and Jackie.
11,999 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
#465
Francis Francis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "Frenchman" or "free man."
10,838 in the 1980s
#472
Kelley Kelley is the same Irish name as Kellie, spelled differently, and the two split its births between them — this one peaked in 1968 and that one in 1969, a year apart at nearly the same size.
10,583 in the 1980s
#520
Ariel Ariel means lion of God, and The Little Mermaid moved it hard and briefly.
9,330 in the 1980s
#524
Jackie Jackie is the third most evenly divided name on this site — 48.9 percent of recorded births are female, behind only Emerson and Riley among names with more than 50,000 births.
9,253 in the 1980s
#533
Tracey Tracey is a Norman place name, not an Irish one — it comes from Tracy in Normandy, and the warrior reading widely given for it has no basis in the French original at all.
9,011 in the 1980s
#534
Kendall Kendall means the valley of the River Kent, and Scotland ranks it 309th — above the United States at 329th, which is unusual for a name whose modern use is almost entirely American.
8,992 in the 1980s
#548
Joey Joey is a name of Hebrew origin meaning "God will increase."
8,782 in the 1980s
#551
Guadalupe Guadalupe is half Arabic and half Latin — wadi, a valley or river, joined to a word for a wolf.
8,726 in the 1980s
#569
Cortney
8,445 in the 1980s
#570
Jody Jody serves Judith, Joseph and Jude at once, which is why it is 64 percent female rather than resolving to one side — three unrelated parents pulling in different directions.
8,421 in the 1980s
#594
Lynn Lynn is a name from a Welsh and Gaelic word for a lake or a pool below a waterfall.
7,898 in the 1980s
#620
Sandy Sandy shortens Alexander and Alexandra, meaning defender of the people — and in Scotland it is the standard familiar form of Alexander, which is why it reads as Scottish rather than merely short.
7,513 in the 1980s
#624
Jean Jean is a unisex name on record: the French form of John, meaning "God is gracious," and separately a Scottish feminine form of Jane.
7,475 in the 1980s
#637
Noel Noel means Christmas, and its American peak was 2014 — the most recent peak of any name in this group by a wide margin.
7,267 in the 1980s
#675
Jami
6,686 in the 1980s
#677
Dallas Dallas is the only rising name in this group — it peaked in 2015 and is still climbing, at 238th in the United States.
6,673 in the 1980s
#699
Loren Loren means from Laurentum, a town rather than a plant — the laurel reading came second, and the town itself was probably named for its laurels, so the connection is real but runs the long way round.
6,286 in the 1980s
#700
Charlie Charlie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "free man."
6,274 in the 1980s
#705
Lamar
6,172 in the 1980s
#707
Patrice Patrice is masculine in French and feminine in English — the same spelling, opposite sexes on either side of the Channel.
6,164 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.