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

#723
Elisha
5,835 in the 1980s
#755
Christin
5,547 in the 1980s
#758
Jayme
5,519 in the 1980s
#767
Lonnie Lonnie shortens Alonzo and Alphonso, meaning noble and ready — and the Germanic original reached Spain with the Visigoths, so a name that reads as American South is Gothic by descent.
5,430 in the 1980s
#782
Dusty
5,249 in the 1980s
#791
Christen
5,177 in the 1980s
#796
Rory Rory is a name of Irish and Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "red king."
5,083 in the 1980s
#831
Elliott Elliott is a name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord is my God."
4,844 in the 1980s
#834
Perry Perry means at the pear tree, from an English place name — and it is reviving, at 1,373rd in the United States and 1,681st in England and Wales.
4,823 in the 1980s
#847
Kim Kim is a name that arrives from three unrelated directions — an English place name, Kipling's 1901 novel, and the most common Korean surname in the world.
4,727 in the 1980s
#867
Dillon Dillon has two unrelated sources that English cannot separate — an Irish surname of uncertain meaning and the Welsh Dylan, a sea god from the Mabinogi.
4,536 in the 1980s
#869
Elliot Elliot is a name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord is my God."
4,512 in the 1980s
#870
Kory
4,510 in the 1980s
#875
Jodie Jodie peaked in England, not America — 1,354 births in England and Wales in 1996 against a US high of 1,104, which makes it proportionally several times larger there than in the country usually credited with it.
4,477 in the 1980s
#879
Frankie Frankie is a name of Germanic origin meaning "free man" or "Frenchman."
4,456 in the 1980s
#899
Johnnie Johnnie means God is gracious, a pet form of John.
4,283 in the 1980s
#909
Joni
4,231 in the 1980s
#910
Toby Toby is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is good."
4,206 in the 1980s
#924
Riley Riley is a name with two origins that converged. The Irish line comes from Ó Raghallaigh, an Anglicized surname, while the English line names a place meaning "rye clearing," from the Old English ryge and leah.
4,116 in the 1980s
#926
Sidney Sidney is a name of Old English origin meaning "wide meadow."
4,114 in the 1980s
#959
Skyler Skyler is Dutch and means a scholar — it respells Schuyler, a surname carried by one of New York's founding families, and it has nothing to do with the sky despite the spelling.
3,935 in the 1980s
#965
Quincy Quincy is a unisex name of Norman French origin meaning "estate of Quintus".
3,883 in the 1980s
#971
Avery Avery is a name of English origin meaning "elf counsel," derived from the Norman French form of the Germanic name Alberich.
3,830 in the 1980s
#977
Shea Shea is a unisex name of Irish origin from the surname Ó Séaghdha, whose root means "hawk-like" or "stately."
3,761 in the 1980s
#1,002
Carey
3,630 in the 1980s
#1,017
Joan Joan is a girl's name, the medieval English feminine of John meaning God is gracious, and it was once as common as Mary.
3,547 in the 1980s
#1,018
Nikita
3,546 in the 1980s
#1,044
Marion Marion is a French diminutive of Mary that has crossed sexes twice over — it is 81 percent female on record, yet its most famous bearer was John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison.
3,414 in the 1980s
#1,088
Sterling Sterling is a unit of money that became a name, and the coin was probably named for a bird — the little star on early Norman pennies gives one account, and a starling stamped on them gives the other.
3,225 in the 1980s
#1,092
Quinn Quinn is a name of Irish origin, anglicized from Ó Cuinn, meaning "descendant of Conn."
3,205 in the 1980s
#1,097
Robbie Robbie is a unisex name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," a diminutive of Robert.
3,185 in the 1980s
#1,100
Korey
3,166 in the 1980s
#1,115
Dara Dara is a unisex name that arrives from at least three unconnected languages — Irish, Hebrew and Persian — and the reading depends entirely on which one a family has in mind.
3,090 in the 1980s
#1,118
Cari
3,084 in the 1980s
#1,123
Kacey
3,055 in the 1980s
#1,125
Scotty
3,051 in the 1980s
#1,131
Dakota Dakota means friend or ally in the Dakota language, and it is one of very few widely used names taken from an Indigenous North American language.
3,022 in the 1980s
#1,147
Parker Parker is a name of English origin meaning "park keeper."
2,908 in the 1980s
#1,163
Brook
2,834 in the 1980s
#1,172
Kirby
2,802 in the 1980s
#1,190
Sammy Sammy means God has heard, or possibly name of God — the Hebrew admits both readings, and the Bible's own explanation of Samuel uses a pun on asking that fits neither.
2,765 in the 1980s
#1,221
Jess
2,629 in the 1980s
#1,241
Harley Harley is a name of Old English origin meaning "hare's meadow."
2,532 in the 1980s
#1,258
Tory
2,487 in the 1980s
#1,267
Devan
2,456 in the 1980s
#1,270
Andria
2,451 in the 1980s
#1,276
Karin
2,436 in the 1980s
#1,318
Kia
2,300 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.