1980s Baby Names

30,334 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

#433
Kerry Kerry is 53 percent female in our records — the fourth-closest to an even split on this site, behind only Emerson, Riley and Jackie.
11,999 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
#436
Neil Neil means champion or cloud, from Irish, and it traveled to Iceland with the Vikings and back to England with the Normans — so the English Neil arrived by way of Scandinavia and France.
11,926 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
#439
Tyrone Tyrone means Eoghan's land, an Irish county, and it reached American use almost entirely through one actor — Tyrone Power, whose grandfather took the name from the county his family came from.
11,735 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
#441
Edgar Edgar is a boy's name meaning wealthy spear, and it is one of very few Old English names still in wide use.
11,730 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
#443
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
11,627 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
#445
Eduardo Eduardo means wealthy guardian, and it is one of very few Old English names that spread across the Catholic world — carried by Edward the Confessor's cult rather than by English settlement.
11,547 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
#447
Ivan Ivan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious."
11,410 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
#449
Ernest Ernest is a boy's name from a Germanic word meaning serious or resolute, and it is far stronger in Europe than in America — 252nd in England and Wales and 276th in France against 1042nd in the United States.
11,343 in the 1980s
#450
Jake Jake is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "supplanter," a short form of Jacob that became a name in its own right.
11,325 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
#459
Dale Dale is a name from the Old English word for a valley, and like Craig and Heather it is a plain landscape noun rather than a compound.
10,923 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
#465
Francis Francis is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "Frenchman" or "free man."
10,838 in the 1980s
#466
Terrence Terrence descends from a Roman playwright who was born enslaved in North Africa — Terence was freed by his owner, wrote six comedies that survive complete, and shaped Latin prose style for centuries.
10,783 in the 1980s
#467
Kurt Kurt means bold counsel, shortened from Konrad — and the courteous reading commonly given is a false friend, coming from an unrelated French word that only sounds similar.
10,733 in the 1980s
#468
Eugene Eugene is a boy's name from the Greek for well-born, and it is the source of the word eugenics — a connection worth knowing, since the name long predates and has nothing to do with that movement.
10,684 in the 1980s
#469
Ramon Ramon means protecting counsel, and both halves are Germanic — the Visigoths brought it to Iberia, so a name that reads as thoroughly Spanish is Gothic underneath, like Fernando and Alonzo.
10,647 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
#471
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
10,601 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
#473
Leonard Leonard is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "lion-strong," and its saint is the patron of prisoners and of women in labor.
10,558 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
#475
Ethan Ethan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "firm," "enduring," or "strong."
10,525 in the 1980s
#476
Armando Armando means army man, and it is the same name as Herman — one Germanic compound that reached Spanish through the Visigoths and English through the Normans, ending up unrecognisably different.
10,519 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
#478
Bryce Bryce means speckled or freckled, from a Gaulish saint's name whose meaning is not certain.
10,506 in the 1980s
#479
Steve Steve is a boy's name, the short form of Steven or Stephen, meaning crown or garland.
10,495 in the 1980s
#480
Darryl Darryl does not mean darling.
10,465 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.