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

#193
Larry Larry is a boy's name, the short form of Lawrence, from a Roman name meaning of Laurentum.
31,562 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
#195
Brent Brent means burned land, from ground cleared by fire — a place name recording a specific agricultural practice rather than a hill or a holy site, which are the two readings usually offered for it.
31,491 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
#197
Seth Seth is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "appointed" or "placed," given to Adam and Eve's third son after Cain killed Abel.
31,318 in the 1980s
#198
Dennis Dennis is a boy's name that traces back to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstatic release — one of the few widely used Christian names derived from a pagan deity.
30,712 in the 1980s
#199
Susan Susan is a girl's name from a Hebrew word for lily, taken in turn from an Egyptian word for lotus.
30,706 in the 1980s
#200
Todd Todd is a boy's name from a northern English dialect word for a fox, given as a nickname to someone crafty or red-haired.
30,523 in the 1980s
#201
Margaret Margaret is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "pearl," from margarites.
30,512 in the 1980s
#202
Sandra Sandra is a girl's name that began as an Italian short form of Alessandra and became independent in the twentieth century.
30,331 in the 1980s
#203
Curtis Curtis is a boy's name from a Norman French nickname meaning courteous, and it is one of very few names that describes manners rather than birth, appearance or trade.
30,166 in the 1980s
#204
Candice Candice is not a name but a title — Kandake was the word for the queen mother of Kush, and Acts records one without naming her, so a royal office became a personal name by misreading.
29,966 in the 1980s
#205
Randy Randy is a boy's name, the short form of Randall or Randolph, meaning shield-wolf.
29,935 in the 1980s
#206
Jeffery Jeffery is a boy's name whose first element is disputed, though the second means peace.
29,792 in the 1980s
#207
Latoya Latoya is an American invention with no source language, and its 1984 peak of 5,069 births is the largest single-year figure in this group — the victory gloss offered for it is attached to a coinage.
29,658 in the 1980s
#208
Bethany Bethany is a village outside Jerusalem, and its meaning is contested — house of figs and house of the poor are both proposed.
29,435 in the 1980s
#209
Misty Misty is a word name with no older root — it is the English weather word used directly, appearing in American records only from the 1940s and peaking within a single generation.
29,214 in the 1980s
#210
Kelsey Kelsey is a girl's name from an English place name, and its two proposed meanings — ship's victory and Cenel's island — have nothing in common.
29,180 in the 1980s
#211
Jaime Jaime is 41 percent female on record, one of the most divided names on this site — Spanish reads it as James, and English hears it as a spelling of Jamie.
29,065 in the 1980s
#212
Katrina Katrina has no securely known meaning, because Catherine does not — the Greek original has never been derived, and the pure reading was attached centuries later by a false association.
28,952 in the 1980s
#213
Jeremiah Jeremiah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh exalts" or "Yahweh establishes," from Yirmeyahu.
28,535 in the 1980s
#214
Jesus Jesus is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "the Lord is salvation."
27,843 in the 1980s
#215
Kara Kara means beloved, from the Italian and Latin for dear — and a separate Norse Kara exists as the name of a valkyrie, so the same spelling covers two entirely unrelated names.
27,629 in the 1980s
#216
Nichole Nichole means victory of the people, and the compound is political — the Greek joins a word for victory to one meaning the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
27,342 in the 1980s
#217
Luke Luke is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "man from Lucania," a region of southern Italy.
27,222 in the 1980s
#218
Alison Alison means little Alice, and Alice means noble — but the Norman name behind it is a heavy compression of the Germanic Adalheidis, so the noble is all that survived of a longer compound.
27,181 in the 1980s
#219
Alan Alan is a boy's name of Breton origin whose meaning has never been established.
26,997 in the 1980s
#220
Russell Russell is a boy's name from a Norman nickname meaning little red, given to someone red-haired or ruddy.
26,866 in the 1980s
#221
Trevor Trevor is a Welsh place name meaning big settlement, and the first element is the tre that begins a great many Cornish and Welsh place names — Tregaron, Trelawney, Treharris and several hundred others besides.
26,858 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
#223
Mario Mario is a boy's name from a Roman family name of uncertain meaning, and the video game character was named after a real landlord — Mario Segale, who owned the warehouse Nintendo rented in Seattle.
26,707 in the 1980s
#224
Robin Robin is a name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
26,526 in the 1980s
#225
Heidi Heidi is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble one."
26,500 in the 1980s
#226
Lucas Lucas is a boy's name of Latin origin, the Latin form of Luke.
26,214 in the 1980s
#227
Jerry Jerry is a name that serves as the short form of at least three unrelated names — Jeremiah from Hebrew, Gerald and Gerard from Germanic — so its meaning depends entirely on which one a family had in mind.
26,149 in the 1980s
#228
Blake Blake is a name of Old English origin with two opposite meanings.
26,145 in the 1980s
#229
Terry Terry is a name serving as a short form of Terence and of the Germanic Theodoric, two unrelated names, and it is mixed — about 18 percent of recorded births are female.
26,108 in the 1980s
#230
Molly Molly is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, a pet form of Mary whose meaning has never been settled — the candidates are "bitter" and "beloved."
26,042 in the 1980s
#231
Tina Tina is a girl's name that serves as the tail end of several unrelated names — Christina, Martina, Valentina and Bettina — so its meaning depends entirely on which one a family had in mind.
25,957 in the 1980s
#232
Pamela Pamela is a girl's name invented by a poet: Sir Philip Sidney coined it for his Arcadia around 1580, apparently from Greek elements meaning all sweetness.
25,841 in the 1980s
#233
Miguel Miguel is a boy's name meaning who is like God, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Michael.
25,830 in the 1980s
#234
Rachael Rachael respells Rachel, meaning ewe, and the animal is the point — Rachel is a shepherd in Genesis, and Jacob works fourteen years for her, which is one of the longest courtships in scripture.
25,788 in the 1980s
#235
Carl Carl is a boy's name from the Germanic word for a free man, the same root as Charles.
25,781 in the 1980s
#236
Nancy Nancy is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace."
25,753 in the 1980s
#237
Jillian Jillian means youthful, and it descends from the same Roman family name as July — Julius, Julia, Jill and Jillian all come from the gens that claimed descent from Venus.
25,574 in the 1980s
#238
Devin Devin is a name from an Irish surname, and its meanings are contested — poet, and a word for a stag, are both proposed from different Irish originals.
25,525 in the 1980s
#239
Denise Denise is a girl's name, the French feminine of Denis, and like it traces to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine.
25,318 in the 1980s
#240
Candace Candace is a job title mistaken for a name — Kandake was the word for the queen mother of Kush, and Acts uses it as though it were personal, so a Sudanese royal office became an American given name.
25,268 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.