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

#241
Shaun Shaun spells the Irish Seán phonetically for English readers, and it is the same name as John — the Irish took it from Norman French Jehan rather than directly from Latin, which is why it sounds nothing like John.
24,941 in the 1980s
#242
Tony Tony is a boy's name from the Roman family name Antonius, whose meaning has never been established.
24,835 in the 1980s
#243
Mitchell Mitchell is a boy's name from a medieval English form of Michael, meaning who is like God — though a second and quite separate source exists from an old word simply meaning big.
24,809 in the 1980s
#244
Troy Troy is a boy's name with two independent sources — an Irish surname meaning foot soldier, and the ancient city.
24,765 in the 1980s
#245
Sabrina Sabrina is the Latin name of the River Severn, and the legend behind it is a drowning — a princess thrown into the river became its spirit.
24,750 in the 1980s
#246
Renee Renee is a girl's name from the Latin for reborn, given at baptism to mark spiritual rebirth.
24,704 in the 1980s
#247
Gina Gina is not one name — it is the ending of several different ones, and which name it shortens changes the meaning entirely.
24,564 in the 1980s
#248
Kendra Kendra has no settled origin — a feminine of Kenneth, a Welsh compound meaning greatest champion, and an invention from Ken plus a fashionable ending are all proposed, and none is established.
24,556 in the 1980s
#249
Brenda Brenda is a girl's name from an Old Norse word for a sword or a torch, and it appears to have been invented for a novel — Walter Scott used it in The Pirate in 1822, and no earlier use is recorded.
24,505 in the 1980s
#250
Jill Jill is a girl's name, a medieval short form of Gillian, and it is half of the oldest surviving English nursery rhyme pair.
24,478 in the 1980s
#251
Monique Monique is a girl's name, the French form of Monica, whose meaning is unknown despite the confident answers usually given for it.
24,039 in the 1980s
#252
Johnny Johnny is a boy's name, the pet form of John, meaning God is gracious.
23,736 in the 1980s
#253
Teresa Teresa is a girl's name whose meaning is uncertain, though harvester is the usual reading.
23,543 in the 1980s
#254
Lee Lee is a name from the Old English word for a woodland clearing, and it is one of the most productive elements in English place names — the ending of Ashley, Bradley, Shirley and Beverly.
23,530 in the 1980s
#255
Martin Martin is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "of Mars," borne by Saint Martin of Tours, whose cloak gave Europe the word chapel.
23,461 in the 1980s
#256
Ricardo Ricardo is a boy's name meaning brave ruler, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Richard.
23,277 in the 1980s
#257
Linda Linda is a girl's name usually read as beautiful in Spanish or as a Germanic element meaning soft or tender.
22,981 in the 1980s
#258
Krista Krista means a follower of Christ, and it is the sixth spelling of this name family to appear in this group — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina, Kristine and Kristi.
22,935 in the 1980s
#259
Miranda Miranda was coined by Shakespeare for The Tempest around 1611, from the Latin for to be wondered at.
22,793 in the 1980s
#260
Bobby Bobby is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame."
22,705 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
#262
Dawn Dawn is a girl's name taken directly from the English word for daybreak, and it is the English counterpart of Aurora rather than a translation of it.
22,520 in the 1980s
#263
Theresa Theresa is a girl's name of uncertain meaning, the German and English spelling of Teresa.
22,507 in the 1980s
#264
Kristy Kristy is the seventh spelling of this name family in this group, and the count itself is the finding — one Latin word has produced seven separate pages on this site through American respelling alone.
22,453 in the 1980s
#265
Wendy Wendy is usually credited to J.
22,426 in the 1980s
#266
Tanya Tanya is a Russian pet form of Tatiana, whose meaning is not known — the Roman family name behind it may be Sabine rather than Latin, and the Sabine language is barely attested at all.
22,402 in the 1980s
#267
Joanna Joanna means God is gracious, and it charts in all seven markets — the United States 306th, Ireland 367th, Scotland 395th, Northern Ireland 432nd, England and Wales 514th and France 721st.
22,370 in the 1980s
#268
Melinda Melinda is an invented name rather than an inherited one — an eighteenth-century literary coinage joining the Greek word for honey to the ending of Belinda and Lucinda.
22,301 in the 1980s
#269
Anne Anne is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning favor or grace.
22,232 in the 1980s
#270
Allen Allen is a boy's name whose meaning is unknown — rock, handsome and deer have all been proposed from an unidentified Breton source.
22,094 in the 1980s
#271
Johnathan Johnathan is a misspelling that became a name — it inserts an h into Jonathan by confusion with John, and the two are different Hebrew names that only look related.
22,072 in the 1980s
#272
Felicia Felicia means lucky, and the Latin felix meant fertile before it meant fortunate — the word originally described soil and livestock that produced well, and good fortune was a later extension of it.
22,058 in the 1980s
#273
Andre Andre is a boy's name, the French form of Andrew, from the Greek for manly.
22,051 in the 1980s
#274
Jorge Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of George, meaning farmer.
21,938 in the 1980s
#275
Desiree Desiree means desired, and it began as a Puritan virtue name rather than a French one — Desiderius was a late Roman Christian name for a longed-for child, and French inherited it before English did.
21,901 in the 1980s
#276
Jaclyn Jaclyn compresses Jacqueline, and the name underneath means heel-grabber — Jacob was born gripping his twin's heel, and every Jack, Jacques and Jacqueline descends from that description.
21,869 in the 1980s
#277
Alisha Alisha means noble, and it is British and Irish rather than American — England and Wales 376th, Ireland 381st and Northern Ireland 407th all rank it far above the United States at 1,229th.
21,827 in the 1980s
#278
Lori Lori is a girl's name, a short form of Laura meaning laurel.
21,727 in the 1980s
#279
Tamara Tamara means date palm, and the tree mattered more than the fruit — in the ancient Near East a date palm was a standing symbol of uprightness and fertility.
21,344 in the 1980s
#280
Marissa Marissa is usually explained as of the sea, but that reading comes from the Latin stella maris — a title of the Virgin built on a mistranslation of Miriam that scholars abandoned centuries ago.
21,199 in the 1980s
#281
Kelli Kelli respells Kelly, an Irish surname whose meaning is contested — bright-headed and strife are both proposed for Ó Ceallaigh, and neither has ever been established.
21,175 in the 1980s
#282
Billy Billy is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protector."
21,010 in the 1980s
#283
Lacey Lacey means from Lassy, a place in Normandy, and Scotland ranks it 308th — its strongest market, ahead of Northern Ireland at 475th and England at 480th, with the United States back at 738th.
20,976 in the 1980s
#284
Henry Henry is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "home ruler," from heim, meaning home or estate, and ric, meaning ruler or power.
20,917 in the 1980s
#285
Abigail Abigail is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "my father's joy," from Avigayil.
20,775 in the 1980s
#286
Caleb Caleb is a boy's name of Hebrew origin whose root is debated.
20,769 in the 1980s
#287
Marc Marc is a boy's name from a Roman name probably meaning dedicated to Mars, the god of war, and it is the source of the month of March.
20,662 in the 1980s
#288
Garrett Garrett means spear-strength or spear-rule, and it descends from two different Germanic names that medieval English speakers could no longer tell apart.
20,627 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.