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

#337
Sheena
16,470 in the 1980s
#338
Tasha
16,311 in the 1980s
#339
Meagan Meagan means pearl at four removes — Welsh Megan shortens Marged, which is Margaret, which is the Greek margarites, which is probably a loan from further east than Greece.
16,303 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
#341
Cindy Cindy is a girl's name, a pet form of Cynthia, which was a title of the moon goddess Artemis.
16,192 in the 1980s
#342
Priscilla Priscilla means ancient or venerable, and it is a diminutive — so the name literally reads as little old one, which was a mark of respect rather than an insult.
16,083 in the 1980s
#343
Jack Jack is a boy's name of English origin that began as a pet form of John, by way of the medieval nickname Jankin.
16,060 in the 1980s
#344
Jay Jay is a name serving as an initial-letter shortening for any J name, as a bird name, and as an Indian name meaning victory.
16,014 in the 1980s
#345
Ann Ann is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning grace or favor, and the spelling without the final e.
15,995 in the 1980s
#346
Ashlee Ashlee is the third spelling of one name on this site, alongside Ashleigh and Ashlyn — all descend from the Old English for an ash-tree clearing, and the ash was the tree spears were made from.
15,970 in the 1980s
#347
Calvin Calvin is a boy's name of French origin meaning "little bald one," from the Latin calvus, bald.
15,939 in the 1980s
#348
Stefanie
15,869 in the 1980s
#349
Cassie Cassie is a girl's name of Greek origin, usually short for Cassandra, whose curse was to prophesy truly and never be believed.
15,851 in the 1980s
#350
Darren Darren has no established origin — it appears in twentieth-century America with no traceable parent, and the Irish and Gaelic derivations offered for it were attached after the fact.
15,827 in the 1980s
#351
Ross Ross means a headland or a promontory, from Gaelic, and Scotland ranks it 328th — its strongest market, ahead of Ireland at 347th and far ahead of the United States at 1,465th.
15,816 in the 1980s
#352
Adrienne Adrienne means from Hadria, an Italian town that also named the Adriatic Sea — so the name and the sea are both called after a small settlement whose own name is uncertain.
15,806 in the 1980s
#353
Oscar Oscar is a boy's name with two competing origins: the Irish os, deer, plus cara, friend, giving "deer lover," or the Old Norse Ásgeirr, meaning "god's spear."
15,786 in the 1980s
#354
Maurice Maurice is a boy's name from a Latin word meaning a Moor, originally describing someone from Roman North Africa. It is reviving, and it peaked in 1920 — a century-long gap of the same kind we see in Walter and Frances.
15,777 in the 1980s
#355
Tammy Tammy is a girl's name meaning palm tree, a pet form of Tamara.
15,774 in the 1980s
#356
Ana Ana is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "favor" or "grace," and it is the form of Anna used across Spanish, Portuguese and Slavic Europe.
15,720 in the 1980s
#357
Gerald Gerald is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning rule of the spear, and it gave Ireland one of its great Norman dynasties, the FitzGeralds.
15,644 in the 1980s
#358
Alejandro Alejandro is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "defender of mankind."
15,539 in the 1980s
#359
Spencer Spencer is a name of Middle English origin meaning "steward" or "dispenser of provisions."
15,528 in the 1980s
#360
Beth Beth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath," a short form of Elizabeth, and the seven in the Hebrew is the same idea as the oath.
15,423 in the 1980s
#361
Logan Logan is a name of Scottish origin meaning "little hollow," from the Gaelic lag, meaning a hollow or low-lying place, with a diminutive ending.
15,332 in the 1980s
#362
Hector Hector is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "holding fast," borne by the Trojan prince who is the most sympathetic figure in the Iliad.
15,257 in the 1980s
#363
Mallory Mallory means unlucky, and it is one of very few names built on an insult — the Norman malheuré described someone ill-fated, and it became a surname before anyone used it as a first name.
15,239 in the 1980s
#364
Cristina Cristina shares its root with Kirsten in this same group, but arrived by a southern route — Italian and Spanish rather than Scandinavian, from the Greek word for a follower of the anointed one.
15,174 in the 1980s
#365
Latasha
15,109 in the 1980s
#366
Virginia Virginia is a girl's name from a Roman family name, and the American state was named before the name became common in America — both honoring Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.
15,078 in the 1980s
#367
Ruben Ruben is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "behold, a son."
15,000 in the 1980s
#368
Wayne Wayne is an occupational surname meaning a wagon maker, and its life as a given name follows one man — John Wayne, who was born Marion Robert Morrison and renamed by a studio.
14,886 in the 1980s
#369
Deborah Deborah is a girl's name from the Hebrew for bee, borne by the only woman to lead Israel as a judge.
14,849 in the 1980s
#370
Katelyn Katelyn is one of five respellings that divided the same sound in the 1990s, and Ireland ranks it 292nd — far above the United States at 1,078th, the reverse of how its sister spelling Kaitlyn behaves.
14,815 in the 1980s
#371
Audrey Audrey is a girl's name of Old English origin meaning "noble strength," from Æthelthryth.
14,797 in the 1980s
#372
Brendan Brendan is not Irish in origin — it comes from a Welsh word meaning a prince, borrowed into Irish, and its saint is credited with a transatlantic voyage six centuries before Columbus.
14,708 in the 1980s
#373
Regina Regina is the Latin word for a queen, taken unchanged, and it is still the legal abbreviation in British courts — every criminal case against a defendant is formally Regina versus the accused.
14,665 in the 1980s
#374
Javier Javier means the new house, and it is Basque rather than Spanish — Saint Francis Xavier was named for his family's castle at Xabier, so the name is a place that became a surname and then a first name.
14,618 in the 1980s
#375
Grant Grant means tall or large, from a Norman French nickname — and it has nothing to do with granting or giving, which is a different word that arrived in English by a separate route.
14,603 in the 1980s
#376
Carla Carla is a girl's name meaning free man, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo.
14,559 in the 1980s
#377
Dylan Dylan is a boy's name of Welsh origin meaning "great tide" or "sea," from the elements dy and llanw.
14,471 in the 1980s
#378
Roy Roy is a boy's name with two independent sources — the Gaelic ruadh, meaning red-haired, and the French roi, meaning king.
14,455 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
#380
Bruce Bruce is a boy's name from a Norman place name, and Scotland's most famous king carried it as an import — the Bruces came from Normandy, not from Scotland.
14,425 in the 1980s
#381
Cheryl Cheryl is a girl's name coined in twentieth-century America, probably by blending Cherie with Beryl.
14,364 in the 1980s
#382
Olivia Olivia is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "olive tree," used as the feminine form of Oliver.
14,136 in the 1980s
#383
Edwin Edwin is a boy's name from Old English meaning rich friend, borne by a Northumbrian king whose fortress may have given Edinburgh its name.
14,020 in the 1980s
#384
Claudia Claudia means lame, and it comes from one of Rome's most powerful families.
13,994 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.