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

#385
Autumn Autumn is a girl's name taken from the English word for the season, which comes through French from the Latin autumnus.
13,891 in the 1980s
#386
Omar Omar is a boy's name of Arabic origin meaning "flourishing" or "long-lived."
13,809 in the 1980s
#387
Nina Nina is a girl's name with several unrelated origins.
13,713 in the 1980s
#388
Janet Janet is a girl's name, a Scottish diminutive of Jane meaning God is gracious.
13,671 in the 1980s
#389
Reginald Reginald means counsel-power, and England and Wales ranks it 229th on 217 births against 1,285th in the United States — one of the sharpest British-versus-American splits in this group.
13,670 in the 1980s
#390
Brad Brad means broad clearing, shortened from Bradley — and the broad element is the same word as the modern English broad, one of the few Old English place-name terms still transparent.
13,643 in the 1980s
#391
Kristine Kristine means a follower of Christ, and it is the fourth spelling of this name to appear in this group — after Kristin, Kristen and Kristina, all four of them American-led rather than Scandinavian.
13,628 in the 1980s
#392
Kate Kate is a girl's name of Greek origin, a short form of Katherine whose meaning has never been established.
13,618 in the 1980s
#393
Jacquelyn Jacquelyn means supplanter, and the chain is long — it is an American respelling of Jacqueline, the French feminine of Jacques, which is James, which is Jacob.
13,448 in the 1980s
#394
Carmen Carmen has two unrelated sources — the Latin word for a song, and a Spanish Marian title from Mount Carmel in Israel.
13,436 in the 1980s
#395
Julian Julian is a boy's name of Latin origin, derived from the Roman family name Julius.
13,410 in the 1980s
#396
Fernando Fernando means bold journey, and it is Germanic rather than Spanish — the Visigoths brought it to Iberia, where it became the royal name of Castile and Aragon and then traveled to the Americas.
13,355 in the 1980s
#397
Cara Cara is a girl's name with two independent sources: the Italian cara, meaning "dear" or "beloved," and the Irish cara, meaning "friend."
13,317 in the 1980s
#398
Sergio Sergio means servant, from a Roman family name that is probably Etruscan — and Virgil gave the Sergii a Trojan ancestor, which is the Aeneid doing genealogical work for Rome's aristocracy.
13,294 in the 1980s
#399
Darrell Darrell does not mean beloved.
13,291 in the 1980s
#400
Aimee Aimee means beloved, and it is grammatically passive — the French past participle of aimer, to love, so the name says she who is loved rather than she who loves.
13,225 in the 1980s
#401
Mandy Mandy means she who must be loved, and the grammar matters — Amanda is a Latin gerundive, a form expressing obligation, so the name is closer to an instruction than a description.
13,192 in the 1980s
#402
Martha Martha is a girl's name of Aramaic origin meaning "lady" or "mistress of the house."
13,187 in the 1980s
#403
Frederick Frederick is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "peaceful ruler."
13,182 in the 1980s
#404
Donna Donna is a girl's name from the Italian word for a lady, a title used as a name.
13,117 in the 1980s
#405
Jermaine Jermaine means brother, and it is French rather than Germanic — germain is the ordinary word for a full brother, and it has nothing to do with Germany despite appearances.
13,091 in the 1980s
#406
Suzanne Suzanne is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "lily," from shoshannah.
13,040 in the 1980s
#407
Shawna Shawna means God is gracious, and it reaches English from Hebrew through four languages — Yochanan to Greek to Latin to Irish Seán, respelled Shawn and then given an American feminine ending.
13,010 in the 1980s
#408
Haley Haley means hay meadow, from an English place name.
12,918 in the 1980s
#409
Trisha Trisha is the fourth spelling of Patricia on this site, and England now ranks it above America — 1,123rd in England and Wales against 3,484th in the United States, having set its English peak this year.
12,841 in the 1980s
#410
Adriana Adriana means from Hadria, a small town in northern Italy that also named the Adriatic Sea — so both the name and the sea are called after a settlement most people have never heard of.
12,804 in the 1980s
#411
Geoffrey Geoffrey means peace, and only half of it is settled — the second element is agreed, while the first is disputed between three unrelated Germanic words, so the name is half-translatable.
12,797 in the 1980s
#412
Levi Levi is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "joined" or "attached."
12,775 in the 1980s
#413
Micah Micah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "who is like Yahweh?" — a rhetorical question expecting the answer that nobody is.
12,747 in the 1980s
#414
Kasey Kasey means vigilant, and it is one of the more evenly divided names on this site — 73 percent of recorded births are female, against an Irish surname that was of course carried by both.
12,721 in the 1980s
#415
Terrance Terrance respells Terrence, and the name descends from a Roman playwright born enslaved in North Africa — Terence was freed by his owner and his Latin became a school text for centuries.
12,713 in the 1980s
#416
Mindy Mindy has no source of its own — it shortens Melinda, whose second half is transparent and whose first half nobody has explained, so the name inherits half a meaning.
12,685 in the 1980s
#417
Dominic Dominic is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "of the Lord," from dominus.
12,646 in the 1980s
#418
Janelle Janelle is an American elaboration rather than an inherited name — Jane with a French-looking ending attached, built in the twentieth century by the same habit that produced Danielle, Rochelle and Michelle.
12,637 in the 1980s
#419
Bianca Bianca means white, and France ranks it 242nd — ahead of Ireland at 373rd, the United States at 501st, England and Wales at 548th and Scotland at 742nd.
12,554 in the 1980s
#420
Carly Carly means free man, and the Germanic word named a free peasant rather than a lord — so a name that now reads as light and modern began at the bottom of the free classes.
12,548 in the 1980s
#421
Kaitlin Kaitlin reached English through Irish, not from it — Catherine went into Old French as Cateline, into Irish as Caitlín, and back out again respelled.
12,498 in the 1980s
#422
Noah Noah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "rest" or "comfort," from Noach.
12,488 in the 1980s
#423
Rafael Rafael is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God heals."
12,431 in the 1980s
#424
Jerome Jerome is a boy's name meaning sacred name, and it belongs to the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin — the version Western Europe read for over a thousand years.
12,309 in the 1980s
#425
Pedro Pedro means stone, and the name records a nickname Jesus gave — Simon was renamed Cephas in Aramaic, which Greek translated as Petros, so the pun on rock survives through three languages.
12,295 in the 1980s
#426
Raul Raul means wolf counsel, and it is the same name as Ralph and Rudolph — one Norse compound that entered Spanish, English and German separately and ended up looking like three different names.
12,242 in the 1980s
#427
Toni Toni has no established meaning, because Antonia does not — the Roman family name Antonius is probably Etruscan, and the flower reading attached to Anthony is a Renaissance invention.
12,229 in the 1980s
#428
Summer Summer is a girl's name of Old English origin taken from the season, from sumor.
12,227 in the 1980s
#429
Bonnie Bonnie is a girl's name of Scots origin meaning "pretty" or "fine."
12,213 in the 1980s
#430
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
12,198 in the 1980s
#431
Ronnie Ronnie is a name of Old Norse origin meaning "ruler's counsel."
12,091 in the 1980s
#432
Theodore Theodore is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God," formed from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
12,046 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.