1990s Baby Names

13,477 names were given to children in the United States between 1990 and 1999, 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

#513
Giovanni Giovanni is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is gracious," the Italian form of John.
11,225 in the 1990s
#517
Billy Billy is a boy's name of Germanic origin meaning "resolute protector."
11,070 in the 1990s
#519
Josiah Josiah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh supports" or "Yahweh heals," from Yoshiyahu.
10,983 in the 1990s
#522
Josue Josue is the same name as Jesus, not merely a relative of it — both descend from the Hebrew Yehoshua, and Greek translators simply rendered it two different ways in two different books.
10,816 in the 1990s
#526
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.
10,794 in the 1990s
#528
Nickolas
10,729 in the 1990s
#532
Roger Roger is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning famous spear.
10,667 in the 1990s
#536
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.
10,543 in the 1990s
#538
Deandre
10,497 in the 1990s
#539
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.
10,482 in the 1990s
#540
Israel Israel means he wrestles with God, and it is a name given after a fight — Jacob receives it in Genesis having wrestled a stranger until dawn and refused to let go without a blessing.
10,456 in the 1990s
#541
Randall Randall is a boy's name from Germanic elements meaning shield-wolf.
10,414 in the 1990s
#542
Jon Jon is a boy's name meaning God is gracious, and it is both an English shortening of Jonathan and the standard Scandinavian and Catalan form of John — two routes to the same three letters.
10,403 in the 1990s
#546
Jamal
10,312 in the 1990s
#547
Arturo Arturo means bear, probably — but Arthur is one of the unsolved names, with a Celtic word for bear and a Roman family name both proposed and neither established.
10,305 in the 1990s
#550
Carter Carter is a name of English origin meaning "one who transports goods by cart."
10,248 in the 1990s
#551
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.
10,246 in the 1990s
#554
Kody
10,207 in the 1990s
#555
Jonah Jonah is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "dove," from Yonah.
10,199 in the 1990s
#558
Alfredo Alfredo means counsel of the elves, and the elves were taken seriously — Anglo-Saxon naming treated them as beings whose advice was worth invoking, not as decoration for a children's story.
10,170 in the 1990s
#560
Dante Dante means enduring, and it is a nickname that outlived its full form — the poet was christened Durante, and almost nobody has used that name since, while the short version became international.
10,145 in the 1990s
#562
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.
10,132 in the 1990s
#563
Theodore Theodore is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God," formed from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
10,113 in the 1990s
#564
Malcolm Malcolm means devotee of Columba, and it is one of only two rising names in this group — 168th in Canada, 272nd in the United States, 362nd in Scotland, 539th in Ireland, 1,333rd in England and Wales and 1,629th in France, and climbing on record rather than falling.
10,076 in the 1990s
#566
Bryant Bryant means noble or high, and the t is a French accident — Norman scribes added it to the Irish Brian, so the surname carries a letter the original name never had.
10,007 in the 1990s
#572
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.
9,852 in the 1990s
#574
Willie Willie is a pet form of William meaning resolute protector, and one of the more mixed names on record — a quarter of the births we hold are female, which is unusual for a name read today as male.
9,848 in the 1990s
#576
Miles Miles is a boy's name of disputed origin, usually connected to the Latin miles, meaning soldier.
9,837 in the 1990s
#578
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.
9,820 in the 1990s
#583
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.
9,737 in the 1990s
#584
Eddie Eddie is a boy's name, the pet form of Edward or Edwin, meaning wealth.
9,736 in the 1990s
#585
Branden
9,729 in the 1990s
#590
Owen Owen is a boy's name of Welsh origin, the anglicized form of Owain.
9,690 in the 1990s
#592
Damon Damon means one who tames, and the story attached to it is about friendship — Damon and Pythias each offered to die in the other's place, which persuaded a tyrant to release them both.
9,654 in the 1990s
#593
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.
9,589 in the 1990s
#596
Ty Ty has no source of its own — it shortens Tyler, Tyrone and Tyson, three names with nothing in common, so which one a given Ty belongs to cannot be read off the name.
9,450 in the 1990s
#601
Aidan Aidan is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "little fire," from Aodh, the name of a fire god.
9,395 in the 1990s
#603
Darian
9,330 in the 1990s
#608
Lorenzo Lorenzo is a boy's name of Latin origin meaning "from Laurentum," the Italian and Spanish form of Laurence.
9,175 in the 1990s
#609
Brock Brock means badger, and it is one of the oldest animal words in English — a Celtic borrowing that entered Old English before the Norman Conquest and survives in dialect to this day.
9,120 in the 1990s
#610
Tommy Tommy is a boy's name of Aramaic origin meaning "twin."
9,110 in the 1990s
#612
Damien Damien is a boy's name meaning to tame, and its saint was a Belgian priest who chose to live in a leper colony and died of the disease.
9,102 in the 1990s
#614
Dominick Dominick means of the Lord, and it was given to children born on a Sunday — dies dominica is the Lord's day, and the name records the day of birth rather than a hope for the child.
9,081 in the 1990s
#615
Johnathon
9,079 in the 1990s
#618
Gustavo Gustavo has no settled meaning, and the two accounts disagree on the language — a Norse staff of the Geats, or a Slavic name reshaped by Swedish, and neither has carried the field.
9,028 in the 1990s
#619
Marquis
9,006 in the 1990s
#623
Elias Elias is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "my God is Yahweh."
8,890 in the 1990s
#624
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.
8,890 in the 1990s

What Made a 1990s Name

Children in the United States were registered with it between 1990 and 1999. 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.