1990s Baby Names

22,091 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

#620
Kyra Kyra means lady, and the Greek behind it is the feminine of the word Christians use for the Lord — kyrios, as in kyrie eleison, which is the oldest Greek surviving in the Latin mass.
8,952 in the 1990s
#621
Vivian Vivian is a name of Latin origin meaning "alive" or "lively," from vivus.
8,928 in the 1990s
#622
Madeleine Madeleine is a girl's name meaning "of Magdala," a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, and it is a place name rather than a description.
8,927 in the 1990s
#625
Barbara Barbara is a girl's name from the Greek for foreign or strange, the feminine of the word that gives us barbarian.
8,885 in the 1990s
#628
Carissa
8,820 in the 1990s
#629
Ruth Ruth is a girl's name of Hebrew origin usually given as "companion" or "friend," though the derivation is not secure.
8,754 in the 1990s
#630
Hillary
8,753 in the 1990s
#632
Tiana
8,683 in the 1990s
#634
Madelyn Madelyn is a girl's name and a modern American respelling of Madeline, which descends from Magdalene — meaning "of Magdala," a town on the Sea of Galilee.
8,640 in the 1990s
#635
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a girl's name taken from the New York borough, whose name comes from the Dutch village of Breukelen.
8,627 in the 1990s
#636
Annie Annie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "grace" or "favor."
8,620 in the 1990s
#637
Sharon Sharon is a girl's name taken from a place rather than a person — the fertile coastal plain of Sharon in Israel, known from the rose of Sharon in the Song of Songs.
8,603 in the 1990s
#639
Sadie Sadie is a girl's name that began as a pet form of Sarah, the Hebrew name meaning "princess" or "noblewoman."
8,585 in the 1990s
#641
Mckenna Mckenna means son of the fire god, and the name is 100 percent female in our records — the Mac is a literal patronymic and Cionaodh names a pre-Christian deity, neither of which has been softened.
8,552 in the 1990s
#643
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.
8,529 in the 1990s
#644
Rose Rose is a girl's name of Latin origin naming the flower, from rosa.
8,508 in the 1990s
#645
Arielle Arielle is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "lion of God".
8,506 in the 1990s
#646
Anastasia Anastasia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "resurrection."
8,500 in the 1990s
#649
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.
8,488 in the 1990s
#651
Serena Serena has the most evenly spread ranking on this site — Scotland 298th, Ireland 310th, the United States 325th, France 330th and England and Wales 381st, five markets inside 83 places of each other.
8,444 in the 1990s
#652
Carla Carla is a girl's name meaning free man, the Italian and Spanish feminine of Carlo.
8,435 in the 1990s
#653
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.
8,428 in the 1990s
#654
Helen Helen is a girl's name from Greek whose meaning is not settled, though torch and shining are the usual readings.
8,425 in the 1990s
#655
Imani
8,412 in the 1990s
#657
Kyla Kyla means a narrow strait if it comes from Kyle, and the Scottish word behind that names a specific kind of water — a channel between an island and the mainland, as at Kyle of Lochalsh.
8,379 in the 1990s
#659
Deja
8,319 in the 1990s
#667
Liliana Liliana is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "lily," an elaborated form of Lily from lilium.
8,160 in the 1990s
#672
Kellie Kellie has no settled meaning — the Irish Ceallach has been read as bright-headed, as strife, and as one who frequents churches, and the three readings are not close to reconciling.
8,102 in the 1990s
#677
Eva Eva is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "life" or "living."
8,024 in the 1990s
#678
Sophie Sophie is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom," the French form of Sophia.
7,993 in the 1990s
#679
Natalia Natalia is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "birthday," specifically Christmas Day.
7,985 in the 1990s
#684
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.
7,931 in the 1990s
#686
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.
7,903 in the 1990s
#687
Ann Ann is a girl's name from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning grace or favor, and the spelling without the final e.
7,897 in the 1990s
#689
Aaliyah Aaliyah is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "exalted" or "sublime," the feminine of Ali.
7,850 in the 1990s
#690
Valeria Valeria is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "strong" or "healthy."
7,833 in the 1990s
#691
Sofia Sofia is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "wisdom," the Romance- and Slavic-language spelling of Sophia.
7,832 in the 1990s
#692
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.
7,832 in the 1990s
#695
Delaney Delaney names a river, not a challenger — the Irish behind it is the dark one of the Slaney, so the dark challenger gloss that appears everywhere online mistakes a place for a fight.
7,730 in the 1990s
#698
Juliana Juliana means youthful, from the Roman family that claimed descent from Venus — and it is the name of a Dutch queen who abdicated in favor of her daughter, as her mother and daughter both did in turn.
7,724 in the 1990s
#700
Nikki Nikki means victory of the people, and both halves of the Greek are collective — nike is the victory and laos is the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
7,663 in the 1990s
#703
Marisol
7,645 in the 1990s
#704
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.
7,599 in the 1990s
#707
Deborah Deborah is a girl's name from the Hebrew for bee, borne by the only woman to lead Israel as a judge.
7,579 in the 1990s
#709
Melody Melody is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "song" or "singing," from melodia.
7,527 in the 1990s
#710
Elisabeth Elisabeth is a girl's name meaning God is my oath, and the s-spelling is the older one — it follows the Greek and German, while the English z is a later change.
7,513 in the 1990s
#713
Kierra
7,481 in the 1990s
#715
Karissa
7,446 in the 1990s

What made a 1990s name

Nothing about the sound of it. A name is on this page because children in the United States were registered with it between 1990 and 1999, and its position is simply how many. Every list of "1990s names" you will find elsewhere is somebody's sense of the period; this one is the register.

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.