1990s Baby Names

22,219 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

#611
Alondra Alondra means lark, and a Roman legion was named for the bird — Caesar raised the Legio V Alaudae in Gaul and it took the lark's name, probably from crested plumes on the helmets.
9,109 in the 1990s
#613
Genesis Genesis is a name taken from the Greek word genesis, meaning "origin" or "beginning."
9,094 in the 1990s
#616
Savanna
9,048 in the 1990s
#617
Alexia Alexia means defender, and it is also a clinical term — alexia is the medical name for acquired inability to read, from the same Greek root by a completely separate route.
9,039 in the 1990s
#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 Hillary is a girl's name meaning "cheerful" or "happy," from the Latin hilaris.
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
#642
Mckenna Mckenna means son of the fire god, and the name is 100 percent female on record — 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
#648
Sasha Sasha is a unisex name of Greek origin meaning "defender of men," the Russian familiar form of Alexander.
8,490 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 Imani is a girl's name in the United States, also used for boys, meaning "faith" or "belief."
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
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
#692
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
#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
#702
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

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.