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

#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
#716
Kira Kira has three unrelated sources — the Irish for dark, a Russian feminine of the Persian for lord, and a Japanese word for glittering — and nothing in the spelling tells you which one a given Kira belongs to.
7,439 in the 1990s
#719
Makenzie Makenzie means son of the handsome one, which is an odd fit for a name that is 99 percent female on record — the Gaelic Mac is a patronymic, and it has not been reinterpreted.
7,398 in the 1990s
#721
Paris Paris has two unrelated sources — the Trojan prince and the French city — and France barely uses it, ranking the name 7,188th while the United States has it at 592nd and 80 percent female.
7,316 in the 1990s
#722
Sonia Sonia is not a name in its own right in Russian — it is the everyday pet form of Sofia, and it means wisdom.
7,282 in the 1990s
#723
Isabelle Isabelle is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath."
7,276 in the 1990s
#726
Tina Tina is a girl's name that serves as the tail end of several unrelated names — Christina, Martina, Valentina and Bettina — so its meaning depends entirely on which one a family had in mind.
7,206 in the 1990s
#728
Chelsie
7,198 in the 1990s
#729
Tierra
7,190 in the 1990s
#730
Nadia Nadia means hope, from the Russian word, and it charts in all seven markets — Ireland 293rd, Scotland 312th, Northern Ireland 329th, England and Wales 501st, the United States 565th and France 754th.
7,146 in the 1990s
#733
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.
7,111 in the 1990s
#735
Josephine Josephine is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "he will add," the French feminine form of Joseph.
7,059 in the 1990s
#740
Macy
6,966 in the 1990s
#741
Kali Kali is a girl's name of Sanskrit origin naming the Hindu goddess, from kala meaning both black and time.
6,960 in the 1990s
#742
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.
6,927 in the 1990s
#743
Francesca Francesca is a girl's name of Italian origin meaning "free one" or "Frenchwoman."
6,909 in the 1990s
#745
Mikaela
6,905 in the 1990s
#748
Julianna Julianna descends from a Roman family name whose meaning was never settled — downy-bearded and devoted to Jove are both proposed for Julius, and the family's own claim was descent from Venus.
6,894 in the 1990s
#749
Lorena Lorena is a place before it is a person — Lorraine is the land of Lothar, a Frankish king whose kingdom was carved out of Charlemagne's empire and named after him directly.
6,894 in the 1990s
#750
Destinee
6,882 in the 1990s
#752
Bryanna
6,847 in the 1990s
#754
Kailey
6,830 in the 1990s
#756
Bria Bria is a girl's name usually explained as a short form of Brianna, though an Italian source is also proposed.
6,783 in the 1990s
#757
Taryn
6,780 in the 1990s
#758
Brianne
6,763 in the 1990s
#763
Addison Addison is a name of English origin meaning "son of Adam."
6,714 in the 1990s
#764
Jane Jane is a girl's name from the Hebrew for God is gracious, the English feminine of John.
6,713 in the 1990s
#767
Kayleigh Kayleigh is far larger in England than its American figures suggest — 1,206 births in England and Wales in 1996 against a US peak of 1,450, in a country with about a fifth of the population.
6,634 in the 1990s
#768
Alyson
6,614 in the 1990s
#770
Emilee
6,574 in the 1990s
#771
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.
6,546 in the 1990s
#772
Larissa
6,544 in the 1990s
#773
Alaina Alaina descends from a name nobody can translate — the Breton Alan has been read as rock, handsome and deer, and none of the three has ever been established.
6,497 in the 1990s
#778
Alice Alice is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble," arrived at by a long contraction of Adelaide.
6,472 in the 1990s
#781
Paola Paola is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "small" or "humble," the Italian form of Paula.
6,449 in the 1990s
#783
Chasity
6,430 in the 1990s
#785
Sylvia Sylvia is a girl's name from the Latin for a forest, and the mother of Rome's founders bore it — Rhea Silvia, who was made a Vestal Virgin so she could not produce heirs.
6,400 in the 1990s
#786
Paula Paula is a girl's name from the Latin for small or humble, the feminine of Paul.
6,386 in the 1990s
#787
Gianna Gianna is a girl's name of Italian origin meaning "God is gracious."
6,368 in the 1990s
#789
Leticia Leticia means joy, and Napoleon's mother carried it — Letizia Ramolino outlived her son and was styled Madame Mère de l'Empereur, a title created for her alone.
6,324 in the 1990s
#791
Precious
6,320 in the 1990s
#792
Joy Joy is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning exactly what it says, taken from the English word.
6,296 in the 1990s
#793
Kaitlynn
6,280 in the 1990s
#794
Clara Clara is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "bright" or "clear," from clarus.
6,271 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.