Eighties Names

Names that peaked in the 1980s, when the American charts turned over faster than at any point before. A large share are respellings and inventions rather than revivals, which is what makes the decade recognisable at a glance.

Rankings for

67 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Justin Justin is a boy's name from the Latin for just or righteous.
Boy Latin #233 in US
Derek Derek is a boy's name from the Germanic Theodoric, meaning ruler of the people — and it is the same name as Terry and Thierry, three forms of one original that no longer resemble each other.
Boy Germanic #284 in US
Bryan Bryan is a boy's name of Irish origin whose meaning is unsettled — noble and high are both proposed.
Boy Irish #336 in US
Mallory Mallory means unlucky, and it is one of very few names built on an insult — the Norman malheuré described someone ill-fated, and it became a surname before anyone used it as a first name.
Girl French #372 in US
Vanessa Vanessa was invented by Jonathan Swift around 1713, built from the name of a woman he was writing to — and it later became the name of a genus of butterflies.
Girl English #377 in US
Nicole Nicole is a girl's name, the French feminine of Nicholas, meaning victory of the people.
Girl French #382 in US
Bradley Bradley is a boy's name from an English place name meaning broad meadow.
Boy English #403 in US
Travis Travis is a boy's name from an occupational surname meaning a toll collector, one who worked at a crossing.
Boy English #434 in US
Amanda Amanda is a girl's name from the Latin for she who must be loved, and one of the few names on this site that can be dated to a specific literary invention — Colley Cibber used it for a character in his 1696 play Love's Last Shift.
Girl Latin #493 in US
Danielle Danielle is a girl's name, the French feminine of Daniel, from a Hebrew name meaning God is my judge.
Girl French #550 in US
Stephanie Stephanie is a girl's name from the Greek for crown or garland, the feminine of Stephen.
Girl Greek #557 in US
Jenna Jenna is a girl's name that began as an elaboration of Jenny and is now used independently.
Girl English #679 in US
Dustin Dustin is a boy's name from the Old Norse Thorstein, meaning Thor's stone — the dust in the spelling is pure coincidence.
Boy Norse #728 in US
Lacey Lacey means from Lassy, a place in Normandy, and Scotland ranks it 308th — its strongest market, ahead of Northern Ireland at 475th and England at 480th, with the United States back at 738th.
Girl French #738 in US
Christina Christina is a girl's name from the Latin for a follower of Christ, and the fullest of the family that includes Christine and Kristina.
Girl Latin #770 in US
Corey Corey is a boy's name from an Irish surname, generally given as dweller near a hollow.
Boy Irish #779 in US
Kendra Kendra has no settled origin — a feminine of Kenneth, a Welsh compound meaning greatest champion, and an invention from Ken plus a fashionable ending are all proposed, and none is established.
Girl American #849 in US
Derrick Derrick means ruler of the people, and the crane is named after a man — Thomas Derrick, an Elizabethan hangman whose gallows design was distinctive enough that his name became the word for it.
Boy Germanic #852 in US
Tiffany Tiffany is a medieval name meaning manifestation of God, given to girls born at Epiphany — a genuinely old name that now reads as thoroughly modern.
Girl Greek #879 in US
Whitney Whitney was already climbing before Whitney Houston, and the debut album accelerated it rather than starting it — 1,632 births in 1982, 2,488 by 1984, then 4,068 in 1985 and 9,781 in 1986.
Girl English #1,044 in US
Natasha Natasha means born on Christmas day, and it is a Russian pet form rather than a full name — Natalya is the formal version, and Russians would not use Natasha on a document.
Girl Russian #1,146 in US
Crystal Crystal is a girl's name from the Greek for ice, taken from the mineral rather than from any personal name.
Girl Greek #1,148 in US
Angelique Angelique means angelic, and the Greek root behind it simply means a messenger — the wings arrived much later in art, layered onto an ordinary word that described a person carrying news from one place to another.
Girl French #1,197 in US
Cory Cory has at least three unrelated origins — a Norse island name, an Irish surname and a Greek word for a maiden — and English cannot distinguish them.
Boy Scottish #1,248 in US
Jillian Jillian means youthful, and it descends from the same Roman family name as July — Julius, Julia, Jill and Jillian all come from the gens that claimed descent from Venus.
Girl English #1,271 in US
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.
Boy Irish #1,327 in US
Lindsey Lindsey is a girl's name from a district of Lincolnshire, and it originally meant an island — Lindsey was cut off by marsh and river, so the wetland reading and the island reading describe the same place.
Girl English #1,371 in US
Brett Brett means a Breton — someone from Brittany, which is named for the Britons who fled there when the Anglo-Saxons arrived.
Boy English #1,385 in US
Erica Erica is a girl's name with two independent sources: the feminine of Eric, meaning eternal ruler, and the botanical Latin name of heather.
Girl Norse #1,397 in US
Desiree Desiree means desired, and it began as a Puritan virtue name rather than a French one — Desiderius was a late Roman Christian name for a longed-for child, and French inherited it before English did.
Girl French #1,431 in US
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.
Boy American #1,565 in US
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.
Girl French #1,677 in US
Kristina Kristina means a follower of Christ, the Scandinavian and Slavic form of Christina.
Girl Scandinavian #1,727 in US
Meghan Meghan means pearl, through Megan and Margaret, and the h is an American addition — Welsh spells it Megan, and the extra letter appeared in twentieth-century American use with no basis in the original.
Girl Welsh #1,910 in US
Kristen Kristen is a girl's name meaning a follower of Christ, and in Denmark it is a man's name — the Danish Kristen is masculine and Kirsten the feminine.
Girl Danish #1,994 in US
Krystal Krystal means ice, and the Greeks believed rock crystal was water frozen so hard it could never melt — which is why the same word names both the mineral and the frost.
Girl American #2,123 in US
Lindsay Lindsay and Lindsey are the same place — a district of Lincolnshire that was effectively an island in fen.
Girl Scottish #2,202 in US
Katrina Katrina has no securely known meaning, because Catherine does not — the Greek original has never been derived, and the pure reading was attached centuries later by a false association.
Girl German #2,238 in US
Jaclyn Jaclyn compresses Jacqueline, and the name underneath means heel-grabber — Jacob was born gripping his twin's heel, and every Jack, Jacques and Jacqueline descends from that description.
Girl American #2,790 in US
Brandy Brandy is named for the drink, and the drink means burned wine — the Dutch brandewijn described wine heated to distil it, so the name records a manufacturing process rather than a quality.
Girl English #3,084 in US
Candace Candace is a job title mistaken for a name — Kandake was the word for the queen mother of Kush, and Acts uses it as though it were personal, so a Sudanese royal office became an American given name.
Girl English #3,205 in US
Nichole Nichole means victory of the people, and the compound is political — the Greek joins a word for victory to one meaning the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
Girl English #3,367 in US
Krista Krista means a follower of Christ, and it is the sixth spelling of this name family to appear in our gap band — after Kristin, Kristen, Kristina, Kristine and Kristi.
Girl German #3,710 in US
Ashlee Ashlee is the third spelling of one name on this site, alongside Ashleigh and Ashlyn — all descend from the Old English for an ash-tree clearing, and the ash was the tree spears were made from.
Girl American #3,860 in US
Aurélie Aurélie is a French girl's name meaning golden, from a Roman family name.
Girl French #3,924 in US
Loïc Loïc is Breton, and its parentage is disputed — Louis and Eloi are both proposed, and the two are unrelated.
Boy Breton #4,096 in US
Kristin Kristin is a girl's name meaning a follower of Christ, and it is the smaller of a pair — Kristen holds 222,720 recorded births to its 181,344, and both charted only ever in America.
Girl Norwegian #4,756 in US
Brandi Brandi respells Brandy, and the drink behind it means burned wine — the Dutch brandewijn described wine heated to distill it.
Girl English #4,804 in US

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A style is our reading of a name. A decade is the register — the names children were actually given, in order, with the counts.

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