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

24 names, uncommon — 100 to 499 a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Jenna Jenna is a girl's name that began as an elaboration of Jenny and is now used independently.
Girl English 418 in 2025
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 365 in 2025
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 370 in 2025
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 352 in 2025
Corey Corey is a boy's name from an Irish surname, generally given as dweller near a hollow.
Boy Irish 351 in 2025
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 320 in 2025
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 288 in 2025
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 304 in 2025
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 251 in 2025
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 202 in 2025
Crystal Crystal is a girl's name from the Greek for ice, taken from the mineral rather than from any personal name.
Girl Greek 202 in 2025
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 193 in 2025
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 174 in 2025
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 177 in 2025
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 146 in 2025
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 161 in 2025
Brett Brett means a Breton — someone from Brittany, which is named for the Britons who fled there when the Anglo-Saxons arrived.
Boy English 144 in 2025
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 156 in 2025
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 151 in 2025
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 109 in 2025
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 123 in 2025
Kristina Kristina means a follower of Christ, the Scandinavian and Slavic form of Christina.
Girl Scandinavian 118 in 2025
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 102 in 2025
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 106 in 2025

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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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Eighties Names

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