These Were The Most Popular Baby Names In The 1980s

Shoutout to all the '80s babies!
Jill Lehmann Photography via Getty Images

If you’re a child of the ’80s, chances are you knew a lot of Jessicas, Jennifers and Joshuas in school.

That’s because those were some of the most popular baby names in that decade. The Social Security Administration tracks these sorts of trends and keeps lists of the most popular names for every year and decade since the 1880s.

Looking back at the 1980s, there are lots of timeless names, particularly on the boys’ list ― hello, Michael, James and Matthew. But of course other names like Crystal and Tiffany aren’t quite as common for newborns today.

See for yourself: Here are the 50 most popular names for boys and girls born in the U.S. from 1980 to 1989.

Girls

  1. Jessica
  2. Jennifer
  3. Amanda
  4. Ashley
  5. Sarah
  6. Stephanie
  7. Melissa
  8. Nicole
  9. Elizabeth
  10. Heather
  11. Tiffany
  12. Michelle
  13. Amber
  14. Megan
  15. Amy
  16. Rachel
  17. Kimberly
  18. Christina
  19. Lauren
  20. Crystal
  21. Brittany
  22. Rebecca
  23. Laura
  24. Danielle
  25. Emily
  26. Samantha
  27. Angela
  28. Erin
  29. Kelly
  30. Sara
  31. Lisa
  32. Katherine
  33. Andrea
  34. Jamie
  35. Mary
  36. Erica
  37. Courtney
  38. Kristen
  39. Shannon
  40. April
  41. Katie
  42. Lindsey
  43. Kristin
  44. Lindsay
  45. Christine
  46. Alicia
  47. Vanessa
  48. Maria
  49. Kathryn
  50. Allison

Boys

  1. Michael
  2. Christopher
  3. Matthew
  4. Joshua
  5. David
  6. James
  7. Daniel
  8. Robert
  9. John
  10. Joseph
  11. Jason
  12. Justin
  13. Andrew
  14. Ryan
  15. William
  16. Brian
  17. Brandon
  18. Jonathan
  19. Nicholas
  20. Anthony
  21. Eric
  22. Adam
  23. Kevin
  24. Thomas
  25. Steven
  26. Timothy
  27. Richard
  28. Jeremy
  29. Jeffrey
  30. Kyle
  31. Benjamin
  32. Aaron
  33. Charles
  34. Mark
  35. Jacob
  36. Stephen
  37. Patrick
  38. Scott
  39. Nathan
  40. Paul
  41. Sean
  42. Travis
  43. Zachary
  44. Dustin
  45. Gregory
  46. Kenneth
  47. Jose
  48. Tyler
  49. Jesse
  50. Alexander

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE