Most Popular Baby Names of 1980

In 1980, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jennifer for girls and Michael for boys. Jennifer was given to 58,374 girls and Michael to 68,683 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,444,258 births for names given to at least five babies that year, up from 3,326,804 in 1979. The tables below show the top 100 names for each sex with their rank change from the year before, followed by the biggest movers in the top 1,000.

New to the top 100 this year: Natasha, Lindsey, Monique, Julia, Candice, and Luis.

← 1979 1981 →The 1980s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1980

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Jennifer	58,374	–
2	Amanda	35,811	↑ 1
3	Jessica	33,924	↑ 1
4	Melissa	31,629	↓ 2
5	Sarah	25,757	↑ 1
6	Heather	19,973	↑ 1
7	Nicole	19,917	↑ 2
8	Amy	19,833	↓ 3
9	Elizabeth	19,529	↑ 2
10	Michelle	19,119	–
11	Kimberly	18,497	↑ 1
12	Angela	17,969	↓ 4
13	Stephanie	17,841	↑ 2
14	Tiffany	16,228	↑ 14
15	Christina	16,141	↓ 1
16	Lisa	15,664	↓ 3
17	Rebecca	15,281	–
18	Crystal	14,253	–
19	Kelly	13,710	↓ 3
20	Erin	13,428	↑ 1
21	Laura	12,916	↓ 1
22	Amber	12,553	–
23	Rachel	11,618	↑ 4
24	Jamie	11,529	↓ 5
25	Mary	11,474	↓ 1
26	April	11,472	↓ 3
27	Sara	11,148	↑ 3
28	Andrea	10,450	↓ 2
29	Shannon	9,670	↓ 4
30	Megan	9,134	↑ 1
31	Emily	9,001	↑ 3
32	Julie	8,906	↓ 3
33	Danielle	8,845	–
34	Erica	8,760	↓ 2
35	Katherine	8,017	↑ 1
36	Maria	7,875	↑ 1
37	Kristin	7,701	↑ 36
38	Lauren	7,476	↑ 7
39	Kristen	7,316	↑ 23
40	Ashley	7,296	↑ 27
41	Christine	7,085	↓ 6
42	Brandy	6,410	↓ 3
43	Tara	6,283	↓ 5
44	Katie	6,137	↑ 19
45	Monica	6,034	↓ 5
46	Carrie	5,761	↓ 5
47	Alicia	5,753	–
48	Courtney	5,618	↑ 23
49	Misty	5,541	↓ 7
50	Kathryn	5,527	–
51	Patricia	5,310	↓ 7
52	Holly	5,282	↓ 4
53	Stacy	5,057	↓ 10
54	Karen	5,055	↓ 8
55	Anna	5,038	↑ 4
56	Tracy	4,969	↓ 7
57	Brooke	4,951	↑ 28
58	Samantha	4,913	↑ 8
59	Allison	4,868	↑ 11
60	Melanie	4,841	↓ 7
61	Leslie	4,776	↑ 4
62	Susan	4,704	↓ 11
63	Brandi	4,703	↓ 2
64	Cynthia	4,700	↓ 9
65	Natalie	4,645	↑ 3
66	Jill	4,558	↓ 14
67	Dawn	4,479	↓ 10
68	Dana	4,438	↓ 14
69	Vanessa	4,426	↑ 6
70	Veronica	4,378	↑ 6
71	Lindsay	4,353	↑ 17
72	Tina	4,260	↓ 14
73	Kristina	4,222	↑ 1
74	Stacey	4,222	↓ 14
75	Wendy	4,141	↓ 11
76	Lori	4,085	↓ 7
77	Catherine	4,080	↑ 1
78	Kristy	4,059	↓ 22
79	Heidi	4,027	↑ 4
80	Sandra	4,002	↓ 3
81	Jacqueline	3,879	↓ 1
82	Kathleen	3,857	↑ 2
83	Christy	3,673	↓ 11
84	Leah	3,642	↑ 14
85	Valerie	3,613	↑ 4
86	Pamela	3,533	↑ 4
87	Erika	3,516	↑ 4
88	Tanya	3,436	↑ 5
89	Natasha	3,428	↑ 21
90	Katrina	3,397	↑ 9
91	Lindsey	3,386	↑ 22
92	Melinda	3,201	↓ 10
93	Monique	3,163	↑ 48
94	Teresa	3,149	↓ 7
95	Denise	3,145	↓ 3
96	Tammy	3,134	↓ 17
97	Tonya	3,080	↓ 11
98	Julia	3,069	↑ 24
99	Candice	3,012	↑ 29
100	Gina	2,991	↓ 4

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	68,683	–
2	Christopher	49,079	–
3	Jason	48,164	–
4	David	41,891	–
5	James	39,312	–
6	Matthew	37,834	–
7	Joshua	36,052	↑ 2
8	John	35,274	↓ 1
9	Robert	34,266	↓ 1
10	Joseph	30,185	↑ 1
11	Daniel	29,888	↑ 1
12	Brian	28,715	↓ 2
13	Justin	26,763	↑ 9
14	William	25,639	↓ 1
15	Ryan	24,795	↓ 1
16	Eric	22,611	↑ 1
17	Nicholas	21,018	↓ 2
18	Jeremy	19,892	↓ 2
19	Andrew	19,730	↑ 1
20	Timothy	19,146	↓ 2
21	Jonathan	18,986	↑ 10
22	Adam	18,868	↑ 1
23	Kevin	17,972	↓ 4
24	Anthony	17,604	↓ 3
25	Thomas	17,564	↑ 1
26	Richard	16,656	↓ 1
27	Jeffrey	16,379	↓ 3
28	Steven	15,916	↓ 1
29	Charles	14,959	↓ 1
30	Mark	14,169	–
31	Brandon	14,161	↑ 4
32	Benjamin	13,622	↑ 1
33	Scott	13,300	↓ 4
34	Aaron	13,166	↓ 2
35	Paul	11,819	↓ 1
36	Nathan	11,138	↑ 1
37	Travis	10,764	↓ 1
38	Patrick	10,352	↑ 1
39	Chad	10,142	↓ 1
40	Stephen	10,062	–
41	Kenneth	9,608	–
42	Gregory	9,267	–
43	Jacob	8,520	↑ 2
44	Dustin	8,416	↑ 18
45	Jesse	8,374	↑ 5
46	Jose	8,323	↓ 2
47	Shawn	7,698	↓ 4
48	Sean	7,596	↑ 1
49	Bryan	7,513	↓ 3
50	Derek	7,240	↑ 22
51	Bradley	7,210	↓ 4
52	Edward	6,762	↓ 4
53	Donald	6,269	↓ 2
54	Samuel	6,014	↑ 1
55	Peter	5,967	↓ 2
56	Keith	5,887	↓ 4
57	Kyle	5,775	↓ 1
58	Ronald	5,757	↓ 4
59	Juan	5,434	↑ 2
60	George	5,300	↓ 3
61	Jared	5,205	↑ 4
62	Douglas	5,180	↓ 4
63	Gary	5,037	↓ 4
64	Erik	4,918	↑ 2
65	Phillip	4,633	↑ 3
66	Raymond	4,578	↑ 4
67	Joel	4,564	↑ 4
68	Corey	4,437	↓ 5
69	Shane	4,365	↓ 2
70	Larry	4,262	↓ 1
71	Marcus	4,260	↑ 5
72	Zachary	4,245	↑ 2
73	Craig	4,234	↑ 4
74	Derrick	4,135	↑ 6
75	Todd	4,128	↓ 15
76	Jeremiah	4,093	↑ 5
77	Antonio	4,085	↑ 2
78	Carlos	4,084	↓ 5
79	Shaun	3,923	↓ 15
80	Dennis	3,804	↓ 5
81	Frank	3,734	↓ 3
82	Philip	3,563	↑ 1
83	Cory	3,556	↓ 1
84	Brent	3,537	–
85	Gabriel	3,493	↑ 5
86	Nathaniel	3,492	↑ 9
87	Randy	3,390	↓ 1
88	Luis	3,359	↑ 14
89	Curtis	3,332	↑ 2
90	Jeffery	3,324	↓ 3
91	Alexander	3,279	↑ 3
92	Russell	3,269	–
93	Casey	3,215	–
94	Jerry	3,189	↓ 9
95	Wesley	3,165	↓ 6
96	Brett	3,128	↑ 2
97	Luke	3,109	↑ 13
98	Lucas	3,080	↑ 10
99	Seth	3,050	↑ 2
100	Billy	2,991	↓ 3

Biggest movers of 1980

Changes in rank within the top 1,000 compared with the year before.

Rising Girls

Loni ↑ 420 #570
Renata ↑ 391 #336
Syreeta ↑ 387 #569
Caitlin ↑ 312 #365
Christin ↑ 310 #422
Alaina ↑ 307 #501
Cristin ↑ 278 #698
Taylor ↑ 254 #715
Kristyn ↑ 253 #745
Christen ↑ 232 #448

Falling Girls

Viviana ↓ 307 #794
Alysia ↓ 266 #955
Crissy ↓ 256 #922
Windy ↓ 245 #976
Qiana ↓ 232 #788
Meghann ↓ 214 #731
Kylene ↓ 211 #990
Maren ↓ 210 #943
Malissa ↓ 205 #793
Alycia ↓ 198 #983

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Anya, Ariana, Mariana, Renada, Kandice, Kristan, Kendall, Kacie, Latesha, Britney, Tarah, Angelita, Cheyenne, Missy, Dixie

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Kizzy, Winter, January, Kylee, Carisa, Latonia, Tawanna, Kenisha, Rae, Spring, Joey, Tamekia, Takisha, Karie, Shaunna

Rising Boys

Bo ↑ 298 #568
Dusty ↑ 255 #359
Chaz ↑ 233 #752
Dario ↑ 223 #770
Jamaal ↑ 221 #382
Dillon ↑ 205 #673
Cole ↑ 163 #516
Kelley ↑ 158 #839
Derik ↑ 156 #638
Dereck ↑ 151 #701

Falling Boys

Levar ↓ 269 #915
Jace ↓ 217 #932
Lenny ↓ 171 #914
Dameon ↓ 162 #928
Zebulon ↓ 161 #937
Torrey ↓ 157 #827
Michel ↓ 154 #917
Hiram ↓ 154 #984
Delvin ↓ 152 #819
Kristian ↓ 150 #716

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Yoel, Cristian, Anson, Andrae, Carmen, Michelle, Simeon, Ezequiel, Lazaro, Norberto, Valentin, Carter, Germaine, Hank, Chadd

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Jevon, Thad, Tracey, Wilfred, Terrill, Chaim, Khalid, Frederic, Rian, Tyrel, Anwar, Aurelio, Derrell, Emery, Doug

Other years

Trend lists

Source: US Social Security Administration. Ranks are computed from birth counts for each sex; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are not published.