Most Popular Baby Names of 1981

In 1981, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jennifer for girls and Michael for boys. Jennifer was given to 57,046 girls and Michael to 68,750 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,459,237 births for names given to at least five babies that year, up from 3,444,258 in 1980. 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: Latoya, Diana, Victoria, Renee, Theresa, and Tyler.

← 1980 1982 →The 1980s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1981

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Jennifer	57,046	–
2	Jessica	42,531	↑ 1
3	Amanda	34,372	↓ 1
4	Sarah	28,175	↑ 1
5	Melissa	28,005	↓ 1
6	Amy	20,345	↑ 2
7	Nicole	20,310	–
8	Stephanie	20,212	↑ 5
9	Elizabeth	20,168	–
10	Heather	17,946	↓ 4
11	Michelle	17,781	↓ 1
12	Rebecca	16,737	↑ 5
13	Kimberly	16,689	↓ 2
14	Tiffany	16,416	–
15	Angela	15,924	↓ 3
16	Crystal	15,888	↑ 2
17	Christina	14,392	↓ 2
18	Lisa	14,294	↓ 2
19	Erin	13,853	↑ 1
20	Amber	13,814	↑ 2
21	Laura	13,292	–
22	Rachel	12,590	↑ 1
23	Kelly	11,873	↓ 4
24	Andrea	11,686	↑ 4
25	April	11,406	↑ 1
26	Sara	11,359	↑ 1
27	Mary	11,042	↓ 2
28	Jamie	10,982	↓ 4
29	Emily	10,799	↑ 2
30	Danielle	10,038	↑ 3
31	Kristin	9,737	↑ 6
32	Shannon	9,226	↓ 3
33	Megan	8,964	↓ 3
34	Ashley	8,874	↑ 6
35	Lauren	8,813	↑ 3
36	Erica	8,626	↓ 2
37	Julie	8,567	↓ 5
38	Kristen	8,540	↑ 1
39	Katherine	8,433	↓ 4
40	Maria	7,681	↓ 4
41	Brandy	6,898	↑ 1
42	Christine	6,854	↓ 1
43	Courtney	6,636	↑ 5
44	Katie	6,600	–
45	Tara	6,366	↓ 2
46	Alicia	5,855	↑ 1
47	Lindsay	5,843	↑ 24
48	Kathryn	5,823	↑ 2
49	Monica	5,782	↓ 4
50	Brandi	5,527	↑ 13
51	Samantha	5,516	↑ 7
52	Brooke	5,328	↑ 5
53	Patricia	5,284	↓ 2
54	Anna	5,192	↑ 1
55	Carrie	5,094	↓ 9
56	Leslie	4,934	↑ 5
57	Allison	4,904	↑ 2
58	Lindsey	4,863	↑ 33
59	Cynthia	4,859	↑ 5
60	Natalie	4,858	↑ 5
61	Misty	4,799	↓ 12
62	Vanessa	4,749	↑ 7
63	Holly	4,564	↓ 11
64	Karen	4,539	↓ 10
65	Stacy	4,479	↓ 12
66	Melanie	4,475	↓ 6
67	Jacqueline	4,334	↑ 14
68	Veronica	4,313	↑ 2
69	Latoya	4,266	↑ 54
70	Dana	4,246	↓ 2
71	Susan	4,244	↓ 9
72	Kristina	4,061	↑ 1
73	Catherine	4,057	↑ 4
74	Sandra	4,037	↑ 6
75	Diana	3,971	↑ 43
76	Pamela	3,881	↑ 10
77	Tracy	3,869	↓ 21
78	Jill	3,857	↓ 12
79	Dawn	3,839	↓ 12
80	Tina	3,821	↓ 8
81	Leah	3,808	↑ 3
82	Kathleen	3,776	–
83	Stacey	3,754	↓ 9
84	Heidi	3,738	↓ 5
85	Natasha	3,730	↑ 4
86	Candice	3,698	↑ 13
87	Victoria	3,689	↑ 16
88	Julia	3,668	↑ 10
89	Valerie	3,611	↓ 4
90	Wendy	3,608	↓ 15
91	Lori	3,479	↓ 15
92	Tanya	3,408	↓ 4
93	Erika	3,399	↓ 6
94	Kristy	3,263	↓ 16
95	Katrina	3,257	↓ 5
96	Denise	3,201	↓ 1
97	Teresa	3,121	↓ 3
98	Renee	2,997	↑ 9
99	Christy	2,943	↓ 16
100	Theresa	2,943	↑ 4

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	68,750	–
2	Christopher	50,221	–
3	Matthew	43,330	↑ 3
4	Jason	41,927	↓ 1
5	David	40,629	↓ 1
6	Joshua	39,024	↑ 1
7	James	38,283	↓ 2
8	John	34,868	–
9	Robert	34,395	–
10	Daniel	30,985	↑ 1
11	Joseph	30,761	↓ 1
12	Justin	27,307	↑ 1
13	Ryan	26,811	↑ 2
14	Brian	26,583	↓ 2
15	William	24,798	↓ 1
16	Jonathan	22,588	↑ 5
17	Eric	20,712	↓ 1
18	Andrew	20,232	↑ 1
19	Brandon	20,206	↑ 12
20	Adam	20,044	↑ 2
21	Nicholas	19,775	↓ 4
22	Jeremy	19,113	↓ 4
23	Anthony	18,569	↑ 1
24	Timothy	18,228	↓ 4
25	Kevin	17,454	↓ 2
26	Thomas	17,159	↓ 1
27	Richard	16,855	↓ 1
28	Steven	16,482	–
29	Jeffrey	15,931	↓ 2
30	Aaron	14,694	↑ 4
31	Charles	14,427	↓ 2
32	Benjamin	14,360	–
33	Mark	13,542	↓ 3
34	Scott	12,719	↓ 1
35	Paul	11,776	–
36	Nathan	11,256	–
37	Jesse	10,443	↑ 8
38	Patrick	10,384	–
39	Stephen	10,302	↑ 1
40	Travis	10,109	↓ 3
41	Kenneth	9,472	–
42	Dustin	9,350	↑ 2
43	Jacob	9,342	–
44	Sean	8,893	↑ 4
45	Jose	8,773	↑ 1
46	Gregory	8,756	↓ 4
47	Chad	8,412	↓ 8
48	Bryan	7,215	↑ 1
49	Shawn	7,076	↓ 2
50	Bradley	6,895	↑ 1
51	Edward	6,661	↑ 1
52	Kyle	6,570	↑ 5
53	Derek	6,481	↓ 3
54	Samuel	6,036	–
55	Peter	5,997	–
56	Donald	5,910	↓ 3
57	Jared	5,865	↑ 4
58	Keith	5,621	↓ 2
59	Ronald	5,538	↓ 1
60	Juan	5,499	↓ 1
61	George	5,157	↓ 1
62	Gary	4,946	↑ 1
63	Zachary	4,841	↑ 9
64	Douglas	4,788	↓ 2
65	Joel	4,540	↑ 2
66	Phillip	4,539	↓ 1
67	Marcus	4,510	↑ 4
68	Raymond	4,367	↓ 2
69	Corey	4,247	↓ 1
70	Alexander	4,237	↑ 21
71	Carlos	4,185	↑ 7
72	Craig	4,097	↑ 1
73	Larry	3,955	↓ 3
74	Todd	3,953	↑ 1
75	Antonio	3,926	↑ 2
76	Erik	3,921	↓ 12
77	Jeremiah	3,896	↓ 1
78	Derrick	3,850	↓ 4
79	Brett	3,775	↑ 17
80	Nathaniel	3,719	↑ 6
81	Shane	3,710	↓ 12
82	Frank	3,638	↓ 1
83	Dennis	3,634	↓ 3
84	Philip	3,581	↓ 2
85	Casey	3,518	↑ 8
86	Shaun	3,383	↓ 7
87	Gabriel	3,373	↓ 2
88	Brent	3,371	↓ 4
89	Lucas	3,371	↑ 9
90	Cory	3,352	↓ 7
91	Randy	3,343	↓ 4
92	Luis	3,342	↓ 4
93	Jeffery	3,334	↓ 3
94	Curtis	3,198	↓ 5
95	Seth	3,137	↑ 4
96	Tyler	3,117	↑ 18
97	Jerry	3,056	↓ 3
98	Russell	3,048	↓ 6
99	Wesley	3,040	↓ 4
100	Luke	3,013	↓ 3

Biggest movers of 1981

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

Rising Girls

Blair ↑ 369 #524
Jessi ↑ 337 #648
Alexandria ↑ 293 #404
Kira ↑ 279 #508
Hayley ↑ 248 #480
Simone ↑ 241 #497
Ashleigh ↑ 224 #397
Constance ↑ 205 #333
Taylor ↑ 204 #511
Margo ↑ 204 #714

Falling Girls

Renata ↓ 401 #737
Anya ↓ 345 #901
Regan ↓ 342 #995
Katina ↓ 228 #972
Bambi ↓ 218 #795
Chrissy ↓ 215 #769
Syreeta ↓ 214 #783
Shavonne ↓ 175 #929
Meghann ↓ 158 #889
Shalonda ↓ 157 #830

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Sheena, Krystle, Tierra, Tiara, Fallon, Brandon, Tatiana, Kaitlin, Evita, Martine, Kassandra, Alexia, Jesica, Roxanna, Janeen

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Renada, Kiley, Mindi, Ashanti, Missy, Brian, Dixie, Farrah, Star, Valencia, Nichol, Kaci, Anabel, Crissy, Leia

Rising Boys

Tristan ↑ 188 #416
Tyrell ↑ 174 #602
Mohammed ↑ 145 #855
Fidel ↑ 142 #702
Sarah ↑ 142 #844
Lindsey ↑ 136 #825
Barrett ↑ 130 #506
Mitchel ↑ 123 #767
Isidro ↑ 123 #808
Brandan ↑ 117 #842

Falling Boys

Jeremey ↓ 181 #834
Dedrick ↓ 173 #974
Melissa ↓ 164 #911
Jade ↓ 151 #988
Franco ↓ 134 #997
Coy ↓ 132 #973
Demond ↓ 127 #793
Bob ↓ 125 #986
Gino ↓ 122 #847
Rico ↓ 120 #705

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Kellen, Tyrel, Skyler, Anwar, Jordon, Marcello, Marchello, Chaim, Isiah, Stephanie, Johathan, Sandy, Adalberto, Connor, Dontae

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Seneca, Lavar, Sedrick, Kenyatta, Eddy, Lars, Lenny, Levar, Uriah, Germaine, Chadd, Dameon, Darian, Jace, Rashawn

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.