Most Popular Baby Names of 1986

In 1986, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jessica for girls and Michael for boys. Jessica was given to 52,682 girls and Michael to 64,235 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,557,062 births for names given to at least five babies that year, down from 3,569,038 in 1985. 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: Kayla, Casey, Hannah, Mallory, Alyssa, and Felicia.

← 1985 1987 →The 1980s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1986

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Jessica	52,682	–
2	Ashley	49,671	–
3	Amanda	40,532	↑ 1
4	Jennifer	36,187	↓ 1
5	Sarah	28,163	–
6	Stephanie	22,651	–
7	Nicole	21,292	–
8	Brittany	20,313	↑ 9
9	Heather	19,790	↓ 1
10	Elizabeth	19,074	↓ 1
11	Megan	18,590	↓ 1
12	Melissa	17,667	↓ 1
13	Amber	16,954	↑ 3
14	Lauren	16,684	↑ 1
15	Rachel	15,455	↓ 2
16	Danielle	14,942	↑ 2
17	Tiffany	14,483	↑ 6
18	Kimberly	14,420	↑ 1
19	Christina	14,384	↓ 7
20	Laura	14,172	↓ 6
21	Samantha	14,092	↑ 8
22	Amy	13,452	↓ 2
23	Michelle	13,303	↓ 1
24	Emily	13,236	–
25	Crystal	12,689	↓ 4
26	Rebecca	11,793	↓ 1
27	Sara	11,052	↑ 3
28	Katherine	10,570	↑ 4
29	Kelly	10,411	↓ 1
30	Erin	10,068	↓ 4
31	Erica	9,973	↑ 3
32	Whitney	9,536	↑ 41
33	Angela	9,267	↓ 2
34	Jamie	9,234	↓ 7
35	Courtney	9,122	↑ 8
36	Andrea	8,639	↓ 3
37	Mary	8,507	↓ 2
38	Katie	8,333	↑ 1
39	Lindsey	8,051	↓ 2
40	Lisa	7,907	↓ 4
41	Kristen	7,844	↓ 3
42	Allison	7,575	↑ 4
43	Vanessa	7,469	↓ 1
44	Shannon	7,403	↓ 3
45	Alicia	7,017	–
46	Lindsay	6,952	↓ 6
47	Christine	6,917	↓ 3
48	Kathryn	6,393	–
49	Maria	6,142	↑ 3
50	Kristin	6,000	↓ 1
51	Anna	5,908	↑ 3
52	Natalie	5,707	↑ 6
53	April	5,677	↓ 6
54	Victoria	5,676	↑ 5
55	Jenna	5,416	↓ 5
56	Tara	5,085	↓ 5
57	Jacqueline	5,036	↑ 3
58	Julie	5,016	↓ 3
59	Monica	5,013	↑ 2
60	Cassandra	4,989	↑ 2
61	Krystal	4,929	↓ 8
62	Kristina	4,840	↓ 5
63	Holly	4,838	↓ 7
64	Kayla	4,657	↑ 45
65	Brittney	4,593	↑ 19
66	Patricia	4,246	↓ 2
67	Catherine	4,242	↓ 2
68	Kathleen	4,129	–
69	Caitlin	3,881	↑ 8
70	Natasha	3,872	↑ 9
71	Meghan	3,869	↓ 8
72	Alexandra	3,808	↑ 20
73	Chelsea	3,753	↑ 2
74	Erika	3,678	↑ 6
75	Diana	3,669	↓ 1
76	Valerie	3,618	↓ 5
77	Veronica	3,580	↓ 5
78	Leah	3,457	–
79	Brandi	3,432	↓ 10
80	Casey	3,423	↑ 34
81	Cynthia	3,422	↓ 15
82	Hannah	3,388	↑ 35
83	Mallory	3,325	↑ 61
84	Brandy	3,295	↓ 14
85	Alyssa	3,225	↑ 45
86	Leslie	3,224	↓ 10
87	Stacy	3,220	↓ 20
88	Julia	3,109	↓ 3
89	Felicia	3,084	↑ 12
90	Margaret	3,084	–
91	Bethany	3,082	↑ 3
92	Dana	3,076	↓ 10
93	Krista	3,054	↑ 41
94	Stacey	3,043	↓ 5
95	Jasmine	2,993	↑ 8
96	Alison	2,975	↑ 1
97	Melanie	2,973	↓ 9
98	Dominique	2,944	↓ 15
99	Katrina	2,828	↓ 6
100	Karen	2,801	↓ 13

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	64,235	–
2	Christopher	56,693	–
3	Matthew	46,929	–
4	Joshua	37,542	–
5	David	37,150	↑ 1
6	Daniel	36,573	↓ 1
7	James	34,057	–
8	Andrew	33,858	↑ 3
9	Robert	31,350	↓ 1
10	John	30,209	↓ 1
11	Ryan	29,524	↑ 1
12	Joseph	28,834	↓ 2
13	Brandon	27,254	–
14	Justin	26,638	↑ 1
15	William	24,333	↑ 1
16	Jonathan	23,973	↑ 1
17	Nicholas	22,800	↑ 2
18	Jason	22,415	↓ 4
19	Anthony	21,956	↑ 1
20	Brian	21,027	↓ 2
21	Kevin	19,935	↑ 2
22	Eric	19,528	↓ 1
23	Kyle	19,315	↑ 4
24	Adam	18,157	↓ 2
25	Steven	18,099	↓ 1
26	Thomas	17,362	↓ 1
27	Timothy	16,875	↓ 1
28	Jeremy	16,269	↑ 2
29	Richard	15,014	↓ 1
30	Benjamin	13,793	↑ 1
31	Jacob	13,652	↑ 4
32	Jeffrey	13,651	↓ 3
33	Aaron	12,692	–
34	Charles	12,625	–
35	Mark	12,615	↓ 3
36	Stephen	11,877	–
37	Sean	11,784	↑ 1
38	Zachary	11,725	↑ 1
39	Patrick	11,410	↓ 2
40	Tyler	10,912	↑ 3
41	Alexander	10,609	↑ 9
42	Dustin	10,317	↓ 1
43	Nathan	9,996	↓ 3
44	Scott	9,965	–
45	Paul	9,715	↓ 3
46	Gregory	9,529	↓ 1
47	Bryan	8,651	↑ 1
48	Jesse	8,542	↑ 3
49	Travis	8,480	↓ 3
50	Kenneth	8,453	↓ 3
51	Jose	8,363	↓ 2
52	Samuel	7,579	↑ 2
53	Jordan	7,302	↑ 9
54	Bradley	7,044	↓ 1
55	Shawn	7,018	–
56	Cody	6,934	↓ 4
57	Derek	6,900	↓ 1
58	Jared	6,119	–
59	Chad	6,026	↓ 2
60	Peter	5,797	–
61	Edward	5,777	↓ 2
62	Corey	5,762	↑ 1
63	Marcus	5,278	↓ 2
64	Alex	5,111	↑ 16
65	Juan	5,076	–
66	Keith	5,040	↓ 2
67	Shane	4,929	↑ 1
68	Cory	4,871	↑ 13
69	Brett	4,729	↑ 1
70	Phillip	4,705	↓ 1
71	Donald	4,661	↓ 5
72	Joel	4,507	↓ 5
73	Antonio	4,406	–
74	George	4,348	↓ 2
75	Ronald	4,224	↓ 4
76	Carlos	4,090	↓ 2
77	Raymond	4,055	↓ 2
78	Nathaniel	4,032	↓ 1
79	Luis	4,028	↑ 6
80	Craig	3,926	↓ 1
81	Evan	3,887	↑ 10
82	Douglas	3,763	↓ 6
83	Casey	3,762	↑ 3
84	Gary	3,719	↓ 2
85	Ian	3,713	↓ 7
86	Philip	3,665	↓ 2
87	Derrick	3,326	↓ 4
88	Victor	3,293	–
89	Christian	3,214	↑ 12
90	Austin	3,202	↑ 17
91	Frank	3,178	↓ 1
92	Erik	3,110	↓ 5
93	Vincent	3,092	↑ 2
94	Brent	3,061	↓ 5
95	Gabriel	3,046	↓ 3
96	Wesley	3,043	↓ 2
97	Seth	2,980	↑ 7
98	Trevor	2,978	↑ 7
99	Adrian	2,943	↓ 6
100	Curtis	2,910	↓ 2

Biggest movers of 1986

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

Rising Girls

Nikita ↑ 711 #250
Kayleigh ↑ 473 #321
Jaimie ↑ 402 #425
Alexa ↑ 384 #432
Cristal ↑ 316 #389
Ali ↑ 303 #661
Sade ↑ 300 #213
Kaylee ↑ 287 #441
Madison ↑ 259 #366
Stephany ↑ 237 #701

Falling Girls

Tasia ↓ 367 #940
Micaela ↓ 361 #907
Linsey ↓ 240 #871
Kirby ↓ 222 #982
Nakia ↓ 217 #872
Tarah ↓ 206 #884
Colette ↓ 187 #897
Krystina ↓ 180 #725
Wanda ↓ 158 #899
Delilah ↓ 157 #889

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Ashton, Eliana, Halley, Kaleigh, Nakita, Allie, Phylicia, Alexander, Alysia, Janessa, Brittaney, Katlyn, Shardae, Jerrica, Madelyn

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Marci, Jeri, Tyra, Gail, Deandra, Meggan, Mellissa, Melina, Graciela, Terry, Shavon, Sherita, Darla, Carey, Cristin

Rising Boys

Dakota ↑ 381 #488
Rashad ↑ 299 #385
Jeramie ↑ 243 #716
Aldo ↑ 217 #710
Westley ↑ 196 #749
Antony ↑ 185 #721
Jeremey ↑ 184 #679
Moshe ↑ 174 #647
Akeem ↑ 172 #526
Jaron ↑ 166 #589

Falling Boys

Durell ↓ 212 #818
Cassidy ↓ 193 #912
Rufus ↓ 184 #981
Lincoln ↓ 172 #1000
Ryne ↓ 159 #675
Asa ↓ 154 #902
Waylon ↓ 150 #805
Rhett ↓ 143 #857
Darron ↓ 143 #927
Jarrell ↓ 136 #838

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Addison, Cordell, Cordero, Jayce, Jakob, Jerel, Torrey, Maximilian, Yaakov, Johnpaul, Reece, Britt, Kyler, Alexandro, Jude

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Jamey, Amit, Lauren, Errol, Chaim, Cliff, Samson, Ulises, Marlin, Danielle, Jerrad, Cade, Elisha, Tim, Samir

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.