Most Popular Baby Names of 1987

In 1987, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jessica for girls and Michael for boys. Jessica was given to 55,992 girls and Michael to 63,664 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,605,616 births for names given to at least five babies that year, up from 3,557,062 in 1986. 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: Kelsey, Kendra, Brooke, Morgan, Molly, and Rachael.

← 1986 1988 →The 1980s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1987

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Jessica	55,992	–
2	Ashley	54,856	–
3	Amanda	41,786	–
4	Jennifer	32,710	–
5	Sarah	27,894	–
6	Stephanie	22,402	–
7	Brittany	22,231	↑ 1
8	Nicole	20,286	↓ 1
9	Heather	18,982	–
10	Elizabeth	18,608	–
11	Samantha	17,944	↑ 10
12	Megan	17,823	↓ 1
13	Melissa	17,674	↓ 1
14	Danielle	17,010	↑ 2
15	Amber	16,749	↓ 2
16	Lauren	16,710	↓ 2
17	Rachel	15,646	↓ 2
18	Tiffany	14,742	↓ 1
19	Emily	14,710	↑ 5
20	Christina	13,816	↓ 1
21	Michelle	13,034	↑ 2
22	Laura	13,033	↓ 2
23	Kimberly	13,031	↓ 5
24	Amy	11,786	↓ 2
25	Rebecca	11,627	↑ 1
26	Crystal	11,011	↓ 1
27	Kayla	10,576	↑ 37
28	Katherine	10,438	–
29	Sara	10,090	↓ 2
30	Kelly	9,866	↓ 1
31	Erica	9,328	–
32	Whitney	8,923	–
33	Courtney	8,909	↑ 2
34	Erin	8,847	↓ 4
35	Angela	8,583	↓ 2
36	Andrea	8,496	–
37	Mary	8,395	–
38	Katie	8,197	–
39	Jamie	7,916	↓ 5
40	Lisa	7,549	–
41	Lindsey	7,457	↓ 2
42	Kristen	7,361	↓ 1
43	Vanessa	7,348	–
44	Allison	7,341	↓ 2
45	Shannon	6,968	↓ 1
46	Alicia	6,776	↓ 1
47	Chelsea	6,631	↑ 26
48	Christine	6,620	↓ 1
49	Lindsay	6,530	↓ 3
50	Victoria	6,255	↑ 4
51	Kathryn	6,238	↓ 3
52	Anna	6,170	↓ 1
53	Maria	5,678	↓ 4
54	Jacqueline	5,627	↑ 3
55	Kristin	5,463	↓ 5
56	Natalie	5,331	↓ 4
57	Jenna	5,305	↓ 2
58	April	5,295	↓ 5
59	Alexandra	5,220	↑ 13
60	Alyssa	5,136	↑ 25
61	Brittney	5,127	↑ 4
62	Kristina	5,018	–
63	Caitlin	4,989	↑ 6
64	Monica	4,809	↓ 5
65	Julie	4,737	↓ 7
66	Hannah	4,594	↑ 16
67	Kelsey	4,574	↑ 45
68	Cassandra	4,555	↓ 8
69	Tara	4,446	↓ 13
70	Krystal	4,378	↓ 9
71	Holly	4,259	↓ 8
72	Kathleen	4,165	↓ 4
73	Natasha	4,131	↓ 3
74	Catherine	4,108	↓ 7
75	Erika	3,994	↓ 1
76	Patricia	3,913	↓ 10
77	Kendra	3,841	↑ 24
78	Meghan	3,770	↓ 7
79	Jasmine	3,723	↑ 16
80	Veronica	3,616	↓ 3
81	Casey	3,582	↓ 1
82	Leah	3,454	↓ 4
83	Dana	3,422	↑ 9
84	Cynthia	3,392	↓ 3
85	Diana	3,354	↓ 10
86	Julia	3,331	↑ 2
87	Bethany	3,294	↑ 4
88	Brandi	3,244	↓ 9
89	Leslie	3,194	↓ 3
90	Margaret	3,146	–
91	Mallory	3,138	↓ 8
92	Brandy	3,032	↓ 8
93	Valerie	2,964	↓ 17
94	Brooke	2,955	↑ 10
95	Morgan	2,928	↑ 18
96	Felicia	2,909	↓ 7
97	Molly	2,891	↑ 13
98	Rachael	2,833	↑ 5
99	Jillian	2,793	↑ 8
100	Alison	2,771	↓ 4

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	63,664	–
2	Christopher	54,493	–
3	Matthew	46,511	–
4	Joshua	40,002	–
5	David	36,795	–
6	Andrew	36,206	↑ 2
7	Daniel	35,876	↓ 1
8	James	32,659	↓ 1
9	Justin	31,491	↑ 5
10	Robert	30,237	↓ 1
11	John	29,555	↓ 1
12	Joseph	28,516	–
13	Ryan	28,490	↓ 2
14	Brandon	24,823	↓ 1
15	William	24,202	–
16	Nicholas	23,247	↑ 1
17	Anthony	23,127	↑ 2
18	Jonathan	23,119	↓ 2
19	Kevin	20,421	↑ 2
20	Brian	20,362	–
21	Eric	20,203	↑ 1
22	Kyle	19,862	↑ 1
23	Jason	19,350	↓ 5
24	Thomas	18,139	↑ 2
25	Steven	17,768	–
26	Timothy	17,398	↑ 1
27	Adam	16,931	↓ 3
28	Benjamin	14,892	↑ 2
29	Jeremy	14,474	↓ 1
30	Richard	14,401	↓ 1
31	Jacob	14,326	–
32	Jeffrey	13,477	–
33	Zachary	13,201	↑ 5
34	Aaron	12,685	↓ 1
35	Charles	12,173	↓ 1
36	Mark	11,993	↓ 1
37	Alexander	11,835	↑ 4
38	Stephen	11,550	↓ 2
39	Tyler	11,542	↑ 1
40	Sean	11,455	↓ 3
41	Patrick	11,142	↓ 2
42	Travis	10,397	↑ 7
43	Scott	10,194	↑ 1
44	Dustin	10,108	↓ 2
45	Nathan	9,910	↓ 2
46	Paul	9,707	↓ 1
47	Gregory	9,135	↓ 1
48	Jose	8,737	↑ 3
49	Cody	8,675	↑ 7
50	Samuel	8,576	↑ 2
51	Bryan	8,560	↓ 4
52	Jordan	8,407	↑ 1
53	Kenneth	8,354	↓ 3
54	Derek	8,253	↑ 3
55	Jesse	7,982	↓ 7
56	Bradley	6,918	↓ 2
57	Corey	6,444	↑ 5
58	Jared	6,206	–
59	Shawn	6,202	↓ 4
60	Alex	6,042	↑ 4
61	Edward	5,913	–
62	Cory	5,849	↑ 6
63	Chad	5,622	↓ 4
64	Peter	5,553	↓ 4
65	Shane	5,305	↑ 2
66	Juan	4,976	↓ 1
67	Marcus	4,950	↓ 4
68	Phillip	4,813	↑ 2
69	Keith	4,783	↓ 3
70	Donald	4,501	↑ 1
71	Brett	4,429	↓ 2
72	Antonio	4,421	↑ 1
73	Ronald	4,153	↑ 2
74	Carlos	4,149	↑ 2
75	Joel	4,138	↓ 3
76	Austin	4,096	↑ 14
77	George	4,089	↓ 3
78	Nathaniel	4,050	–
79	Raymond	3,996	↓ 2
80	Casey	3,928	↑ 3
81	Ian	3,924	↑ 4
82	Luis	3,921	↓ 3
83	Evan	3,868	↓ 2
84	Philip	3,837	↑ 2
85	Douglas	3,804	↓ 3
86	Derrick	3,534	↑ 1
87	Gary	3,486	↓ 3
88	Craig	3,364	↓ 8
89	Seth	3,339	↑ 8
90	Christian	3,324	↓ 1
91	Victor	3,307	↓ 3
92	Wesley	3,244	↑ 4
93	Trevor	3,235	↑ 5
94	Erik	3,231	↓ 2
95	Vincent	3,173	↓ 2
96	Cameron	3,159	↑ 39
97	Frank	3,123	↓ 6
98	Gabriel	3,079	↓ 3
99	Devin	3,076	↑ 14
100	Curtis	2,909	–

Biggest movers of 1987

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

Rising Girls

Kaila ↑ 303 #608
Krystina ↑ 266 #459
Jessika ↑ 266 #669
Jazmine ↑ 263 #595
Diamond ↑ 257 #702
Janae ↑ 237 #490
Jerrica ↑ 231 #607
Anastasia ↑ 226 #269
Gabriella ↑ 221 #577
Roxanna ↑ 218 #634

Falling Girls

Eliana ↓ 376 #827
Santana ↓ 249 #784
Tami ↓ 227 #944
Fallon ↓ 193 #714
Darcy ↓ 180 #847
Kia ↓ 177 #867
Renae ↓ 171 #933
Cheri ↓ 166 #791
Athena ↓ 161 #848
Sade ↓ 159 #372

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Janay, Channing, Ayla, Cayla, Yessenia, Skye, Kelsi, Alexia, Jerica, Alex, Tiera, Kirstin, Jesenia, Kasandra, Shakira

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Halley, Corrie, Rosalinda, Shardae, Stacia, Sondra, Britta, Sharde, Cherrelle, Misti, Cherelle, Marcie, Colette, Sable, Shaquita

Rising Boys

Spenser ↑ 373 #579
Kameron ↑ 274 #725
Isiah ↑ 238 #640
Irvin ↑ 224 #770
Cordero ↑ 209 #481
Connor ↑ 194 #342
Griffin ↑ 183 #571
Deven ↑ 181 #811
Lincoln ↑ 158 #842
Rhett ↑ 156 #701

Falling Boys

Kiel ↓ 185 #848
Jeremey ↓ 176 #855
Jennifer ↓ 174 #882
Jeramie ↓ 169 #885
Whitney ↓ 167 #734
Akeem ↓ 154 #680
Tad ↓ 145 #933
Donta ↓ 131 #993
Carlo ↓ 128 #858
Yaakov ↓ 128 #981

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Corbin, Mychal, Conner, Madison, Torey, Kale, Chaim, Keven, Raheem, Derrek, Irving, Lauren, Cade, Cordaro, Dashawn

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Jayce, Taurean, Durrell, Durell, Nicholaus, Delbert, Britt, Horace, Alexandro, Jude, Emerson, Ernie, Augustine, Jade, Rasheed

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.