Most Popular Baby Names of 1989

In 1989, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jessica for girls and Michael for boys. Jessica was given to 47,887 girls and Michael to 65,415 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,844,480 births for names given to at least five babies that year, up from 3,695,137 in 1988. 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: Jordan, Taylor, Marissa, Bianca, Abigail, and Kaitlyn.

← 1988 1990 →The 1980s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1989

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Jessica	47,887	–
2	Ashley	47,588	–
3	Brittany	37,792	↑ 3
4	Amanda	36,834	↓ 1
5	Sarah	27,797	↓ 1
6	Samantha	24,792	↑ 2
7	Jennifer	24,006	↓ 2
8	Stephanie	22,766	↓ 1
9	Lauren	21,065	↑ 2
10	Elizabeth	20,298	–
11	Megan	19,780	↑ 1
12	Nicole	19,032	↓ 3
13	Emily	17,323	↑ 5
14	Amber	16,760	↑ 1
15	Heather	16,248	↓ 1
16	Tiffany	15,716	↓ 3
17	Danielle	15,366	–
18	Rachel	15,357	↑ 1
19	Melissa	15,203	↓ 3
20	Kayla	14,903	–
21	Courtney	13,452	↑ 3
22	Michelle	13,376	↓ 1
23	Christina	13,141	↓ 1
24	Rebecca	12,436	↑ 2
25	Laura	11,740	↓ 2
26	Katherine	11,415	↑ 1
27	Chelsea	11,252	↑ 6
28	Kimberly	11,037	↓ 3
29	Sara	9,706	↑ 1
30	Jasmine	9,549	↑ 23
31	Kelsey	9,256	↑ 33
32	Crystal	9,103	↓ 4
33	Alyssa	9,042	↑ 14
34	Erica	9,025	↓ 3
35	Amy	8,899	↓ 6
36	Kristen	8,803	–
37	Kelly	8,759	↓ 5
38	Mary	8,645	↓ 4
39	Andrea	8,410	↓ 4
40	Erin	8,144	↓ 3
41	Brittney	7,834	↑ 11
42	Hannah	7,830	↑ 19
43	Alexandra	7,680	↑ 6
44	Victoria	7,637	↓ 2
45	Katie	7,290	↓ 5
46	Allison	7,282	–
47	Angela	7,199	↓ 9
48	Lindsey	7,069	–
49	Caitlin	7,025	↓ 5
50	Vanessa	6,962	↓ 9
51	Anna	6,898	↑ 3
52	Jamie	6,845	↓ 7
53	Alicia	6,817	↓ 3
54	Cassandra	6,698	↑ 5
55	Lisa	6,573	↓ 12
56	Maria	6,345	↑ 4
57	Whitney	6,305	↓ 18
58	Kathryn	6,294	↓ 3
59	Christine	6,134	↓ 8
60	Kristin	6,064	↓ 2
61	Shannon	5,660	↓ 5
62	Natalie	5,630	↑ 1
63	Lindsay	5,525	↓ 6
64	Jacqueline	5,444	↓ 2
65	Kristina	4,803	↑ 3
66	April	4,734	↓ 1
67	Catherine	4,559	↑ 2
68	Monica	4,502	↑ 2
69	Morgan	4,426	↑ 9
70	Tara	4,370	↓ 3
71	Jenna	4,339	↓ 5
72	Jordan	4,281	↑ 64
73	Erika	4,190	↑ 3
74	Brooke	4,148	↑ 13
75	Taylor	4,069	↑ 27
76	Katelyn	4,036	↑ 8
77	Brianna	3,995	↑ 19
78	Julie	3,942	↓ 7
79	Holly	3,893	↓ 7
80	Meghan	3,856	↑ 1
81	Marissa	3,794	↑ 20
82	Krystal	3,787	↓ 8
83	Leah	3,784	↓ 1
84	Cynthia	3,778	↓ 5
85	Veronica	3,712	↓ 2
86	Diana	3,687	↓ 1
87	Natasha	3,668	↓ 14
88	Melanie	3,628	↑ 11
89	Patricia	3,603	↓ 12
90	Kathleen	3,596	↓ 15
91	Bianca	3,593	↑ 17
92	Alexis	3,518	↑ 5
93	Molly	3,460	↓ 7
94	Abigail	3,405	↑ 24
95	Kaitlyn	3,392	↑ 11
96	Julia	3,370	↓ 8
97	Margaret	3,285	↓ 4
98	Brandi	3,250	↓ 7
99	Kendra	3,230	↓ 19
100	Kaitlin	3,171	↓ 2

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	65,415	–
2	Christopher	53,186	–
3	Matthew	45,375	–
4	Joshua	44,100	–
5	David	35,225	↑ 1
6	Daniel	35,007	↑ 2
7	Andrew	34,817	↓ 2
8	Justin	32,852	↓ 1
9	James	32,720	–
10	Robert	30,072	–
11	Joseph	29,884	↑ 1
12	John	29,853	↓ 1
13	Ryan	28,408	–
14	Nicholas	28,230	–
15	William	24,673	↑ 1
16	Anthony	24,423	↑ 2
17	Jonathan	23,608	↓ 2
18	Brandon	23,310	↓ 1
19	Kevin	21,209	↑ 1
20	Kyle	20,882	↑ 1
21	Eric	18,977	↓ 2
22	Steven	18,929	↑ 2
23	Thomas	18,439	–
24	Brian	18,106	↓ 2
25	Zachary	18,077	↑ 4
26	Jacob	17,831	↑ 2
27	Adam	16,928	↓ 1
28	Timothy	16,427	↓ 3
29	Benjamin	15,733	↑ 1
30	Tyler	15,594	↑ 3
31	Aaron	15,308	–
32	Alexander	14,523	↑ 2
33	Richard	14,133	↓ 1
34	Jeremy	13,081	↑ 1
35	Jason	12,614	↓ 8
36	Charles	12,245	↑ 1
37	Jeffrey	12,013	↓ 1
38	Patrick	11,987	↑ 4
39	Sean	11,895	↓ 1
40	Stephen	11,736	–
41	Travis	11,526	–
42	Mark	11,320	↓ 3
43	Nathan	10,904	↑ 1
44	Jordan	10,882	↑ 8
45	Cody	10,823	↓ 2
46	Jose	10,331	↑ 3
47	Samuel	10,107	↓ 2
48	Dustin	9,715	–
49	Paul	9,029	↓ 3
50	Jesse	8,853	↑ 5
51	Scott	8,850	↓ 4
52	Gregory	8,760	↓ 2
53	Kenneth	8,555	↓ 2
54	Derek	8,365	↓ 1
55	Corey	8,003	↑ 1
56	Bryan	7,851	↓ 2
57	Jared	7,018	↑ 3
58	Bradley	6,977	↓ 1
59	Austin	6,886	↑ 4
60	Alex	6,543	↓ 2
61	Cory	6,450	↓ 2
62	Edward	5,849	–
63	Juan	5,781	↑ 5
64	Cameron	5,593	↑ 5
65	Shawn	5,479	↓ 4
66	Peter	5,411	↓ 2
67	Marcus	5,395	↓ 1
68	Ian	4,948	↑ 9
69	Evan	4,926	↑ 5
70	Keith	4,893	–
71	Shane	4,860	↓ 4
72	Taylor	4,859	↑ 19
73	Luis	4,852	↑ 2
74	Chad	4,723	↓ 9
75	Phillip	4,721	↓ 4
76	Antonio	4,719	↓ 4
77	Carlos	4,638	↑ 3
78	Christian	4,625	↑ 8
79	George	4,513	↓ 1
80	Vincent	4,495	↑ 2
81	Brett	4,428	↓ 8
82	Donald	4,323	↓ 6
83	Trevor	4,166	↑ 4
84	Nathaniel	4,121	↓ 3
85	Ronald	4,110	↓ 6
86	Raymond	4,106	↓ 2
87	Ethan	4,056	↑ 174
88	Joel	3,939	↓ 3
89	Victor	3,905	–
90	Casey	3,850	↓ 7
91	Caleb	3,788	↑ 17
92	Douglas	3,700	↓ 4
93	Mitchell	3,645	↑ 2
94	Seth	3,633	↓ 4
95	Erik	3,630	↓ 3
96	Devin	3,596	↑ 2
97	Blake	3,521	↑ 6
98	Wesley	3,457	↓ 5
99	Derrick	3,442	↓ 2
100	Adrian	3,418	↑ 1

Biggest movers of 1989

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

Rising Girls

Kiara ↑ 705 #115
Kiera ↑ 432 #511
Kierra ↑ 384 #463
Cecily ↑ 295 #498
Arianna ↑ 275 #472
Paulina ↑ 272 #687
Cassondra ↑ 251 #655
Adrianna ↑ 240 #282
Kylee ↑ 234 #405
Christin ↑ 224 #286

Falling Girls

Rosanna ↓ 292 #953
Daniel ↓ 259 #945
Matthew ↓ 257 #1000
Joshua ↓ 231 #885
Mariel ↓ 221 #999
Sheri ↓ 219 #949
James ↓ 215 #982
Christopher ↓ 211 #788
Geraldine ↓ 201 #777
Alexander ↓ 201 #803

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Stephani, Elizabet, Infant, Alexandr, Britny, Katherin, Mikayla, Audrianna, Iliana, Kirstie, Unknown, Asha, Edna, Kiana, Jordyn

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Taja, David, Deandra, Caryn, Andrew, Anais, Ramona, Linsey, Malinda, Maxine, Shawn, Delilah, Diandra, Jessenia, Sarina

Rising Boys

Nico ↑ 444 #546
Arsenio ↑ 375 #479
Brittany ↑ 284 #678
Darian ↑ 246 #717
Hayden ↑ 245 #648
Dominque ↑ 219 #741
Akeem ↑ 200 #440
Colten ↑ 198 #618
Zechariah ↑ 188 #805
German ↑ 184 #595

Falling Boys

Cordero ↓ 224 #841
Matt ↓ 213 #1000
Joesph ↓ 184 #909
Cordell ↓ 179 #768
Brain ↓ 174 #997
Jeremie ↓ 153 #994
Irving ↓ 150 #672
Dave ↓ 148 #891
Dusty ↓ 145 #634
Rocky ↓ 134 #665

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Christop, Infant, Alexande, Hakeem, Unknown, Garrick, Kwame, Jaren, Kadeem, Gage, Khiry, Jasmine, Darien, Sarah, Daquan

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Jeffry, Kraig, Long, Samson, Trevin, Randell, Curt, Monte, Greggory, Archie, Geraldo, Whitney, Eliezer, Johathan, Donavon

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.