Most Popular Baby Names of 1996

In 1996, the most popular baby names in the United States were Emily for girls and Michael for boys. Emily was given to 25,150 girls and Michael to 38,373 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,647,307 births for names given to at least five babies that year, down from 3,662,249 in 1995. 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: Hailey, Angelica, Leah, Tristan, Isaiah, and Jack.

← 1995 1997 →The 1990s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1996

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Emily	25,150	↑ 2
2	Jessica	24,201	↓ 1
3	Ashley	23,678	↓ 1
4	Sarah	21,048	↑ 1
5	Samantha	20,552	↓ 1
6	Taylor	19,155	–
7	Hannah	18,596	–
8	Alexis	16,592	↑ 6
9	Rachel	16,121	↑ 3
10	Elizabeth	16,003	–
11	Kayla	15,269	–
12	Megan	14,770	↑ 1
13	Amanda	13,980	↓ 4
14	Brittany	13,797	↓ 6
15	Madison	13,412	↑ 14
16	Lauren	12,595	↓ 1
17	Brianna	11,925	↑ 4
18	Victoria	11,859	↑ 2
19	Jennifer	11,732	↓ 1
20	Stephanie	11,643	↓ 4
21	Courtney	11,344	↓ 4
22	Nicole	11,135	↓ 3
23	Alyssa	11,024	↑ 4
24	Rebecca	10,626	↑ 4
25	Morgan	10,295	↓ 2
26	Alexandra	10,025	–
27	Amber	9,771	↓ 5
28	Jasmine	9,707	↓ 3
29	Danielle	9,286	↓ 5
30	Haley	9,042	↑ 2
31	Katherine	8,877	↓ 1
32	Abigail	8,604	↑ 4
33	Anna	8,575	↓ 2
34	Olivia	8,126	↑ 5
35	Shelby	7,950	↑ 3
36	Kelsey	7,655	↓ 3
37	Maria	7,598	↑ 7
38	Allison	7,455	↓ 4
39	Sydney	7,259	↑ 4
40	Kaitlyn	7,241	↑ 2
41	Kimberly	7,176	↓ 4
42	Melissa	7,170	↓ 7
43	Savannah	7,000	↑ 25
44	Mary	6,968	↓ 4
45	Brooke	6,724	↑ 7
46	Natalie	6,693	↑ 5
47	Michelle	6,598	↓ 6
48	Julia	6,314	↑ 14
49	Jordan	6,299	↑ 1
50	Sara	6,288	↓ 2
51	Erin	6,256	↓ 2
52	Tiffany	6,158	↓ 6
53	Emma	6,151	↑ 14
54	Gabrielle	5,888	↑ 7
55	Chelsea	5,864	↓ 8
56	Destiny	5,856	↑ 10
57	Christina	5,804	↓ 12
58	Sabrina	5,774	↑ 37
59	Marissa	5,752	↓ 6
60	Vanessa	5,746	↑ 3
61	Andrea	5,671	↓ 6
62	Sierra	5,487	↓ 2
63	Mariah	5,446	↑ 8
64	Katelyn	5,421	↓ 5
65	Paige	5,342	↓ 7
66	Laura	5,227	↓ 10
67	Madeline	4,912	↑ 12
68	Cheyenne	4,866	↑ 18
69	Jacqueline	4,862	↑ 1
70	Kristen	4,851	↓ 5
71	Heather	4,759	↓ 17
72	Briana	4,735	↑ 2
73	Kelly	4,734	↓ 9
74	Breanna	4,701	↑ 2
75	Mackenzie	4,597	↑ 13
76	Miranda	4,568	↓ 19
77	Alexandria	4,563	↓ 5
78	Caroline	4,466	↑ 14
79	Erica	4,460	↓ 10
80	Shannon	4,337	↓ 7
81	Katie	4,329	↓ 4
82	Monica	4,326	↑ 5
83	Jenna	4,288	↑ 1
84	Caitlin	4,268	↓ 3
85	Bailey	4,192	↑ 11
86	Lindsey	4,112	↓ 4
87	Kathryn	4,102	↓ 4
88	Amy	4,067	↓ 13
89	Cassandra	4,018	↓ 11
90	Angela	3,867	↓ 5
91	Alicia	3,861	↓ 2
92	Crystal	3,786	↓ 12
93	Hailey	3,762	↑ 18
94	Grace	3,742	↑ 3
95	Catherine	3,739	↓ 5
96	Jamie	3,599	↓ 3
97	Angelica	3,404	↑ 4
98	Leah	3,326	↑ 5
99	Molly	3,312	↓ 1
100	Alexa	3,260	–

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	38,373	–
2	Matthew	32,077	–
3	Jacob	31,925	↑ 1
4	Christopher	30,904	↓ 1
5	Joshua	29,175	–
6	Nicholas	27,724	↑ 1
7	Tyler	26,956	↓ 1
8	Brandon	25,847	–
9	Austin	25,663	↑ 1
10	Andrew	25,244	↑ 1
11	Daniel	25,128	↓ 2
12	Joseph	24,758	–
13	David	23,022	↑ 3
14	Zachary	22,369	–
15	John	22,188	↓ 2
16	Ryan	21,809	↓ 1
17	James	21,165	–
18	William	20,546	↑ 2
19	Anthony	20,508	–
20	Justin	20,015	↓ 2
21	Jonathan	18,602	↑ 2
22	Alexander	17,964	↓ 1
23	Robert	17,676	↓ 1
24	Christian	15,824	↑ 4
25	Kyle	15,600	↓ 1
26	Kevin	14,589	↓ 1
27	Jordan	13,852	↑ 2
28	Thomas	13,804	↓ 1
29	Benjamin	13,784	↑ 2
30	Samuel	13,629	↑ 3
31	Cody	12,954	↓ 5
32	Jose	12,155	↑ 3
33	Dylan	12,037	↑ 1
34	Aaron	11,971	↓ 4
35	Eric	11,611	↓ 3
36	Brian	10,476	–
37	Nathan	10,287	↑ 2
38	Steven	9,650	↓ 1
39	Adam	9,557	↓ 1
40	Timothy	8,919	–
41	Jason	8,695	–
42	Logan	8,374	↑ 9
43	Charles	8,248	↑ 1
44	Patrick	8,194	↓ 1
45	Richard	8,182	↓ 3
46	Sean	7,896	↓ 1
47	Hunter	7,603	↑ 6
48	Caleb	7,550	↑ 6
49	Cameron	7,388	–
50	Noah	7,184	↑ 49
51	Jesse	7,075	↓ 5
52	Juan	7,010	↓ 2
53	Alex	6,915	↓ 6
54	Connor	6,911	↑ 1
55	Mark	6,599	↓ 3
56	Jeremy	6,412	↓ 8
57	Luis	6,407	↑ 2
58	Dakota	6,067	↓ 2
59	Stephen	6,008	↓ 2
60	Devin	6,001	↓ 2
61	Gabriel	5,900	↑ 4
62	Ethan	5,853	↑ 13
63	Trevor	5,842	↓ 2
64	Jared	5,821	↓ 1
65	Evan	5,577	↓ 5
66	Bryan	5,560	↑ 4
67	Carlos	5,464	↑ 1
68	Tristan	5,458	↑ 53
69	Nathaniel	5,420	↑ 4
70	Ian	5,411	↓ 3
71	Isaiah	5,324	↑ 38
72	Jeffrey	5,263	↓ 8
73	Travis	5,159	↓ 7
74	Jesus	5,115	↑ 2
75	Luke	5,017	↑ 7
76	Chase	4,992	↑ 19
77	Kenneth	4,973	↓ 5
78	Paul	4,883	↓ 7
79	Dustin	4,874	↓ 17
80	Antonio	4,866	↑ 5
81	Elijah	4,818	↑ 12
82	Taylor	4,798	↓ 13
83	Bradley	4,755	↓ 5
84	Blake	4,747	↓ 7
85	Garrett	4,653	↓ 5
86	Isaac	4,566	↑ 12
87	Marcus	4,546	↓ 6
88	Mitchell	4,391	↓ 9
89	Jack	4,245	↑ 21
90	Tanner	4,180	↓ 4
91	Miguel	4,160	↑ 3
92	Adrian	4,112	↑ 4
93	Lucas	4,106	↓ 2
94	Corey	4,087	↓ 20
95	Peter	4,082	↓ 6
96	Edward	4,073	↓ 8
97	Malik	4,026	↑ 34
98	Gregory	3,994	↓ 14
99	Dalton	3,980	↓ 12
100	Victor	3,924	↓ 10

Biggest movers of 1996

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

Rising Girls

Keely ↑ 404 #518
Lesley ↑ 310 #431
Annika ↑ 306 #665
Lesly ↑ 298 #671
Shania ↑ 276 #171
Gillian ↑ 267 #604
Zoey ↑ 219 #656
Tristen ↑ 186 #724
Shyann ↑ 183 #777
Peyton ↑ 182 #255

Falling Girls

Khadijah ↓ 253 #794
Selina ↓ 237 #609
Rikki ↓ 206 #961
Baby ↓ 203 #895
Shanice ↓ 177 #686
Griselda ↓ 177 #999
Janay ↓ 176 #985
Celina ↓ 175 #632
Dalia ↓ 174 #687
Krysta ↓ 167 #929

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Tamia, Moesha, Estefania, Odalys, Yamilex, Zaria, Mireya, Alize, Xena, Dania, Katia, Maia, Juliet, Amani, Chynna

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Chelsi, Latasha, Kristie, Denisha, Latisha, Danica, Salina, Unknown, Delia, Leila, Lorraine, Iridian, Laken, Eunice, Sommer

Rising Boys

Dangelo ↑ 350 #391
Hudson ↑ 346 #651
Mateo ↑ 300 #696
Tristian ↑ 280 #592
Dontae ↑ 242 #718
Tristin ↑ 230 #374
Juwan ↑ 194 #490
Triston ↑ 184 #342
Armani ↑ 183 #738
Asher ↑ 156 #776

Falling Boys

Adonis ↓ 254 #832
Shaquille ↓ 206 #663
Trayvon ↓ 202 #968
Forrest ↓ 180 #489
Erin ↓ 174 #916
Anton ↓ 160 #722
Lionel ↓ 151 #975
Montel ↓ 145 #994
Rocky ↓ 143 #924
Randolph ↓ 139 #989

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Keshawn, Keyshawn, Trystan, Braeden, Brayan, Tarik, Mickey, Shamar, Keion, Raquan, Jair, Ryne, Braydon, Simeon, Luciano

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Unknown, Forest, Markell, Wendell, Trae, Hans, Stetson, Darrien, Genaro, Tory, Chester, Lyle, Ryder, Treyvon, Kalen

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.