Most Popular Baby Names of 1998

In 1998, the most popular baby names in the United States were Emily for girls and Michael for boys. Emily was given to 26,188 girls and Michael to 36,618 boys, according to Social Security card applications.

Across all names, the Social Security Administration recorded 3,678,315 births for names given to at least five babies that year, up from 3,625,850 in 1997. 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: Makayla, Mikayla, Isabella, Kaylee, Chloe, and Claire.

← 1997 1999 →The 1990s Download top 1,000 (CSV)

Top 100 baby names of 1998

Girls

Girls
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Emily	26,188	–
2	Hannah	21,376	↑ 3
3	Samantha	20,195	↑ 3
4	Sarah	19,898	–
5	Ashley	19,875	↓ 2
6	Alexis	19,778	↑ 2
7	Taylor	18,576	–
8	Jessica	18,239	↓ 6
9	Madison	17,787	↑ 1
10	Elizabeth	15,193	↓ 1
11	Alyssa	13,709	↑ 4
12	Kayla	13,422	–
13	Megan	13,258	↓ 2
14	Lauren	12,908	–
15	Rachel	12,209	↓ 2
16	Victoria	12,148	↑ 3
17	Brianna	12,047	–
18	Abigail	11,100	↑ 8
19	Amanda	10,928	↓ 3
20	Jennifer	10,692	↓ 2
21	Olivia	10,610	↑ 6
22	Emma	10,451	↑ 14
23	Morgan	10,217	↓ 1
24	Nicole	9,911	↓ 3
25	Brittany	9,844	↓ 5
26	Jasmine	9,488	↓ 2
27	Alexandra	8,608	↑ 3
28	Sydney	8,553	↑ 7
29	Stephanie	8,491	↓ 6
30	Rebecca	8,423	↓ 5
31	Anna	8,386	↑ 2
32	Julia	8,328	↑ 5
33	Katherine	8,207	↓ 1
34	Destiny	8,155	↑ 8
35	Kaitlyn	7,937	↑ 6
36	Haley	7,934	↓ 5
37	Amber	7,930	↓ 8
38	Allison	7,861	↑ 1
39	Courtney	7,555	↓ 11
40	Natalie	7,549	↑ 8
41	Danielle	7,368	↓ 7
42	Jordan	7,114	↓ 2
43	Maria	6,817	↓ 5
44	Mary	6,478	↑ 2
45	Savannah	6,464	↑ 2
46	Brooke	6,346	↓ 1
47	Gabrielle	6,201	↑ 4
48	Sara	6,010	↑ 2
49	Shelby	5,893	↓ 6
50	Madeline	5,869	↑ 9
51	Sierra	5,841	↑ 5
52	Vanessa	5,830	↑ 2
53	Grace	5,724	↑ 16
54	Kimberly	5,722	↓ 5
55	Michelle	5,562	–
56	Kelsey	5,551	↑ 1
57	Erin	5,471	↓ 5
58	Katelyn	5,367	↑ 5
59	Melissa	5,354	↓ 15
60	Bailey	5,198	↑ 5
61	Andrea	5,133	↓ 3
62	Mariah	5,086	↑ 5
63	Paige	4,976	↑ 1
64	Mackenzie	4,890	↑ 7
65	Jenna	4,866	↑ 11
66	Marissa	4,722	↓ 6
67	Tiffany	4,612	↓ 6
68	Sabrina	4,608	↓ 15
69	Christina	4,533	↓ 7
70	Hailey	4,473	↑ 10
71	Makayla	4,365	↑ 31
72	Cheyenne	4,327	↓ 4
73	Sophia	4,308	↑ 21
74	Laura	4,298	↓ 8
75	Caroline	4,276	–
76	Breanna	4,250	↓ 2
77	Autumn	4,208	↑ 14
78	Caitlin	4,175	↑ 10
79	Briana	4,153	↓ 7
80	Miranda	4,143	↓ 10
81	Alexandria	4,009	↓ 3
82	Mikayla	3,858	↑ 30
83	Diana	3,853	↑ 14
84	Isabella	3,851	↑ 30
85	Cassandra	3,813	↓ 4
86	Kaylee	3,806	↑ 21
87	Chloe	3,794	↑ 22
88	Katie	3,746	↓ 1
89	Kathryn	3,703	↓ 3
90	Kelly	3,703	↓ 7
91	Claire	3,642	↑ 17
92	Erica	3,624	↓ 8
93	Alexa	3,622	↑ 13
94	Chelsea	3,518	↓ 21
95	Jacqueline	3,500	↓ 18
96	Amy	3,485	↓ 4
97	Lindsey	3,465	↓ 2
98	Alicia	3,408	↓ 9
99	Heather	3,397	↓ 9
100	Angela	3,369	↓ 7

Boys

Boys
#	Name	Babies	Change
1	Michael	36,618	–
2	Jacob	36,031	–
3	Matthew	31,146	–
4	Joshua	28,095	↑ 1
5	Christopher	27,007	↓ 1
6	Nicholas	26,632	–
7	Brandon	23,832	↑ 1
8	Tyler	23,712	↑ 2
9	Andrew	23,664	↓ 2
10	Austin	23,478	↓ 1
11	Joseph	23,186	↑ 1
12	Daniel	23,165	↓ 1
13	David	20,892	↑ 1
14	William	20,836	↑ 5
15	John	20,633	–
16	Zachary	20,580	↓ 3
17	Ryan	20,198	↓ 1
18	James	19,690	↓ 1
19	Anthony	19,634	↓ 1
20	Justin	17,971	–
21	Jonathan	17,649	–
22	Alexander	17,466	–
23	Robert	15,527	–
24	Kyle	15,277	–
25	Dylan	14,540	↑ 5
26	Christian	14,522	↓ 1
27	Jordan	14,410	↓ 1
28	Samuel	13,912	↓ 1
29	Noah	13,415	↑ 9
30	Benjamin	13,061	↓ 1
31	Thomas	12,889	–
32	Kevin	12,510	↓ 4
33	Jose	12,374	↓ 1
34	Nathan	11,586	–
35	Cameron	11,416	↑ 10
36	Hunter	11,078	↑ 8
37	Aaron	10,552	↓ 4
38	Ethan	10,536	↑ 8
39	Eric	9,964	↓ 4
40	Jason	9,399	↑ 1
41	Brian	9,146	↓ 4
42	Caleb	9,028	↑ 5
43	Cody	8,810	↓ 7
44	Logan	8,640	↓ 2
45	Adam	8,356	↓ 6
46	Steven	8,115	↓ 6
47	Connor	7,906	↑ 5
48	Charles	7,849	↑ 1
49	Timothy	7,845	↓ 6
50	Sean	7,712	↓ 2
51	Jared	7,462	↑ 5
52	Juan	7,361	↑ 2
53	Luis	7,202	–
54	Gabriel	7,068	↑ 3
55	Alex	6,954	–
56	Richard	6,954	↓ 5
57	Patrick	6,734	↓ 7
58	Trevor	6,598	↑ 4
59	Isaiah	6,487	↑ 1
60	Nathaniel	6,427	↑ 5
61	Jack	6,376	↑ 15
62	Devin	6,218	↓ 3
63	Evan	6,084	↓ 2
64	Mark	5,893	↓ 6
65	Isaac	5,859	↑ 8
66	Elijah	5,662	↑ 8
67	Chase	5,562	↑ 10
68	Jeremy	5,541	↓ 4
69	Carlos	5,481	↓ 2
70	Jesse	5,444	↓ 7
71	Adrian	5,429	↑ 24
72	Dakota	5,401	↓ 6
73	Ian	5,353	↓ 3
74	Bryan	5,309	↓ 5
75	Luke	5,284	↑ 3
76	Jesus	5,217	↓ 5
77	Cole	5,148	↓ 5
78	Stephen	5,013	↓ 10
79	Antonio	4,943	↓ 4
80	Garrett	4,789	↑ 5
81	Angel	4,772	↑ 5
82	Tanner	4,704	–
83	Mason	4,658	↑ 6
84	Spencer	4,619	↑ 20
85	Blake	4,607	↓ 5
86	Seth	4,587	↑ 11
87	Kenneth	4,586	↓ 4
88	Dalton	4,565	↑ 2
89	Paul	4,321	↓ 10
90	Miguel	4,256	↑ 1
91	Jeffrey	4,191	↓ 7
92	Tristan	4,169	–
93	Lucas	4,093	↑ 5
94	Bryce	4,053	↑ 18
95	Alejandro	4,044	↑ 4
96	Marcus	4,015	↓ 3
97	Victor	3,997	↑ 8
98	Travis	3,924	↓ 17
99	Brendan	3,879	↑ 8
100	Jackson	3,861	↑ 24

Biggest movers of 1998

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

Rising Girls

Mya ↑ 757 #238
Camryn ↑ 484 #367
Madelynn ↑ 313 #631
Gracie ↑ 289 #620
Ava ↑ 268 #350
Kayley ↑ 247 #555
Taya ↑ 219 #638
Nathalie ↑ 213 #446
Jaden ↑ 209 #763
Annabelle ↑ 207 #641

Falling Girls

Jocelyne ↓ 292 #886
Shakira ↓ 265 #861
Kerri ↓ 220 #974
Kelsea ↓ 174 #905
Alycia ↓ 173 #923
Brionna ↓ 164 #941
Shianne ↓ 152 #908
Trisha ↓ 151 #789
Lacy ↓ 150 #912
Kristi ↓ 148 #826

New in the top 1,000 (Girls)

Ally, Kamryn, Calista, Brynn, Dejah, Myah, Reanna, Madilyn, Tasia, Felicity, Ireland, Kinsey, Hayden, Skyla, Anya

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Girls)

Yulissa, Julisa, Lisette, Xena, Tasha, Kerry, Bobbie, Keisha, Dayna, Gladys, Christen, Domonique, Mandy, Beth, Shanna

Rising Boys

Dawson ↑ 559 #175
Ronaldo ↑ 333 #552
Kobe ↑ 290 #263
Tariq ↑ 287 #444
Camron ↑ 276 #461
Amari ↑ 235 #679
Orion ↑ 226 #539
Braydon ↑ 202 #630
Jacoby ↑ 190 #765
Rylan ↑ 182 #662

Falling Boys

Deion ↓ 221 #811
Infant ↓ 211 #947
Keanu ↓ 203 #973
Rickey ↓ 198 #905
Lloyd ↓ 182 #884
Gonzalo ↓ 159 #902
Kerry ↓ 154 #945
Jean ↓ 146 #806
Juwan ↓ 144 #524
Domenic ↓ 139 #941

New in the top 1,000 (Boys)

Tyrese, Tyrek, Zion, Declan, Savion, Kamron, Jadon, Tyrique, Tahj, Tyriq, Jordy, Tyreek, Nehemiah, Prince, Izaiah

Dropped out of the top 1,000 (Boys)

Shea, Dusty, Vance, Anfernee, Lester, Gene, Donnell, Edgardo, Armand, Leslie, Deante, Eliseo, Dana, Tayler, Coleton

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.