Popular 1980s names, and how old they are now

Babies born in the 1980s are 37 to 46 years old in 2026. Social Security recorded about 36 million of them under names it lists, and by our estimate 95% are still alive: about 34 million people.

The decade's top names were Jessica for girls and Michael for boys. Of the top ten for each, 13 still go to at least 1,000 babies a year.

Top 1980s girl names

Most popular girl names of the 1980s
#	Name	Born 1980s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Jessica	469,510	450,000	38
2	Jennifer	440,914	430,000	46
3	Amanda	369,727	360,000	39
4	Ashley	352,185	340,000	33
5	Sarah	272,637	260,000	39
6	Stephanie	218,173	210,000	43
7	Melissa	217,922	210,000	46
8	Nicole	210,494	200,000	39
9	Elizabeth	198,972	190,000	44
10	Heather	191,852	190,000	45
11	Tiffany	158,625	150,000	40
12	Michelle	154,027	150,000	48
13	Amber	153,951	150,000	37
14	Megan	153,500	150,000	35
15	Amy	150,662	150,000	47
16	Rachel	146,675	140,000	38
17	Kimberly	146,452	140,000	48
18	Christina	146,008	140,000	44
19	Lauren	145,161	140,000	33
20	Crystal	141,007	140,000	43
21	Brittany	140,854	140,000	35
22	Rebecca	136,248	130,000	48
23	Laura	134,608	130,000	51
24	Danielle	134,379	130,000	38
25	Emily	131,764	130,000	29
26	Samantha	121,124	120,000	30
27	Angela	116,595	110,000	49
28	Erin	115,811	110,000	39
29	Kelly	109,539	110,000	48
30	Sara	104,682	100,000	40
31	Lisa	102,610	99,000	56
32	Katherine	99,175	96,000	43
33	Andrea	98,263	95,000	42
34	Jamie	96,556	93,000	43
35	Mary	95,862	93,000	66
36	Erica	93,159	90,000	40
37	Courtney	84,309	82,000	36
38	Kristen	83,228	80,000	41
39	Shannon	78,420	76,000	46
40	April	75,950	73,000	45
41	Katie	72,883	70,000	37
42	Lindsey	71,940	70,000	36
43	Kristin	70,558	68,000	45
44	Lindsay	68,491	66,000	38
45	Christine	68,016	66,000	57
46	Alicia	66,966	65,000	41
47	Maria	65,778	63,000	45
48	Vanessa	65,731	64,000	37
49	Kathryn	62,443	60,000	51
50	Allison	62,327	60,000	31

Top 1980s boy names

Most popular boy names of the 1980s
#	Name	Born 1980s	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	663,807	620,000	49
2	Christopher	554,863	520,000	41
3	Matthew	458,951	430,000	36
4	Joshua	396,524	370,000	33
5	David	383,687	360,000	52
6	James	356,491	330,000	54
7	Daniel	345,537	320,000	42
8	Robert	321,655	300,000	58
9	John	321,150	300,000	55
10	Joseph	299,411	280,000	45
11	Jason	292,120	270,000	42
12	Justin	289,825	270,000	34
13	Andrew	285,074	270,000	36
14	Ryan	278,938	260,000	33
15	William	248,277	230,000	51
16	Brian	233,993	220,000	48
17	Brandon	232,206	220,000	33
18	Jonathan	229,953	220,000	35
19	Nicholas	223,308	210,000	33
20	Anthony	211,861	200,000	40
21	Eric	204,230	190,000	44
22	Adam	195,086	180,000	35
23	Kevin	188,670	180,000	45
24	Thomas	177,817	170,000	53
25	Steven	177,454	170,000	52
26	Timothy	172,835	160,000	50
27	Richard	154,745	150,000	60
28	Jeremy	153,413	140,000	39
29	Jeffrey	144,789	140,000	53
30	Kyle	141,947	130,000	34
31	Benjamin	141,366	130,000	30
32	Aaron	138,357	130,000	34
33	Charles	131,902	120,000	54
34	Mark	129,442	120,000	56
35	Jacob	124,254	120,000	26
36	Stephen	113,631	110,000	54
37	Patrick	111,408	100,000	47
38	Scott	108,144	100,000	53
39	Nathan	105,987	99,000	30
40	Paul	104,397	98,000	57
41	Sean	103,870	98,000	38
42	Travis	102,927	97,000	39
43	Zachary	101,818	96,000	29
44	Dustin	97,314	91,000	37
45	Gregory	93,655	88,000	54
46	Kenneth	89,110	84,000	57
47	Jose	86,647	81,000	34
48	Tyler	86,451	81,000	28
49	Jesse	85,908	81,000	39
50	Alexander	82,010	77,000	26

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in the 1980s, from Social Security's records. “Alive today” estimates how many of those babies are still living, using SSA's cohort life tables. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1980s babies. How we calculate this