Popular names of 1980, and how old they are now

People born in 1980 turn 46 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.4 million births in 1980 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 94% of them are still alive: about 3.2 million people.

The year's top names were Jennifer for girls and Michael for boys. Babies born that year are Gen Xers (see Gen X names).

12 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1980: April, Bradley, Erik, Veronica, Derrick, Katrina, Monique, Mario, Tasha, Meredith, Latasha and Nina.

Top girl names of 1980

Most popular girl names of 1980
#	Name	Born 1980	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Jennifer	58,374	56,000	46
2	Amanda	35,811	34,000	39
3	Jessica	33,924	32,000	38
4	Melissa	31,629	30,000	46
5	Sarah	25,757	25,000	39
6	Heather	19,973	19,000	45
7	Nicole	19,917	19,000	39
8	Amy	19,833	19,000	47
9	Elizabeth	19,529	19,000	44
10	Michelle	19,119	18,000	48
11	Kimberly	18,497	18,000	48
12	Angela	17,969	17,000	49
13	Stephanie	17,841	17,000	43
14	Tiffany	16,228	16,000	40
15	Christina	16,141	15,000	44
16	Lisa	15,664	15,000	56
17	Rebecca	15,281	15,000	48
18	Crystal	14,253	14,000	43
19	Kelly	13,710	13,000	48
20	Erin	13,428	13,000	39
21	Laura	12,916	12,000	51
22	Amber	12,553	12,000	37
23	Rachel	11,618	11,000	38
24	Jamie	11,529	11,000	43
25	Mary	11,474	11,000	66
26	April	11,472	11,000	45
27	Sara	11,148	11,000	40
28	Andrea	10,450	10,000	42
29	Shannon	9,670	9,300	46
30	Megan	9,134	8,700	35
31	Emily	9,001	8,600	29
32	Julie	8,906	8,500	55
33	Danielle	8,845	8,500	38
34	Erica	8,760	8,400	40
35	Katherine	8,017	7,700	43
36	Maria	7,875	7,500	45
37	Kristin	7,701	7,400	45
38	Lauren	7,476	7,200	33
39	Kristen	7,316	7,000	41
40	Ashley	7,296	7,000	33
41	Christine	7,085	6,800	57
42	Brandy	6,410	6,100	43
43	Tara	6,283	6,000	44
44	Katie	6,137	5,900	37
45	Monica	6,034	5,800	46
46	Carrie	5,761	5,500	52
47	Alicia	5,753	5,500	41
48	Courtney	5,618	5,400	36
49	Misty	5,541	5,300	46
50	Kathryn	5,527	5,300	51

Top boy names of 1980

Most popular boy names of 1980
#	Name	Born 1980	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	68,683	63,000	49
2	Christopher	49,079	45,000	41
3	Jason	48,164	45,000	42
4	David	41,891	39,000	52
5	James	39,312	36,000	54
6	Matthew	37,834	35,000	36
7	Joshua	36,052	33,000	33
8	John	35,274	33,000	55
9	Robert	34,266	32,000	58
10	Joseph	30,185	28,000	45
11	Daniel	29,888	28,000	42
12	Brian	28,715	27,000	48
13	Justin	26,763	25,000	34
14	William	25,639	24,000	51
15	Ryan	24,795	23,000	33
16	Eric	22,611	21,000	44
17	Nicholas	21,018	19,000	33
18	Jeremy	19,892	18,000	39
19	Andrew	19,730	18,000	36
20	Timothy	19,146	18,000	50
21	Jonathan	18,986	18,000	35
22	Adam	18,868	17,000	35
23	Kevin	17,972	17,000	45
24	Anthony	17,604	16,000	40
25	Thomas	17,564	16,000	53
26	Richard	16,656	15,000	60
27	Jeffrey	16,379	15,000	53
28	Steven	15,916	15,000	52
29	Charles	14,959	14,000	54
30	Mark	14,169	13,000	56
31	Brandon	14,161	13,000	33
32	Benjamin	13,622	13,000	30
33	Scott	13,300	12,000	53
34	Aaron	13,166	12,000	34
35	Paul	11,819	11,000	57
36	Nathan	11,138	10,000	30
37	Travis	10,764	9,900	39
38	Patrick	10,352	9,600	47
39	Chad	10,142	9,400	45
40	Stephen	10,062	9,300	54
41	Kenneth	9,608	8,900	57
42	Gregory	9,267	8,600	54
43	Jacob	8,520	7,900	26
44	Dustin	8,416	7,800	37
45	Jesse	8,374	7,700	39
46	Jose	8,323	7,700	34
47	Shawn	7,698	7,100	45
48	Sean	7,596	7,000	38
49	Bryan	7,513	6,900	39
50	Derek	7,240	6,700	37

About these numbers

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