Popular names of 1987, and how old they are now

People born in 1987 turn 39 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.6 million births in 1987 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 96% of them are still alive: about 3.5 million people.

The year's top names were Jessica for girls and Michael for boys. Babies born that year are Millennials (see Millennial names).

12 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1987: Jessica, Ashley, Amanda, Andrew, Danielle, Casey, Natasha, Kendra, Bethany, Ashlee, Yesenia and Mayra.

Top girl names of 1987

Most popular girl names of 1987
#	Name	Born 1987	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Jessica	55,992	54,000	38
2	Ashley	54,856	53,000	33
3	Amanda	41,786	41,000	39
4	Jennifer	32,710	32,000	46
5	Sarah	27,894	27,000	39
6	Stephanie	22,402	22,000	43
7	Brittany	22,231	22,000	35
8	Nicole	20,286	20,000	39
9	Heather	18,982	18,000	45
10	Elizabeth	18,608	18,000	44
11	Samantha	17,944	17,000	30
12	Megan	17,823	17,000	35
13	Melissa	17,674	17,000	46
14	Danielle	17,010	17,000	38
15	Amber	16,749	16,000	37
16	Lauren	16,710	16,000	33
17	Rachel	15,646	15,000	38
18	Tiffany	14,742	14,000	40
19	Emily	14,710	14,000	29
20	Christina	13,816	13,000	44
21	Michelle	13,034	13,000	48
22	Laura	13,033	13,000	51
23	Kimberly	13,031	13,000	48
24	Amy	11,786	11,000	47
25	Rebecca	11,627	11,000	48
26	Crystal	11,011	11,000	43
27	Kayla	10,576	10,000	28
28	Katherine	10,438	10,000	43
29	Sara	10,090	9,800	40
30	Kelly	9,866	9,600	48
31	Erica	9,328	9,100	40
32	Whitney	8,923	8,700	36
33	Courtney	8,909	8,600	36
34	Erin	8,847	8,600	39
35	Angela	8,583	8,300	49
36	Andrea	8,496	8,200	42
37	Mary	8,395	8,100	66
38	Katie	8,197	8,000	37
39	Jamie	7,916	7,700	43
40	Lisa	7,549	7,300	56
41	Lindsey	7,457	7,200	36
42	Kristen	7,361	7,100	41
43	Vanessa	7,348	7,100	37
44	Allison	7,341	7,100	31
45	Shannon	6,968	6,800	46
46	Alicia	6,776	6,600	41
47	Chelsea	6,631	6,400	32
48	Christine	6,620	6,400	57
49	Lindsay	6,530	6,300	38
50	Victoria	6,255	6,100	34

Top boy names of 1987

Most popular boy names of 1987
#	Name	Born 1987	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	63,664	60,000	49
2	Christopher	54,493	52,000	41
3	Matthew	46,511	44,000	36
4	Joshua	40,002	38,000	33
5	David	36,795	35,000	52
6	Andrew	36,206	34,000	36
7	Daniel	35,876	34,000	42
8	James	32,659	31,000	54
9	Justin	31,491	30,000	34
10	Robert	30,237	29,000	58
11	John	29,555	28,000	55
12	Joseph	28,516	27,000	45
13	Ryan	28,490	27,000	33
14	Brandon	24,823	23,000	33
15	William	24,202	23,000	51
16	Nicholas	23,247	22,000	33
17	Anthony	23,127	22,000	40
18	Jonathan	23,119	22,000	35
19	Kevin	20,421	19,000	45
20	Brian	20,362	19,000	48
21	Eric	20,203	19,000	44
22	Kyle	19,862	19,000	34
23	Jason	19,350	18,000	42
24	Thomas	18,139	17,000	53
25	Steven	17,768	17,000	52
26	Timothy	17,398	16,000	50
27	Adam	16,931	16,000	35
28	Benjamin	14,892	14,000	30
29	Jeremy	14,474	14,000	39
30	Richard	14,401	14,000	60
31	Jacob	14,326	14,000	26
32	Jeffrey	13,477	13,000	53
33	Zachary	13,201	12,000	29
34	Aaron	12,685	12,000	34
35	Charles	12,173	12,000	54
36	Mark	11,993	11,000	56
37	Alexander	11,835	11,000	26
38	Stephen	11,550	11,000	54
39	Tyler	11,542	11,000	28
40	Sean	11,455	11,000	38
41	Patrick	11,142	11,000	47
42	Travis	10,397	9,800	39
43	Scott	10,194	9,600	53
44	Dustin	10,108	9,600	37
45	Nathan	9,910	9,400	30
46	Paul	9,707	9,200	57
47	Gregory	9,135	8,600	54
48	Jose	8,737	8,300	34
49	Cody	8,675	8,200	31
50	Samuel	8,576	8,100	32

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1987, 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 1987. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1987 babies. How we calculate this