Popular names of 1990, and how old they are now

People born in 1990 turn 36 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 4 million births in 1990 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 96% of them are still alive: about 3.8 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 1990: Samantha, Anthony, Stephanie, Kyle, Jordan, Elizabeth, Megan, Courtney, Sean, Katherine, Cassandra and Erika.

Top girl names of 1990

Most popular girl names of 1990
#	Name	Born 1990	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Jessica	46,486	45,000	38
2	Ashley	45,561	44,000	33
3	Brittany	36,536	36,000	35
4	Amanda	34,413	34,000	39
5	Samantha	25,868	25,000	30
6	Sarah	25,824	25,000	39
7	Stephanie	24,864	24,000	43
8	Jennifer	22,236	22,000	46
9	Elizabeth	20,750	20,000	44
10	Lauren	20,506	20,000	33
11	Megan	20,259	20,000	35
12	Emily	19,370	19,000	29
13	Nicole	17,954	18,000	39
14	Kayla	17,538	17,000	28
15	Amber	15,866	15,000	37
16	Rachel	15,710	15,000	38
17	Courtney	15,380	15,000	36
18	Danielle	14,339	14,000	38
19	Heather	14,220	14,000	45
20	Melissa	14,000	14,000	46
21	Rebecca	13,677	13,000	48
22	Michelle	13,425	13,000	48
23	Tiffany	13,160	13,000	40
24	Chelsea	12,785	12,000	32
25	Christina	11,927	12,000	44
26	Katherine	11,625	11,000	43
27	Alyssa	11,263	11,000	26
28	Jasmine	11,037	11,000	27
29	Laura	10,914	11,000	51
30	Hannah	10,283	10,000	25
31	Kimberly	10,191	9,900	48
32	Kelsey	9,494	9,300	31
33	Victoria	9,109	8,900	34
34	Sara	8,979	8,800	40
35	Mary	8,670	8,500	66
36	Erica	8,608	8,400	40
37	Alexandra	8,508	8,300	28
38	Amy	8,463	8,300	47
39	Crystal	8,218	8,000	43
40	Andrea	8,214	8,000	42
41	Kelly	8,137	7,900	48
42	Kristen	8,073	7,900	41
43	Erin	7,989	7,800	39
44	Brittney	7,427	7,200	34
45	Anna	7,293	7,100	39
46	Taylor	7,262	7,100	27
47	Maria	7,186	7,000	45
48	Allison	7,136	7,000	31
49	Cassandra	7,054	6,900	39
50	Caitlin	7,026	6,900	32

Top boy names of 1990

Most popular boy names of 1990
#	Name	Born 1990	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	65,321	62,000	49
2	Christopher	52,362	50,000	41
3	Matthew	44,826	43,000	36
4	Joshua	43,237	41,000	33
5	Daniel	33,830	32,000	42
6	David	33,748	32,000	52
7	Andrew	33,673	32,000	36
8	James	32,359	31,000	54
9	Justin	30,649	29,000	34
10	Joseph	30,137	29,000	45
11	Ryan	29,263	28,000	33
12	John	29,089	28,000	55
13	Robert	28,886	28,000	58
14	Nicholas	27,913	27,000	33
15	Anthony	25,088	24,000	40
16	William	24,906	24,000	51
17	Jonathan	24,077	23,000	35
18	Kyle	22,710	22,000	34
19	Brandon	22,163	21,000	33
20	Jacob	22,022	21,000	26
21	Tyler	20,646	20,000	28
22	Zachary	20,430	19,000	29
23	Kevin	20,413	19,000	45
24	Eric	19,430	19,000	44
25	Steven	18,764	18,000	52
26	Thomas	18,231	17,000	53
27	Brian	16,935	16,000	48
28	Alexander	16,194	15,000	26
29	Jordan	16,137	15,000	26
30	Timothy	15,700	15,000	50
31	Cody	15,399	15,000	31
32	Adam	14,713	14,000	35
33	Benjamin	14,633	14,000	30
34	Aaron	14,557	14,000	34
35	Richard	13,580	13,000	60
36	Patrick	12,377	12,000	47
37	Sean	12,018	11,000	38
38	Charles	12,000	11,000	54
39	Stephen	11,943	11,000	54
40	Jeremy	11,689	11,000	39
41	Jose	11,519	11,000	34
42	Travis	11,462	11,000	39
43	Jeffrey	10,980	10,000	53
44	Nathan	10,934	10,000	30
45	Samuel	10,894	10,000	32
46	Jason	10,694	10,000	42
47	Mark	10,689	10,000	56
48	Jesse	8,977	8,600	39
49	Paul	8,579	8,200	57
50	Dustin	8,457	8,100	37

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1990, 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 1990. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1990 babies. How we calculate this