Popular names of 1998, and how old they are now

People born in 1998 turn 28 in 2026. Social Security recorded about 3.7 million births in 1998 under names it lists, and by our estimate about 98% of them are still alive: about 3.6 million people.

The year's top names were Emily for girls and Michael for boys. Babies born that year are in Gen Z (see Gen Z names).

12 names on AgeByName had their busiest year ever in 1998: Jacob, Alexis, Jared, Bailey, Trevor, Gabrielle, Madeline, Sierra, Tanner, Spencer, Dalton and Autumn.

Top girl names of 1998

Most popular girl names of 1998
#	Name	Born 1998	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Emily	26,188	26,000	29
2	Hannah	21,376	21,000	25
3	Samantha	20,195	20,000	30
4	Sarah	19,898	20,000	39
5	Ashley	19,875	20,000	33
6	Alexis	19,778	19,000	26
7	Taylor	18,576	18,000	27
8	Jessica	18,239	18,000	38
9	Madison	17,787	18,000	20
10	Elizabeth	15,193	15,000	44
11	Alyssa	13,709	14,000	26
12	Kayla	13,422	13,000	28
13	Megan	13,258	13,000	35
14	Lauren	12,908	13,000	33
15	Rachel	12,209	12,000	38
16	Victoria	12,148	12,000	34
17	Brianna	12,047	12,000	25
18	Abigail	11,100	11,000	21
19	Amanda	10,928	11,000	39
20	Jennifer	10,692	11,000	46
21	Olivia	10,610	10,000	18
22	Emma	10,451	10,000	20
23	Morgan	10,217	10,000	27
24	Nicole	9,911	9,800	39
25	Brittany	9,844	9,700	35
26	Jasmine	9,488	9,300	27
27	Alexandra	8,608	8,500	28
28	Sydney	8,553	8,400	24
29	Stephanie	8,491	8,400	43
30	Rebecca	8,423	8,300	48
31	Anna	8,386	8,300	39
32	Julia	8,328	8,200	38
33	Katherine	8,207	8,100	43
34	Destiny	8,155	8,000	24
35	Kaitlyn	7,937	7,800	26
36	Haley	7,934	7,800	27
37	Amber	7,930	7,800	37
38	Allison	7,861	7,700	31
39	Courtney	7,555	7,400	36
40	Natalie	7,549	7,400	29
41	Danielle	7,368	7,300	38
42	Jordan	7,114	7,000	26
43	Maria	6,817	6,700	45
44	Mary	6,478	6,400	66
45	Savannah	6,464	6,400	20
46	Brooke	6,346	6,300	29
47	Gabrielle	6,201	6,100	27
48	Sara	6,010	5,900	40
49	Shelby	5,893	5,800	33
50	Madeline	5,869	5,800	26

Top boy names of 1998

Most popular boy names of 1998
#	Name	Born 1998	Alive today	Avg. age, everyone
1	Michael	36,618	36,000	49
2	Jacob	36,031	35,000	26
3	Matthew	31,146	30,000	36
4	Joshua	28,095	27,000	33
5	Christopher	27,007	26,000	41
6	Nicholas	26,632	26,000	33
7	Brandon	23,832	23,000	33
8	Tyler	23,712	23,000	28
9	Andrew	23,664	23,000	36
10	Austin	23,478	23,000	26
11	Joseph	23,186	23,000	45
12	Daniel	23,165	23,000	42
13	David	20,892	20,000	52
14	William	20,836	20,000	51
15	John	20,633	20,000	55
16	Zachary	20,580	20,000	29
17	Ryan	20,198	20,000	33
18	James	19,690	19,000	54
19	Anthony	19,634	19,000	40
20	Justin	17,971	18,000	34
21	Jonathan	17,649	17,000	35
22	Alexander	17,466	17,000	26
23	Robert	15,527	15,000	58
24	Kyle	15,277	15,000	34
25	Dylan	14,540	14,000	21
26	Christian	14,522	14,000	26
27	Jordan	14,410	14,000	26
28	Samuel	13,912	14,000	32
29	Noah	13,415	13,000	16
30	Benjamin	13,061	13,000	30
31	Thomas	12,889	13,000	53
32	Kevin	12,510	12,000	45
33	Jose	12,374	12,000	34
34	Nathan	11,586	11,000	30
35	Cameron	11,416	11,000	23
36	Hunter	11,078	11,000	20
37	Aaron	10,552	10,000	34
38	Ethan	10,536	10,000	19
39	Eric	9,964	9,700	44
40	Jason	9,399	9,200	42
41	Brian	9,146	8,900	48
42	Caleb	9,028	8,800	21
43	Cody	8,810	8,600	31
44	Logan	8,640	8,400	19
45	Adam	8,356	8,100	35
46	Steven	8,115	7,900	52
47	Connor	7,906	7,700	20
48	Charles	7,849	7,600	54
49	Timothy	7,845	7,600	50
50	Sean	7,712	7,500	38

About these numbers

“Born” counts the babies of each sex given the name in 1998, 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 1998. “Avg. age, everyone” is the average age of everyone alive with the name, not just the 1998 babies. How we calculate this