Popular baby names of 1981

In 1981, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jennifer for girls (57,046 babies) and Michael for boys (68,750). Social Security records show 3,459,237 babies with a name given to at least five children of the same sex that year, sharing 12,198 girls' names and 7,289 boys' names.

1981 at a glance

The top 10 girls' names went to 17.3% of girls recorded.
The top 10 boys' names went to 23.6% of boys recorded.
New in the girls' top 100: Latoya, Diana, Victoria, Renee, Theresa.
New in the boys' top 100: Tyler.

Top 100 girls' and boys' names, 1981

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1980
1	Jennifer	57,046	–
2	Jessica	42,531	↑1
3	Amanda	34,372	↓1
4	Sarah	28,175	↑1
5	Melissa	28,005	↓1
6	Amy	20,345	↑2
7	Nicole	20,310	–
8	Stephanie	20,212	↑5
9	Elizabeth	20,168	–
10	Heather	17,946	↓4
11	Michelle	17,781	↓1
12	Rebecca	16,737	↑5
13	Kimberly	16,689	↓2
14	Tiffany	16,416	–
15	Angela	15,924	↓3
16	Crystal	15,888	↑2
17	Christina	14,392	↓2
18	Lisa	14,294	↓2
19	Erin	13,853	↑1
20	Amber	13,814	↑2
21	Laura	13,292	–
22	Rachel	12,590	↑1
23	Kelly	11,873	↓4
24	Andrea	11,686	↑4
25	April	11,406	↑1
26	Sara	11,359	↑1
27	Mary	11,042	↓2
28	Jamie	10,982	↓4
29	Emily	10,799	↑2
30	Danielle	10,038	↑3
31	Kristin	9,737	↑6
32	Shannon	9,226	↓3
33	Megan	8,964	↓3
34	Ashley	8,874	↑6
35	Lauren	8,813	↑3
36	Erica	8,626	↓2
37	Julie	8,567	↓5
38	Kristen	8,540	↑1
39	Katherine	8,433	↓4
40	Maria	7,681	↓4
41	Brandy	6,898	↑1
42	Christine	6,854	↓1
43	Courtney	6,636	↑5
44	Katie	6,600	–
45	Tara	6,366	↓2
46	Alicia	5,855	↑1
47	Lindsay	5,843	↑24
48	Kathryn	5,823	↑2
49	Monica	5,782	↓4
50	Brandi	5,527	↑13
51	Samantha	5,516	↑7
52	Brooke	5,328	↑5
53	Patricia	5,284	↓2
54	Anna	5,192	↑1
55	Carrie	5,094	↓9
56	Leslie	4,934	↑5
57	Allison	4,904	↑2
58	Lindsey	4,863	↑33
59	Cynthia	4,859	↑5
60	Natalie	4,858	↑5
61	Misty	4,799	↓12
62	Vanessa	4,749	↑7
63	Holly	4,564	↓11
64	Karen	4,539	↓10
65	Stacy	4,479	↓12
66	Melanie	4,475	↓6
67	Jacqueline	4,334	↑14
68	Veronica	4,313	↑2
69	Latoya	4,266	new
70	Dana	4,246	↓2
71	Susan	4,244	↓9
72	Kristina	4,061	↑1
73	Catherine	4,057	↑4
74	Sandra	4,037	↑6
75	Diana	3,971	new
76	Pamela	3,881	↑10
77	Tracy	3,869	↓21
78	Jill	3,857	↓12
79	Dawn	3,839	↓12
80	Tina	3,821	↓8
81	Leah	3,808	↑3
82	Kathleen	3,776	–
83	Stacey	3,754	↓9
84	Heidi	3,738	↓5
85	Natasha	3,730	↑4
86	Candice	3,698	↑13
87	Victoria	3,689	new
88	Julia	3,668	↑10
89	Valerie	3,611	↓4
90	Wendy	3,608	↓15
91	Lori	3,479	↓15
92	Tanya	3,408	↓4
93	Erika	3,399	↓6
94	Kristy	3,263	↓16
95	Katrina	3,257	↓5
96	Denise	3,201	↓1
97	Teresa	3,121	↓3
98	Renee	2,997	new
99	Christy	2,943	↓16
100	Theresa	2,943	new

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1980
1	Michael	68,750	–
2	Christopher	50,221	–
3	Matthew	43,330	↑3
4	Jason	41,927	↓1
5	David	40,629	↓1
6	Joshua	39,024	↑1
7	James	38,283	↓2
8	John	34,868	–
9	Robert	34,395	–
10	Daniel	30,985	↑1
11	Joseph	30,761	↓1
12	Justin	27,307	↑1
13	Ryan	26,811	↑2
14	Brian	26,583	↓2
15	William	24,798	↓1
16	Jonathan	22,588	↑5
17	Eric	20,712	↓1
18	Andrew	20,232	↑1
19	Brandon	20,206	↑12
20	Adam	20,044	↑2
21	Nicholas	19,775	↓4
22	Jeremy	19,113	↓4
23	Anthony	18,569	↑1
24	Timothy	18,228	↓4
25	Kevin	17,454	↓2
26	Thomas	17,159	↓1
27	Richard	16,855	↓1
28	Steven	16,482	–
29	Jeffrey	15,931	↓2
30	Aaron	14,694	↑4
31	Charles	14,427	↓2
32	Benjamin	14,360	–
33	Mark	13,542	↓3
34	Scott	12,719	↓1
35	Paul	11,776	–
36	Nathan	11,256	–
37	Jesse	10,443	↑8
38	Patrick	10,384	–
39	Stephen	10,302	↑1
40	Travis	10,109	↓3
41	Kenneth	9,472	–
42	Dustin	9,350	↑2
43	Jacob	9,342	–
44	Sean	8,893	↑4
45	Jose	8,773	↑1
46	Gregory	8,756	↓4
47	Chad	8,412	↓8
48	Bryan	7,215	↑1
49	Shawn	7,076	↓2
50	Bradley	6,895	↑1
51	Edward	6,661	↑1
52	Kyle	6,570	↑5
53	Derek	6,481	↓3
54	Samuel	6,036	–
55	Peter	5,997	–
56	Donald	5,910	↓3
57	Jared	5,865	↑4
58	Keith	5,621	↓2
59	Ronald	5,538	↓1
60	Juan	5,499	↓1
61	George	5,157	↓1
62	Gary	4,946	↑1
63	Zachary	4,841	↑9
64	Douglas	4,788	↓2
65	Joel	4,540	↑2
66	Phillip	4,539	↓1
67	Marcus	4,510	↑4
68	Raymond	4,367	↓2
69	Corey	4,247	↓1
70	Alexander	4,237	↑21
71	Carlos	4,185	↑7
72	Craig	4,097	↑1
73	Larry	3,955	↓3
74	Todd	3,953	↑1
75	Antonio	3,926	↑2
76	Erik	3,921	↓12
77	Jeremiah	3,896	↓1
78	Derrick	3,850	↓4
79	Brett	3,775	↑17
80	Nathaniel	3,719	↑6
81	Shane	3,710	↓12
82	Frank	3,638	↓1
83	Dennis	3,634	↓3
84	Philip	3,581	↓2
85	Casey	3,518	↑8
86	Shaun	3,383	↓7
87	Gabriel	3,373	↓2
88	Brent	3,371	↓4
89	Lucas	3,371	↑9
90	Cory	3,352	↓7
91	Randy	3,343	↓4
92	Luis	3,342	↓4
93	Jeffery	3,334	↓3
94	Curtis	3,198	↓5
95	Seth	3,137	↑4
96	Tyler	3,117	new
97	Jerry	3,056	↓3
98	Russell	3,048	↓6
99	Wesley	3,040	↓4
100	Luke	3,013	↓3

Every name given in 1981

All 19,487 names Social Security recorded for 1981, with their rank and count. Type to filter.

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