Popular baby names of 1986

In 1986, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jessica for girls (52,682 babies) and Michael for boys (64,235). Social Security records show 3,557,062 babies with a name given to at least five children of the same sex that year, sharing 12,836 girls' names and 7,830 boys' names.

1986 at a glance

The top 10 girls' names went to 18.1% of girls recorded.
The top 10 boys' names went to 22.2% of boys recorded.
New in the girls' top 100: Kayla, Casey, Hannah, Mallory, Alyssa, Felicia, Krista, Jasmine.
New in the boys' top 100: Christian, Austin, Seth, Trevor.

Top 100 girls' and boys' names, 1986

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985
1	Jessica	52,682	–
2	Ashley	49,671	–
3	Amanda	40,532	↑1
4	Jennifer	36,187	↓1
5	Sarah	28,163	–
6	Stephanie	22,651	–
7	Nicole	21,292	–
8	Brittany	20,313	↑9
9	Heather	19,790	↓1
10	Elizabeth	19,074	↓1
11	Megan	18,590	↓1
12	Melissa	17,667	↓1
13	Amber	16,954	↑3
14	Lauren	16,684	↑1
15	Rachel	15,455	↓2
16	Danielle	14,942	↑2
17	Tiffany	14,483	↑6
18	Kimberly	14,420	↑1
19	Christina	14,384	↓7
20	Laura	14,172	↓6
21	Samantha	14,092	↑8
22	Amy	13,452	↓2
23	Michelle	13,303	↓1
24	Emily	13,236	–
25	Crystal	12,689	↓4
26	Rebecca	11,793	↓1
27	Sara	11,052	↑3
28	Katherine	10,570	↑4
29	Kelly	10,411	↓1
30	Erin	10,068	↓4
31	Erica	9,973	↑3
32	Whitney	9,536	↑41
33	Angela	9,267	↓2
34	Jamie	9,234	↓7
35	Courtney	9,122	↑8
36	Andrea	8,639	↓3
37	Mary	8,507	↓2
38	Katie	8,333	↑1
39	Lindsey	8,051	↓2
40	Lisa	7,907	↓4
41	Kristen	7,844	↓3
42	Allison	7,575	↑4
43	Vanessa	7,469	↓1
44	Shannon	7,403	↓3
45	Alicia	7,017	–
46	Lindsay	6,952	↓6
47	Christine	6,917	↓3
48	Kathryn	6,393	–
49	Maria	6,142	↑3
50	Kristin	6,000	↓1
51	Anna	5,908	↑3
52	Natalie	5,707	↑6
53	April	5,677	↓6
54	Victoria	5,676	↑5
55	Jenna	5,416	↓5
56	Tara	5,085	↓5
57	Jacqueline	5,036	↑3
58	Julie	5,016	↓3
59	Monica	5,013	↑2
60	Cassandra	4,989	↑2
61	Krystal	4,929	↓8
62	Kristina	4,840	↓5
63	Holly	4,838	↓7
64	Kayla	4,657	new
65	Brittney	4,593	↑19
66	Patricia	4,246	↓2
67	Catherine	4,242	↓2
68	Kathleen	4,129	–
69	Caitlin	3,881	↑8
70	Natasha	3,872	↑9
71	Meghan	3,869	↓8
72	Alexandra	3,808	↑20
73	Chelsea	3,753	↑2
74	Erika	3,678	↑6
75	Diana	3,669	↓1
76	Valerie	3,618	↓5
77	Veronica	3,580	↓5
78	Leah	3,457	–
79	Brandi	3,432	↓10
80	Casey	3,423	new
81	Cynthia	3,422	↓15
82	Hannah	3,388	new
83	Mallory	3,325	new
84	Brandy	3,295	↓14
85	Alyssa	3,225	new
86	Leslie	3,224	↓10
87	Stacy	3,220	↓20
88	Julia	3,109	↓3
89	Felicia	3,084	new
90	Margaret	3,084	–
91	Bethany	3,082	↑3
92	Dana	3,076	↓10
93	Krista	3,054	new
94	Stacey	3,043	↓5
95	Jasmine	2,993	new
96	Alison	2,975	↑1
97	Melanie	2,973	↓9
98	Dominique	2,944	↓15
99	Katrina	2,828	↓6
100	Karen	2,801	↓13

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985
1	Michael	64,235	–
2	Christopher	56,693	–
3	Matthew	46,929	–
4	Joshua	37,542	–
5	David	37,150	↑1
6	Daniel	36,573	↓1
7	James	34,057	–
8	Andrew	33,858	↑3
9	Robert	31,350	↓1
10	John	30,209	↓1
11	Ryan	29,524	↑1
12	Joseph	28,834	↓2
13	Brandon	27,254	–
14	Justin	26,638	↑1
15	William	24,333	↑1
16	Jonathan	23,973	↑1
17	Nicholas	22,800	↑2
18	Jason	22,415	↓4
19	Anthony	21,956	↑1
20	Brian	21,027	↓2
21	Kevin	19,935	↑2
22	Eric	19,528	↓1
23	Kyle	19,315	↑4
24	Adam	18,157	↓2
25	Steven	18,099	↓1
26	Thomas	17,362	↓1
27	Timothy	16,875	↓1
28	Jeremy	16,269	↑2
29	Richard	15,014	↓1
30	Benjamin	13,793	↑1
31	Jacob	13,652	↑4
32	Jeffrey	13,651	↓3
33	Aaron	12,692	–
34	Charles	12,625	–
35	Mark	12,615	↓3
36	Stephen	11,877	–
37	Sean	11,784	↑1
38	Zachary	11,725	↑1
39	Patrick	11,410	↓2
40	Tyler	10,912	↑3
41	Alexander	10,609	↑9
42	Dustin	10,317	↓1
43	Nathan	9,996	↓3
44	Scott	9,965	–
45	Paul	9,715	↓3
46	Gregory	9,529	↓1
47	Bryan	8,651	↑1
48	Jesse	8,542	↑3
49	Travis	8,480	↓3
50	Kenneth	8,453	↓3
51	Jose	8,363	↓2
52	Samuel	7,579	↑2
53	Jordan	7,302	↑9
54	Bradley	7,044	↓1
55	Shawn	7,018	–
56	Cody	6,934	↓4
57	Derek	6,900	↓1
58	Jared	6,119	–
59	Chad	6,026	↓2
60	Peter	5,797	–
61	Edward	5,777	↓2
62	Corey	5,762	↑1
63	Marcus	5,278	↓2
64	Alex	5,111	↑16
65	Juan	5,076	–
66	Keith	5,040	↓2
67	Shane	4,929	↑1
68	Cory	4,871	↑13
69	Brett	4,729	↑1
70	Phillip	4,705	↓1
71	Donald	4,661	↓5
72	Joel	4,507	↓5
73	Antonio	4,406	–
74	George	4,348	↓2
75	Ronald	4,224	↓4
76	Carlos	4,090	↓2
77	Raymond	4,055	↓2
78	Nathaniel	4,032	↓1
79	Luis	4,028	↑6
80	Craig	3,926	↓1
81	Evan	3,887	↑10
82	Douglas	3,763	↓6
83	Casey	3,762	↑3
84	Gary	3,719	↓2
85	Ian	3,713	↓7
86	Philip	3,665	↓2
87	Derrick	3,326	↓4
88	Victor	3,293	–
89	Christian	3,214	new
90	Austin	3,202	new
91	Frank	3,178	↓1
92	Erik	3,110	↓5
93	Vincent	3,092	↑2
94	Brent	3,061	↓5
95	Gabriel	3,046	↓3
96	Wesley	3,043	↓2
97	Seth	2,980	new
98	Trevor	2,978	new
99	Adrian	2,943	↓6
100	Curtis	2,910	↓2

Every name given in 1986

All 20,666 names Social Security recorded for 1986, with their rank and count. Type to filter.

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