Popular baby names of 1988

In 1988, the most popular baby names in the United States were Jessica for girls (51,556 babies) and Michael for boys (64,171). Social Security records show 3,695,137 babies with a name given to at least five children of the same sex that year, sharing 13,883 girls' names and 8,495 boys' names.

1988 at a glance

The top 10 girls' names went to 17.3% of girls recorded.
The top 10 boys' names went to 21.4% of boys recorded.
New in the girls' top 100: Katelyn, Kara, Brianna, Alexis, Kaitlin, Melanie.
New in the boys' top 100: Taylor, Mitchell.

Top 100 girls' and boys' names, 1988

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1987
1	Jessica	51,556	–
2	Ashley	49,977	–
3	Amanda	39,459	–
4	Sarah	28,374	↑1
5	Jennifer	27,893	↓1
6	Brittany	26,816	↑1
7	Stephanie	22,843	↓1
8	Samantha	20,700	↑3
9	Nicole	20,315	↓1
10	Elizabeth	20,042	–
11	Lauren	19,637	↑5
12	Megan	18,570	–
13	Tiffany	18,364	↑5
14	Heather	18,033	↓5
15	Amber	16,676	–
16	Melissa	16,546	↓3
17	Danielle	16,253	↓3
18	Emily	15,869	↑1
19	Rachel	15,348	↓2
20	Kayla	13,433	↑7
21	Michelle	13,339	–
22	Christina	12,954	↓2
23	Laura	12,126	↓1
24	Courtney	12,043	↑9
25	Kimberly	11,948	↓2
26	Rebecca	11,877	↓1
27	Katherine	11,154	↑1
28	Crystal	10,101	↓2
29	Amy	10,034	↓5
30	Sara	10,020	↓1
31	Erica	9,591	–
32	Kelly	8,917	↓2
33	Chelsea	8,879	↑14
34	Mary	8,518	↑3
35	Andrea	8,392	↑1
36	Kristen	8,382	↑6
37	Erin	8,267	↓3
38	Angela	7,914	↓3
39	Whitney	7,853	↓7
40	Katie	7,770	↓2
41	Vanessa	7,516	↑2
42	Victoria	7,283	↑8
43	Lisa	7,267	↓3
44	Caitlin	7,246	↑19
45	Jamie	7,187	↓6
46	Allison	7,145	↓2
47	Alyssa	7,135	↑13
48	Lindsey	7,001	↓7
49	Alexandra	6,972	↑10
50	Alicia	6,700	↓4
51	Christine	6,612	↓3
52	Brittney	6,576	↑9
53	Jasmine	6,446	↑26
54	Anna	6,444	↓2
55	Kathryn	6,342	↓4
56	Shannon	6,256	↓11
57	Lindsay	6,025	↓8
58	Kristin	6,019	↓3
59	Cassandra	5,727	↑9
60	Maria	5,713	↓7
61	Hannah	5,562	↑5
62	Jacqueline	5,544	↓8
63	Natalie	5,483	↓7
64	Kelsey	5,452	↑3
65	April	4,840	↓7
66	Jenna	4,607	↓9
67	Tara	4,606	↑2
68	Kristina	4,578	↓6
69	Catherine	4,504	↑5
70	Monica	4,463	↓6
71	Julie	4,462	↓6
72	Holly	4,217	↓1
73	Natasha	4,039	–
74	Krystal	4,019	↓4
75	Kathleen	3,927	↓3
76	Erika	3,886	↓1
77	Patricia	3,799	↓1
78	Morgan	3,796	↑17
79	Cynthia	3,784	↑5
80	Kendra	3,761	↓3
81	Meghan	3,609	↓3
82	Leah	3,558	–
83	Veronica	3,525	↓3
84	Katelyn	3,510	new
85	Diana	3,489	–
86	Molly	3,461	↑11
87	Brooke	3,416	↑7
88	Julia	3,359	↓2
89	Bethany	3,270	↓2
90	Dana	3,192	↓7
91	Brandi	3,169	↓3
92	Casey	3,150	↓11
93	Margaret	3,139	↓3
94	Leslie	3,079	↓5
95	Kara	3,039	new
96	Brianna	2,963	new
97	Alexis	2,900	new
98	Kaitlin	2,841	new
99	Melanie	2,834	new
100	Rachael	2,831	↓2

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1987
1	Michael	64,171	–
2	Christopher	53,014	–
3	Matthew	45,876	–
4	Joshua	42,653	–
5	Andrew	35,745	↑1
6	David	35,329	↓1
7	Justin	35,055	↑2
8	Daniel	34,718	↓1
9	James	32,523	↓1
10	Robert	30,319	–
11	John	29,427	–
12	Joseph	29,019	–
13	Ryan	27,747	–
14	Nicholas	25,303	↑2
15	Jonathan	24,349	↑3
16	William	24,126	↓1
17	Brandon	23,744	↓3
18	Anthony	23,644	↓1
19	Eric	20,175	↑2
20	Kevin	20,168	↓1
21	Kyle	19,895	↑1
22	Brian	19,532	↓2
23	Thomas	18,806	↑1
24	Steven	17,865	↑1
25	Timothy	16,807	↑1
26	Adam	16,467	↑1
27	Jason	15,917	↓4
28	Jacob	15,883	↑3
29	Zachary	15,870	↑4
30	Benjamin	15,187	↓2
31	Aaron	14,408	↑3
32	Richard	14,144	↓2
33	Tyler	13,349	↑6
34	Alexander	13,341	↑3
35	Jeremy	13,169	↓6
36	Jeffrey	12,401	↓4
37	Charles	12,109	↓2
38	Sean	11,794	↑2
39	Mark	11,715	↓3
40	Stephen	11,607	↓2
41	Travis	11,423	↑1
42	Patrick	11,400	↓1
43	Cody	10,583	↑6
44	Nathan	10,154	↑1
45	Samuel	9,564	↑5
46	Paul	9,438	–
47	Scott	9,351	↓4
48	Dustin	9,337	↓4
49	Jose	9,007	↓1
50	Gregory	8,629	↓3
51	Kenneth	8,567	↑2
52	Jordan	8,490	–
53	Derek	8,073	↑1
54	Bryan	8,036	↓3
55	Jesse	7,914	–
56	Corey	7,328	↑1
57	Bradley	7,017	↓1
58	Alex	6,408	↑2
59	Cory	6,266	↑3
60	Jared	6,211	↓2
61	Shawn	5,893	↓2
62	Edward	5,801	↓1
63	Austin	5,588	↑13
64	Peter	5,425	–
65	Chad	5,299	↓2
66	Marcus	5,207	↑1
67	Shane	5,173	↓2
68	Juan	5,171	↓2
69	Cameron	4,985	↑27
70	Keith	4,949	↓1
71	Phillip	4,576	↓3
72	Antonio	4,461	–
73	Brett	4,375	↓2
74	Evan	4,337	↑9
75	Luis	4,333	↑7
76	Donald	4,328	↓6
77	Ian	4,315	↑4
78	George	4,296	↓1
79	Ronald	4,173	↓6
80	Carlos	4,127	↓6
81	Nathaniel	4,054	↓3
82	Vincent	4,054	↑13
83	Casey	4,039	↓3
84	Raymond	4,036	↓5
85	Joel	3,940	↓10
86	Christian	3,937	↑4
87	Trevor	3,695	↑6
88	Douglas	3,655	↓3
89	Victor	3,628	↑2
90	Seth	3,493	↓1
91	Taylor	3,492	new
92	Erik	3,478	↑2
93	Wesley	3,478	↓1
94	Philip	3,373	↓10
95	Mitchell	3,323	new
96	Craig	3,306	↓8
97	Derrick	3,304	↓11
98	Devin	3,302	↑1
99	Frank	3,271	↓2
100	Gary	3,244	↓13

Every name given in 1988

All 22,378 names Social Security recorded for 1988, with their rank and count. Type to filter.

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