Popular baby names in Iowa, 1986

The most popular baby names in Iowa in 1986 were Ashley for girls (655 babies) and Matthew for boys (612). Ashley ranked #2 nationally for girls. Matthew ranked #3 nationally for boys. Social Security records list 34,085 babies born in Iowa in 1986 with a name given to at least five children of the same sex in the state.

Names that stood out in Iowa in 1986

Names given at least 15 times in Iowa that year and at least twice as common as in the US as a whole.

Girls

Renae: 17 babies, 8× the national rate
Abbey: 23 babies, 6.7× the national rate
Abby: 51 babies, 4.9× the national rate
Jill: 64 babies, 3.9× the national rate
Kelsey: 90 babies, 3.8× the national rate
Kari: 51 babies, 3.4× the national rate
Maggie: 26 babies, 3.4× the national rate
Molly: 74 babies, 3.1× the national rate
Shelby: 25 babies, 3× the national rate
Alissa: 23 babies, 3× the national rate

Boys

Heath: 28 babies, 5× the national rate
Lucas: 100 babies, 4.6× the national rate
Wade: 30 babies, 4.2× the national rate
Darin: 15 babies, 3.7× the national rate
Tanner: 20 babies, 3.6× the national rate
Cody: 239 babies, 3.5× the national rate
Cole: 36 babies, 3.4× the national rate
Tyler: 340 babies, 3.2× the national rate
Dillon: 19 babies, 3.2× the national rate
Mitchell: 81 babies, 3.1× the national rate

Top 50 girls' and boys' names in Iowa, 1986

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985	US rank
1	Ashley	655	–	2
2	Jessica	563	↑1	1
3	Amanda	546	↓1	3
4	Sarah	410	↑2	5
5	Jennifer	399	↓1	4
6	Megan	359	↓1	11
7	Emily	281	–	24
8	Nicole	260	–	7
9	Amber	258	↑1	13
10	Stephanie	257	↓1	6
11	Amy	247	↑3	22
12	Elizabeth	246	↓1	10
13	Heather	233	↓1	9
14	Katie	212	↑4	38
15	Rachel	206	–	15
16	Melissa	205	↓3	12
17	Sara	191	–	27
18	Laura	190	↓2	20
19	Danielle	183	–	16
20	Samantha	183	↑6	21
21	Erin	155	↓1	30
22	Allison	152	↑5	42
23	Brittany	151	↑7	8
24	Lindsey	146	↓3	39
25	Whitney	145	new	32
26	Kimberly	133	↑9	18
27	Michelle	133	↓4	23
28	Rebecca	128	↓4	26
29	Andrea	127	↓4	36
30	Courtney	126	↑18	35
31	Jamie	125	↓9	34
32	Katherine	125	↓1	28
33	Angela	123	↓1	33
34	Kelly	119	↑2	29
35	Tiffany	116	↓6	17
36	Christina	113	↓3	19
37	Lindsay	108	↓3	46
38	Jenna	103	↓10	55
39	Lisa	100	↓2	40
40	Kayla	97	new	64
41	Alicia	91	↓2	45
42	Kelsey	90	new	>100
43	Kathryn	84	↑2	48
44	Anna	81	↓4	51
45	Crystal	81	↓7	25
46	Chelsea	79	↑3	73
47	Holly	76	↓4	63
48	Molly	74	↑2	>100
49	Mary	72	↓3	37
50	Tara	72	↓9	56

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985	US rank
1	Matthew	612	–	3
2	Michael	535	–	1
3	Joshua	513	–	4
4	Andrew	492	↑2	8
5	Ryan	454	↓1	11
6	Christopher	424	↓1	2
7	Nicholas	424	–	17
8	Adam	390	–	24
9	Kyle	385	↑5	23
10	Daniel	343	–	6
11	Tyler	340	↑4	40
12	Brandon	329	↓1	13
13	Jacob	323	↑8	31
14	Justin	321	↓5	14
15	David	296	↓2	5
16	Joseph	292	↓4	12
17	Benjamin	281	↑3	30
18	Eric	263	↓1	22
19	James	243	↑3	7
20	Brian	240	↓1	20
21	Cody	239	↑6	56
22	Zachary	237	↑2	38
23	Jason	235	↓7	18
24	Nathan	231	↓6	43
25	Dustin	226	–	42
26	John	223	↓3	10
27	Anthony	213	↑4	19
28	Robert	208	↓2	9
29	Jonathan	205	↑3	16
30	Timothy	193	↓2	27
31	Jeremy	190	↑6	28
32	Aaron	187	↓3	33
33	Travis	180	↑1	49
34	William	173	↑5	15
35	Scott	163	–	44
36	Jeffrey	158	↓3	32
37	Kevin	156	↑3	21
38	Thomas	149	–	26
39	Bradley	146	↑5	54
40	Mark	139	↓4	35
41	Jesse	136	↑1	48
42	Steven	136	↓12	25
43	Jordan	130	↑4	53
44	Alex	129	new	64
45	Brett	121	–	69
46	Sean	118	new	37
47	Derek	115	↓4	57
48	Patrick	107	new	39
49	Chad	102	↓8	59
50	Jared	102	↓4	58

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