Popular baby names in New York, 1986

The most popular baby names in New York in 1986 were Jessica for girls (3,533 babies) and Michael for boys (5,788). Social Security records list 230,685 babies born in New York in 1986 with a name given to at least five children of the same sex in the state.

Names that stood out in New York in 1986

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

Girls

Rivka: 62 babies, 12× the national rate
Chaya: 106 babies, 11.8× the national rate
Chana: 121 babies, 10.5× the national rate
Shaquana: 66 babies, 7.6× the national rate
Shaniqua: 56 babies, 7.3× the national rate
Giselle: 62 babies, 4.6× the national rate
Annmarie: 55 babies, 3.8× the national rate
Esther: 204 babies, 3.7× the national rate
Miriam: 171 babies, 3.6× the national rate
Simone: 57 babies, 3.5× the national rate

Boys

Chaim: 65 babies, 11.5× the national rate
Moshe: 136 babies, 10.7× the national rate
Yaakov: 70 babies, 9.3× the national rate
Salvatore: 143 babies, 6.8× the national rate
Jamel: 119 babies, 5.5× the national rate
Ariel: 106 babies, 5.3× the national rate
Jean: 85 babies, 4.9× the national rate
Kareem: 73 babies, 4.3× the national rate
Dominick: 95 babies, 3.4× the national rate
Giovanni: 77 babies, 3.4× the national rate

Top 50 girls' and boys' names in New York, 1986

Girls
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985	US rank
1	Jessica	3,533	–	1
2	Jennifer	2,789	–	4
3	Amanda	2,464	↑1	3
4	Nicole	2,264	↓1	7
5	Ashley	2,016	–	2
6	Stephanie	1,779	–	6
7	Sarah	1,547	↑4	5
8	Danielle	1,492	↑1	16
9	Melissa	1,474	↓2	12
10	Christina	1,461	↓2	19
11	Lauren	1,342	↑1	14
12	Elizabeth	1,336	↓2	10
13	Michelle	1,141	–	23
14	Samantha	1,094	↑8	21
15	Kimberly	965	↑2	18
16	Tiffany	943	↑4	17
17	Rachel	928	↓1	15
18	Heather	916	↓3	9
19	Laura	902	↓5	20
20	Christine	870	↓2	47
21	Emily	791	↑2	24
22	Megan	787	↓3	11
23	Katherine	752	↑6	28
24	Kelly	729	↑1	29
25	Erica	722	↑3	31
26	Brittany	709	↑15	8
27	Lisa	698	↓6	40
28	Rebecca	697	↓2	26
29	Crystal	696	↓5	25
30	Sara	693	↑1	27
31	Amy	666	↓1	22
32	Erin	624	↑1	30
33	Kristen	614	↓6	41
34	Vanessa	540	↓2	43
35	Andrea	532	↑1	36
36	Allison	528	↑9	42
37	Jacqueline	527	–	57
38	Maria	517	–	49
39	Jamie	512	↓5	34
40	Diana	489	↑3	75
41	Angela	482	↓2	33
42	Shannon	480	↓2	44
43	Victoria	476	↑3	54
44	Alicia	470	–	45
45	Alexandra	462	new	72
46	Courtney	442	new	35
47	Jenna	442	↓5	55
48	Amber	435	new	13
49	Kathryn	424	new	48
50	Mary	419	–	37

Boys
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1985	US rank
1	Michael	5,788	–	1
2	Christopher	4,107	–	2
3	Matthew	3,295	–	3
4	Daniel	3,014	–	6
5	Joseph	2,853	–	12
6	David	2,719	–	5
7	Andrew	2,478	↑6	8
8	John	2,338	↓1	10
9	Robert	2,318	↓1	9
10	Anthony	2,206	–	19
11	Jonathan	2,163	–	16
12	James	2,135	↓3	7
13	Jason	1,966	↓1	18
14	Brian	1,693	↑1	20
15	Nicholas	1,682	↑3	17
16	Joshua	1,673	↓2	4
17	William	1,633	–	15
18	Ryan	1,630	↑1	11
19	Kevin	1,558	↑1	21
20	Thomas	1,501	↓4	26
21	Steven	1,459	↑1	25
22	Justin	1,373	↑1	14
23	Richard	1,328	↑2	29
24	Eric	1,273	↓3	22
25	Adam	1,180	↓1	24
26	Timothy	1,070	↑1	27
27	Jeffrey	993	↓1	32
28	Sean	987	–	37
29	Mark	940	↑4	35
30	Brandon	935	↓1	13
31	Kyle	918	↑7	23
32	Alexander	889	↑7	41
33	Stephen	872	↓3	36
34	Gregory	868	↓3	46
35	Patrick	850	↓3	39
36	Paul	829	↓2	45
37	Peter	825	↓2	60
38	Jose	758	↑2	51
39	Jeremy	757	↑4	28
40	Charles	717	↓4	34
41	Benjamin	692	↓4	30
42	Scott	651	↓1	44
43	Bryan	582	↑4	47
44	Edward	582	–	61
45	Aaron	572	–	33
46	Kenneth	555	↓4	50
47	Shawn	521	↑1	55
48	Zachary	518	↑2	38
49	Luis	510	↓3	79
50	Jesse	495	new	48

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