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The most popular baby names of 1981

SSA recorded 3,459,237 births in 1981 across all reported names — 1,668,060 girls and 1,791,177 boys.

Top 100 girls' names in 1981

Rank, births, and the change in rank against 1980.
#NameBirthsvs 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 +54
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 +43
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 -10
84 Heidi 3,738 -5
85 Natasha 3,730 +4
86 Candice 3,698 +13
87 Victoria 3,689 +16
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 +9
99 Christy 2,943 -16
99 Theresa 2,943 +5

Top 100 boys' names in 1981

Rank, births, and the change in rank against 1980.
#NameBirthsvs 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
88 Lucas 3,371 +10
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 +18
97 Jerry 3,056 -3
98 Russell 3,048 -6
99 Wesley 3,040 -4
100 Luke 3,013 -3

Names that climbed fastest in 1981

Ranked by places gained against 1980, among names with at least 200 births in both years.

NameRank 1981Rank 1980Change
Alexandria girls 404 697 +293
Kira girls 507 784 +277
Hayley girls 480 728 +248
Simone girls 497 735 +238
Ashleigh girls 397 621 +224
Constance girls 333 538 +205
Taylor girls 511 713 +202
Tristan boys 415 602 +187
Lyndsey girls 487 668 +181
Liliana girls 459 639 +180
Cari girls 447 621 +174
Jacklyn girls 550 721 +171
Kelsey girls 434 601 +167
Sophia girls 211 366 +155
Callie girls 532 685 +153

Names that fell fastest in 1981

NameRank 1981Rank 1980Change
Renata girls 735 336 -399
Bambi girls 795 577 -218
Chrissy girls 768 554 -214
Syreeta girls 781 569 -212
Kylie girls 720 567 -153
Devin girls 690 541 -149
Siobhan girls 762 646 -116
Karyn girls 765 650 -115
Sue girls 655 543 -112
David girls 735 626 -109
Jason girls 706 601 -105
Terry girls 730 625 -105
Brianne girls 337 234 -103
Carey girls 646 545 -101
Mayra girls 379 281 -98

Names that first appear in 1981

1981 is the earliest year these names clear the SSA reporting threshold of five births.

Names that peaked in 1981

For these names, 1981 is the single biggest year in the whole 1880–2025 record.