Name.Baby Names by year 1980s 1986 Most Popular Baby Names of 1986 Social Security has card records for 3,767,164 people born in the U.S. in 1986. Jessica was the top girl name (52,682 babies) and Michael the top boy name (64,235).
Top 100 names of 1986 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1986, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Jessica 52,682 #665 2 Ashley 49,671 #164 3 Amanda 40,532 #493 4 Jennifer 36,187 #586 5 Sarah 28,163 #90 6 Stephanie 22,651 #557 7 Nicole 21,292 #382 8 Brittany 20,313 #928 9 Heather 19,790 #1,261 10 Elizabeth 19,074 #17 11 Megan 18,590 #887 12 Melissa 17,667 #419 13 Amber 16,954 #520 14 Lauren 16,684 #401 15 Rachel 15,455 #250 16 Danielle 14,942 #549 17 Tiffany 14,483 #878 18 Kimberly 14,420 #302 19 Christina 14,384 #770 20 Laura 14,172 #379 21 Samantha 14,092 #151 22 Amy 13,452 #257 23 Michelle 13,303 #465 24 Emily 13,236 #34 25 Crystal 12,689 #1,144 26 Rebecca 11,793 #349 27 Sara 11,052 #198 28 Katherine 10,570 #186 29 Kelly 10,411 #851 30 Erin 10,068 #833 31 Erica 9,973 #1,396 32 Whitney 9,536 #1,043 33 Angela 9,267 #408 34 Jamie 9,234 #857 35 Courtney 9,122 #2,326 36 Andrea 8,639 #235 37 Mary 8,507 #125 38 Katie 8,333 #646 39 Lindsey 8,051 #1,367 40 Lisa 7,907 #987 41 Kristen 7,844 #1,990 42 Allison 7,575 #103 43 Vanessa 7,469 #377 44 Shannon 7,403 #2,387 45 Alicia 7,017 #460 46 Lindsay 6,952 #2,194 47 Christine 6,917 #1,272 48 Kathryn 6,393 #729 49 Maria 6,142 #87 50 Kristin 6,000 #4,661
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1986, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Anna 5,908 #107 52 Natalie 5,707 #89 53 April 5,677 #542 54 Victoria 5,676 #54 55 Jenna 5,416 #679 56 Tara 5,085 #844 57 Jacqueline 5,036 #558 58 Julie 5,016 #872 59 Monica 5,013 #736 60 Cassandra 4,989 #630 61 Krystal 4,929 #2,117 62 Kristina 4,840 #1,721 63 Holly 4,838 #416 64 Kayla 4,657 #364 65 Brittney 4,593 #5,099 66 Patricia 4,246 #1,334 67 Catherine 4,242 #313 68 Kathleen 4,129 #1,150 69 Caitlin 3,881 #2,326 70 Natasha 3,872 #1,144 71 Meghan 3,869 #1,902 72 Alexandra 3,808 #237 73 Chelsea 3,753 #851 74 Erika 3,678 #1,109 75 Diana 3,669 #244 76 Valerie 3,618 #127 77 Veronica 3,580 #427 78 Leah 3,457 #58 79 Brandi 3,432 #4,758 80 Casey 3,423 #1,065 81 Cynthia 3,422 #1,013 82 Hannah 3,388 #56 83 Mallory 3,325 #372 84 Brandy 3,295 #3,067 85 Alyssa 3,225 #453 86 Leslie 3,224 #712 87 Stacy 3,220 #1,652 88 Julia 3,109 #131 89 Felicia 3,084 #5,554 89 Margaret 3,084 #112 91 Bethany 3,082 #751 92 Dana 3,076 #1,027 93 Krista 3,054 #3,645 94 Stacey 3,043 #3,067 95 Jasmine 2,993 #206 96 Alison 2,975 #476 97 Melanie 2,973 #142 98 Dominique 2,944 #3,130 99 Katrina 2,828 #2,214 100 Karen 2,801 #1,279
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1986, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 64,235 #21 2 Christopher 56,693 #68 3 Matthew 46,929 #32 4 Joshua 37,542 #66 5 David 37,150 #35 6 Daniel 36,573 #22 7 James 34,057 #6 8 Andrew 33,858 #73 9 Robert 31,350 #92 10 John 30,209 #23 11 Ryan 29,524 #99 12 Joseph 28,834 #29 13 Brandon 27,254 #261 14 Justin 26,638 #233 15 William 24,333 #9 16 Jonathan 23,973 #89 17 Nicholas 22,800 #112 18 Jason 22,415 #165 19 Anthony 21,956 #46 20 Brian 21,027 #339 21 Kevin 19,935 #221 22 Eric 19,528 #273 23 Kyle 19,315 #508 24 Adam 18,157 #101 25 Steven 18,099 #271 26 Thomas 17,362 #34 27 Timothy 16,875 #203 28 Jeremy 16,269 #292 29 Richard 15,014 #234 30 Benjamin 13,793 #11 31 Jacob 13,652 #43 32 Jeffrey 13,651 #552 33 Aaron 12,692 #80 34 Charles 12,625 #48 35 Mark 12,615 #244 36 Stephen 11,877 #383 37 Sean 11,784 #489 38 Zachary 11,725 #216 39 Patrick 11,410 #235 40 Tyler 10,912 #219 41 Alexander 10,609 #30 42 Dustin 10,317 #728 43 Nathan 9,996 #63 44 Scott 9,965 #534 45 Paul 9,715 #262 46 Gregory 9,529 #593 47 Bryan 8,651 #336 48 Jesse 8,542 #184 49 Travis 8,480 #434 50 Kenneth 8,453 #294
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1986, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Jose 8,363 #95 52 Samuel 7,579 #18 53 Jordan 7,302 #131 54 Bradley 7,044 #403 55 Shawn 7,018 #681 56 Cody 6,934 #318 57 Derek 6,900 #284 58 Jared 6,119 #396 59 Chad 6,026 #1,699 60 Peter 5,797 #187 61 Edward 5,777 #224 62 Corey 5,762 #778 63 Marcus 5,278 #258 64 Alex 5,111 #232 65 Juan 5,076 #159 66 Keith 5,040 #800 67 Shane 4,929 #635 68 Cory 4,871 #1,244 69 Brett 4,729 #1,382 70 Phillip 4,705 #651 71 Donald 4,661 #690 72 Joel 4,507 #219 73 Antonio 4,406 #176 74 George 4,348 #126 75 Ronald 4,224 #637 76 Carlos 4,090 #150 77 Raymond 4,055 #394 78 Nathaniel 4,032 #140 79 Luis 4,028 #144 80 Craig 3,926 #1,644 81 Evan 3,887 #153 82 Douglas 3,763 #807 83 Casey 3,762 #320 84 Gary 3,719 #1,073 85 Ian 3,713 #83 86 Philip 3,665 #527 87 Derrick 3,326 #850 88 Victor 3,293 #209 89 Christian 3,214 #96 90 Austin 3,202 #113 91 Frank 3,178 #513 92 Erik 3,110 #545 93 Vincent 3,092 #107 94 Brent 3,061 #1,509 95 Gabriel 3,046 #37 96 Wesley 3,043 #52 97 Seth 2,980 #581 98 Trevor 2,978 #679 99 Adrian 2,943 #74 100 Curtis 2,910 #984
Entered the top 100 in 1986
