Name.Baby Names by year 1990s 1996 Most Popular Baby Names of 1996 Social Security has card records for 3,920,828 babies born in the U.S. in 1996. Emily was the top girl name (25,150 babies) and Michael the top boy name (38,373).
Top 100 names of 1996 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1996, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Emily 25,150 #34 2 Jessica 24,201 #665 3 Ashley 23,678 #164 4 Sarah 21,048 #90 5 Samantha 20,552 #151 6 Taylor 19,155 #403 7 Hannah 18,596 #56 8 Alexis 16,592 #554 9 Rachel 16,121 #250 10 Elizabeth 16,003 #17 11 Kayla 15,269 #364 12 Megan 14,770 #887 13 Amanda 13,980 #493 14 Brittany 13,797 #928 15 Madison 13,412 #40 16 Lauren 12,595 #401 17 Brianna 11,925 #222 18 Victoria 11,859 #54 19 Jennifer 11,732 #586 20 Stephanie 11,643 #557 21 Courtney 11,344 #2,326 22 Nicole 11,135 #382 23 Alyssa 11,024 #453 24 Rebecca 10,626 #349 25 Morgan 10,295 #312 26 Alexandra 10,025 #237 27 Amber 9,771 #520 28 Jasmine 9,707 #206 29 Danielle 9,286 #549 30 Haley 9,042 #861 31 Katherine 8,877 #186 32 Abigail 8,604 #41 33 Anna 8,575 #107 34 Olivia 8,126 #1 35 Shelby 7,950 #649 36 Kelsey 7,655 #814 37 Maria 7,598 #87 38 Allison 7,455 #103 39 Sydney 7,259 #348 40 Kaitlyn 7,241 #799 41 Kimberly 7,176 #302 42 Melissa 7,170 #419 43 Savannah 7,000 #135 44 Mary 6,968 #125 45 Brooke 6,724 #313 46 Natalie 6,693 #89 47 Michelle 6,598 #465 48 Julia 6,314 #131 49 Jordan 6,299 #584 50 Sara 6,288 #198
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1996, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Erin 6,256 #833 52 Tiffany 6,158 #878 53 Emma 6,151 #3 54 Gabrielle 5,888 #632 55 Chelsea 5,864 #851 56 Destiny 5,856 #635 57 Christina 5,804 #770 58 Sabrina 5,774 #321 59 Marissa 5,752 #1,673 60 Vanessa 5,746 #377 61 Andrea 5,671 #235 62 Sierra 5,487 #614 63 Mariah 5,446 #447 64 Katelyn 5,421 #1,076 65 Paige 5,342 #346 66 Laura 5,227 #379 67 Madeline 4,912 #81 68 Cheyenne 4,866 #920 69 Jacqueline 4,862 #558 70 Kristen 4,851 #1,990 71 Heather 4,759 #1,261 72 Briana 4,735 #661 73 Kelly 4,734 #851 74 Breanna 4,701 #2,542 75 Mackenzie 4,597 #228 76 Miranda 4,568 #654 77 Alexandria 4,563 #474 78 Caroline 4,466 #96 79 Erica 4,460 #1,396 80 Shannon 4,337 #2,387 81 Katie 4,329 #646 82 Monica 4,326 #736 83 Jenna 4,288 #679 84 Caitlin 4,268 #2,326 85 Bailey 4,192 #208 86 Lindsey 4,112 #1,367 87 Kathryn 4,102 #729 88 Amy 4,067 #257 89 Cassandra 4,018 #630 90 Angela 3,867 #408 91 Alicia 3,861 #460 92 Crystal 3,786 #1,144 93 Hailey 3,762 #104 94 Grace 3,742 #38 95 Catherine 3,739 #313 96 Jamie 3,599 #857 97 Angelica 3,404 #707 98 Leah 3,326 #58 99 Molly 3,312 #196 100 Alexa 3,260 #1,029
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1996, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 38,373 #21 2 Matthew 32,077 #32 3 Jacob 31,925 #43 4 Christopher 30,904 #68 5 Joshua 29,175 #66 6 Nicholas 27,724 #112 7 Tyler 26,956 #219 8 Brandon 25,847 #261 9 Austin 25,663 #113 10 Andrew 25,244 #73 11 Daniel 25,128 #22 12 Joseph 24,758 #29 13 David 23,022 #35 14 Zachary 22,369 #216 15 John 22,188 #23 16 Ryan 21,809 #99 17 James 21,165 #6 18 William 20,546 #9 19 Anthony 20,508 #46 20 Justin 20,015 #233 21 Jonathan 18,602 #89 22 Alexander 17,964 #30 23 Robert 17,676 #92 24 Christian 15,824 #96 25 Kyle 15,600 #508 26 Kevin 14,589 #221 27 Jordan 13,852 #131 28 Thomas 13,804 #34 29 Benjamin 13,784 #11 30 Samuel 13,629 #18 31 Cody 12,954 #318 32 Jose 12,155 #95 33 Dylan 12,037 #41 34 Aaron 11,971 #80 35 Eric 11,611 #273 36 Brian 10,476 #339 37 Nathan 10,287 #63 38 Steven 9,650 #271 39 Adam 9,557 #101 40 Timothy 8,919 #203 41 Jason 8,695 #165 42 Logan 8,374 #53 43 Charles 8,248 #48 44 Patrick 8,194 #235 45 Richard 8,182 #234 46 Sean 7,896 #489 47 Hunter 7,603 #130 48 Caleb 7,550 #58 49 Cameron 7,388 #76 50 Noah 7,184 #2
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1996, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Jesse 7,075 #184 52 Juan 7,010 #159 53 Alex 6,915 #232 54 Connor 6,911 #166 55 Mark 6,599 #244 56 Jeremy 6,412 #292 57 Luis 6,407 #144 58 Dakota 6,067 #319 59 Stephen 6,008 #383 60 Devin 6,001 #548 61 Gabriel 5,900 #37 62 Ethan 5,853 #24 63 Trevor 5,842 #679 64 Jared 5,821 #396 65 Evan 5,577 #153 66 Bryan 5,560 #336 67 Carlos 5,464 #150 68 Tristan 5,458 #309 69 Nathaniel 5,420 #140 70 Ian 5,411 #83 71 Isaiah 5,324 #57 72 Jeffrey 5,263 #552 73 Travis 5,159 #434 74 Jesus 5,115 #173 75 Luke 5,017 #33 76 Chase 4,992 #192 77 Kenneth 4,973 #294 78 Paul 4,883 #262 79 Dustin 4,874 #728 80 Antonio 4,866 #176 81 Elijah 4,818 #7 82 Taylor 4,798 #683 83 Bradley 4,755 #403 84 Blake 4,747 #316 85 Garrett 4,653 #564 86 Isaac 4,566 #47 87 Marcus 4,546 #258 88 Mitchell 4,391 #952 89 Jack 4,245 #15 90 Tanner 4,180 #475 91 Miguel 4,160 #212 92 Adrian 4,112 #74 93 Lucas 4,106 #10 94 Corey 4,087 #778 95 Peter 4,082 #187 96 Edward 4,073 #224 97 Malik 4,026 #437 98 Gregory 3,994 #593 99 Dalton 3,980 #448 100 Victor 3,924 #209
Entered the top 100 in 1996
