Name.Baby Names by year 1980s 1988 Most Popular Baby Names of 1988 Social Security has card records for 3,925,259 babies born in the U.S. in 1988. Jessica was the top girl name (51,556 babies) and Michael the top boy name (64,171).
Top 100 names of 1988 Jump to the boys’ top 100 ↓
Girls 1–50 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1988, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Jessica 51,556 #665 2 Ashley 49,977 #164 3 Amanda 39,459 #493 4 Sarah 28,374 #90 5 Jennifer 27,893 #586 6 Brittany 26,816 #928 7 Stephanie 22,843 #557 8 Samantha 20,700 #151 9 Nicole 20,315 #382 10 Elizabeth 20,042 #17 11 Lauren 19,637 #401 12 Megan 18,570 #887 13 Tiffany 18,364 #878 14 Heather 18,033 #1,261 15 Amber 16,676 #520 16 Melissa 16,546 #419 17 Danielle 16,253 #549 18 Emily 15,869 #34 19 Rachel 15,348 #250 20 Kayla 13,433 #364 21 Michelle 13,339 #465 22 Christina 12,954 #770 23 Laura 12,126 #379 24 Courtney 12,043 #2,326 25 Kimberly 11,948 #302 26 Rebecca 11,877 #349 27 Katherine 11,154 #186 28 Crystal 10,101 #1,144 29 Amy 10,034 #257 30 Sara 10,020 #198 31 Erica 9,591 #1,396 32 Kelly 8,917 #851 33 Chelsea 8,879 #851 34 Mary 8,518 #125 35 Andrea 8,392 #235 36 Kristen 8,382 #1,990 37 Erin 8,267 #833 38 Angela 7,914 #408 39 Whitney 7,853 #1,043 40 Katie 7,770 #646 41 Vanessa 7,516 #377 42 Victoria 7,283 #54 43 Lisa 7,267 #987 44 Caitlin 7,246 #2,326 45 Jamie 7,187 #857 46 Allison 7,145 #103 47 Alyssa 7,135 #453 48 Lindsey 7,001 #1,367 49 Alexandra 6,972 #237 50 Alicia 6,700 #460
Girls 51–100 Top 100 girl names in the U.S., 1988, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Christine 6,612 #1,272 52 Brittney 6,576 #5,099 53 Jasmine 6,446 #206 54 Anna 6,444 #107 55 Kathryn 6,342 #729 56 Shannon 6,256 #2,387 57 Lindsay 6,025 #2,194 58 Kristin 6,019 #4,661 59 Cassandra 5,727 #630 60 Maria 5,713 #87 61 Hannah 5,562 #56 62 Jacqueline 5,544 #558 63 Natalie 5,483 #89 64 Kelsey 5,452 #814 65 April 4,840 #542 66 Jenna 4,607 #679 67 Tara 4,606 #844 68 Kristina 4,578 #1,721 69 Catherine 4,504 #313 70 Monica 4,463 #736 71 Julie 4,462 #872 72 Holly 4,217 #416 73 Natasha 4,039 #1,144 74 Krystal 4,019 #2,117 75 Kathleen 3,927 #1,150 76 Erika 3,886 #1,109 77 Patricia 3,799 #1,334 78 Morgan 3,796 #312 79 Cynthia 3,784 #1,013 80 Kendra 3,761 #849 81 Meghan 3,609 #1,902 82 Leah 3,558 #58 83 Veronica 3,525 #427 84 Katelyn 3,510 #1,076 85 Diana 3,489 #244 86 Molly 3,461 #196 87 Brooke 3,416 #313 88 Julia 3,359 #131 89 Bethany 3,270 #751 90 Dana 3,192 #1,027 91 Brandi 3,169 #4,758 92 Casey 3,150 #1,065 93 Margaret 3,139 #112 94 Leslie 3,079 #712 95 Kara 3,039 #1,071 96 Brianna 2,963 #222 97 Alexis 2,900 #554 98 Kaitlin 2,841 #4,067 99 Melanie 2,834 #142 100 Rachael 2,831 #4,987
Boys 1–50 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1988, ranks 1–50 # Name Babies 2025 rank 1 Michael 64,171 #21 2 Christopher 53,014 #68 3 Matthew 45,876 #32 4 Joshua 42,653 #66 5 Andrew 35,745 #73 6 David 35,329 #35 7 Justin 35,055 #233 8 Daniel 34,718 #22 9 James 32,523 #6 10 Robert 30,319 #92 11 John 29,427 #23 12 Joseph 29,019 #29 13 Ryan 27,747 #99 14 Nicholas 25,303 #112 15 Jonathan 24,349 #89 16 William 24,126 #9 17 Brandon 23,744 #261 18 Anthony 23,644 #46 19 Eric 20,175 #273 20 Kevin 20,168 #221 21 Kyle 19,895 #508 22 Brian 19,532 #339 23 Thomas 18,806 #34 24 Steven 17,865 #271 25 Timothy 16,807 #203 26 Adam 16,467 #101 27 Jason 15,917 #165 28 Jacob 15,883 #43 29 Zachary 15,870 #216 30 Benjamin 15,187 #11 31 Aaron 14,408 #80 32 Richard 14,144 #234 33 Tyler 13,349 #219 34 Alexander 13,341 #30 35 Jeremy 13,169 #292 36 Jeffrey 12,401 #552 37 Charles 12,109 #48 38 Sean 11,794 #489 39 Mark 11,715 #244 40 Stephen 11,607 #383 41 Travis 11,423 #434 42 Patrick 11,400 #235 43 Cody 10,583 #318 44 Nathan 10,154 #63 45 Samuel 9,564 #18 46 Paul 9,438 #262 47 Scott 9,351 #534 48 Dustin 9,337 #728 49 Jose 9,007 #95 50 Gregory 8,629 #593
Boys 51–100 Top 100 boy names in the U.S., 1988, ranks 51–100 # Name Babies 2025 rank 51 Kenneth 8,567 #294 52 Jordan 8,490 #131 53 Derek 8,073 #284 54 Bryan 8,036 #336 55 Jesse 7,914 #184 56 Corey 7,328 #778 57 Bradley 7,017 #403 58 Alex 6,408 #232 59 Cory 6,266 #1,244 60 Jared 6,211 #396 61 Shawn 5,893 #681 62 Edward 5,801 #224 63 Austin 5,588 #113 64 Peter 5,425 #187 65 Chad 5,299 #1,699 66 Marcus 5,207 #258 67 Shane 5,173 #635 68 Juan 5,171 #159 69 Cameron 4,985 #76 70 Keith 4,949 #800 71 Phillip 4,576 #651 72 Antonio 4,461 #176 73 Brett 4,375 #1,382 74 Evan 4,337 #153 75 Luis 4,333 #144 76 Donald 4,328 #690 77 Ian 4,315 #83 78 George 4,296 #126 79 Ronald 4,173 #637 80 Carlos 4,127 #150 81 Nathaniel 4,054 #140 81 Vincent 4,054 #107 83 Casey 4,039 #320 84 Raymond 4,036 #394 85 Joel 3,940 #219 86 Christian 3,937 #96 87 Trevor 3,695 #679 88 Douglas 3,655 #807 89 Victor 3,628 #209 90 Seth 3,493 #581 91 Taylor 3,492 #683 92 Erik 3,478 #545 92 Wesley 3,478 #52 94 Philip 3,373 #527 95 Mitchell 3,323 #952 96 Craig 3,306 #1,644 97 Derrick 3,304 #850 98 Devin 3,302 #548 99 Frank 3,271 #513 100 Gary 3,244 #1,073
Entered the top 100 in 1988
