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These Were The Trendiest Baby Names In The Early '80s

These Were The Trendiest Baby Names In The Early '80s
Parents in 1982 were fans of names like Crystal, Jennifer and Brandon.
David Sutherland via Getty Images
Parents in 1982 were fans of names like Crystal, Jennifer and Brandon.

The most popular baby names in the U.S. tend to remain the same from one year to the next, but some interesting trends tend emerge over longer periods of time.

Each year, the Social Security Administration uses data from the previous year’s births to put together an official list of the most popular baby names in the U.S. We decided to look back at the most popular names 35 years ago to see how parents’ choices in 1982 compare to today’s trends.

Some names remain popular today (Matthew, James, Elizabeth and co.), but others have fallen out of fashion (shout-out to classics like Crystal and Tiffany). And the top names were favorites for many years. Jennifer stayed at No. 1 from 1970 to 1984; Michael, which has been on the top 10 list since 1943, was the leading choice for boys from 1961 to 1998.

Without further ado, here are the 35 most popular baby names in 1982:

Girls

  1. Jennifer
  2. Jessica
  3. Amanda
  4. Sarah
  5. Melissa
  6. Nicole
  7. Stephanie
  8. Elizabeth
  9. Crystal
  10. Amy
  11. Michelle
  12. Heather
  13. Tiffany
  14. Kimberly
  15. Rebecca
  16. Angela
  17. Ashley
  18. Amber
  19. Christina
  20. Erin
  21. Rachel
  22. Laura
  23. Lisa
  24. Emily
  25. Kelly
  26. Lauren
  27. Andrea
  28. Sara
  29. Jamie
  30. Mary
  31. Danielle
  32. April
  33. Kristen
  34. Megan
  35. Erica

Boys

  1. Michael
  2. Christopher
  3. Matthew
  4. Jason
  5. David
  6. James
  7. Joshua
  8. John
  9. Robert
  10. Daniel
  11. Joseph
  12. Justin
  13. Ryan
  14. Brian
  15. William
  16. Jonathan
  17. Andrew
  18. Brandon
  19. Adam
  20. Eric
  21. Nicholas
  22. Anthony
  23. Thomas
  24. Kevin
  25. Timothy
  26. Steven
  27. Richard
  28. Jeremy
  29. Jeffrey
  30. Aaron
  31. Charles
  32. Mark
  33. Benjamin
  34. Scott
  35. Paul
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