How Millennial Is Your Name?
Millennial names define their generation. John and Mary were the Number 1 names for The Greatest Generation, Linda and Gary emblematic names of the Baby Boom, and now Jessica and Michael emerging as the top names for Millennials.
Nameberry tabulated the names of all babies born from 1982 until 2004, widely agreed as the boundaries for Millennials, and found that Jessica and Michael were at the head of the list for all names given for babies born during the Millennial generation.
Michael was by far the leader for both sexes, with over 1.1 million boys named Michael in those 20+ years. The reason: Michael is a name that feels at once traditional and modern, and provided the perfect bridge between the Old School male names like Robert and Richard borne by the fathers of Millennials and the new names from Milo to Maverick used for boys today.
On the girls’ side, Jessica‘s popularity is somewhat watered down by having shared the stage for so long with Jennifer, which was off its peak by the time the Millennial Generation started being named. The top Millennial girls’ names are a mix of the classic — Sarah, Emily, Elizabeth — and trendy, such as Ashley and Amanda.
Another way to look at the prime Millennial names is that they're a blend of 1980s names and 1990s names.
Here are the Top 20 most Millennial Names for each gender, with the total number of people who received the name during that generation.
Top 20 Millennial Names for Girls
1. Jessica 757,533
2. Ashley 716,529
3. Amanda 522,245
4. Sarah 517,780
5. Jennifer 514,385
6. Emily 475,353
7. Samantha 410,105
8. Elizabeth 403,989
9. Stephanie 360,574
10. Lauren 342,725
11. Nicole 341,634
12. Brittany 341,515
13. Megan 341,174
14. Rachel 315,566
15. Hannah 284,662
16. Kayla 267,757
17. Melissa 267,513
18. Amber 267,392
19. Danielle 247,517
20. Taylor 241,847
Top 20 Millennial Names for Boys
1. Michael 1,131,021
2. Christopher 925,809
3. Matthew 856,718
4. Joshua 779,372
5. Daniel 663,363
6. David 649,402
7. Andrew 629,809
8. James 609,005
9. Joseph 607,257
10. John 581,023
11. Nicholas 564,865
12. Ryan 563,706
13. Jacob 559,709
14. Brandon 541,039
15. Justin 530,206
16. Robert 518,841
17. William 516,650
18. Anthony 490,498
19. Jonathan 463,631
20. Tyler 437,610
Many of the girls’ names on the Top 20 considered classically Millennial, from Lauren to Nicole to Kayla, are decidedly mom names now, out of fashion for babies.
On the boys’ side, more of the names in the Top 20 are classics that retain their popularity, such as Matthew, James, and William. but others like Ryan and Brandon have become the dad names of today.
Further down the Top 100 for both genders are names that have risen to the top for today’s babies, including Sophia and Isabella, Ethan and Noah. But there are many more that have continued sailing out to sea. Millennial names we don’t expect to see back for at least three generations include Tiffany and Brianna for girls, Cody and Travis for boys.
Near the bottom of the Millennial Top 1000 are many names Millennials are reviving for their own babies. Ryder, Greyson, and Augustus, less popular for Millennial baby boys, are fashionable today, while girls’ names Lila, Felicity, and Bella have risen from the depths of the Millennial list to the height of fashion today.
Here are the Top 100 names given to millennials. Is your name on it? And which of these still work as baby names?
Millennial Girl Names
1Jessica 2Ashley 3Amanda 4Sarah 5Jennifer 6Emily 7Samantha 8Elizabeth 9Stephanie 10Lauren 11Nicole 12Brittany 13Megan 14Rachel 15Hannah 16Kayla 17Melissa 18Amber 19Danielle 20Taylor 21Rebecca 22Heather 23Alexis 24Michelle 25Katherine 26Tiffany 27Kimberly 28Victoria 29Alyssa 30Christina 31Courtney 32Madison 33Laura 34Jasmine 35Sara 36Amy 37Mary 38Anna 39Erin 40Crystal 41Brianna 42Andrea 43Abigail 44Alexandra 45Olivia 46Allison 47Morgan 48Emma 49Kelly 50Maria 51Natalie 52Angela 53Erica 54Vanessa 55Chelsea 56Kristen 57Julia 58Kelsey 59Lindsey 60Katie 61Jamie 62Haley 63Kaitlyn 64Kathryn 65Shannon 66Brooke 67Alicia 68Grace 69Jacqueline 70Jenna 71Sydney 72Lisa 73Cassandra 74Jordan 75Shelby 76Lindsay 77Caitlin 78Destiny 79Katelyn 80Catherine 81Christine 82Marissa 83Monica 84Savannah 85Paige 86Gabrielle 87April 88Kristin 89Leah 90Diana 91Whitney 92Julie 93Brittney 94Sophia 95Caroline 96Erika 97Sierra 98Isabella 99Hailey 100Molly
Millennial Boy Names
1Michael 2Christopher 3Matthew 4Joshua 5Daniel 6David 7Andrew 8James 9Joseph 10John 11Nicholas 12Ryan 13Jacob 14Brandon 15Justin 16Robert 17William 18Anthony 19Jonathan 20Tyler 21Zachary 22Kevin 23Kyle 24Thomas 25Alexander 26Jason 27Brian 28Eric 29Benjamin 30Adam 31Steven 32Austin 33Aaron 34Timothy 35Samuel 36Nathan 37Jordan 38Jose 39Richard 40Cody 41Charles 42Christian 43Sean 44Jeremy 45Dylan 46Patrick 47Mark 48Jeffrey 49Stephen 50Ethan 51Travis 52Jesse 53Bryan 54Cameron 55Paul 56Juan 57Kenneth 58Dustin 59Scott 60Caleb 61Alex 62Gregory 63Jared 64Logan 65Gabriel 66Luis 67Noah 68Evan 69Derek 70Carlos 71Hunter 72Nathaniel 73Ian 74Bradley 75Edward 76Luke 77Trevor 78Marcus 79Shawn 80Corey 81Connor 82Antonio 83Devin 84Jesus 85Peter 86Isaac 87Seth 88Blake 89Jack 90Adrian 91Shane 92Angel 93Elijah 94Victor 95Taylor 96Isaiah 97Garrett 98Lucas 99George 100Miguel