Baby names of 1998

Emily and Michael topped the lists in 1998, out of 3,678,315 births recorded across 25,729 different names. That is 1.4% more than the 1997 files hold. About 3.6 million of them are alive today.

← 1997 All years 1999 →

Girls

#	Name	Births
1	Emily	26,188
2	Hannah	21,376
3	Samantha	20,195
4	Sarah	19,898
5	Ashley	19,875
6	Alexis	19,778
7	Taylor	18,576
8	Jessica	18,239
9	Madison	17,787
10	Elizabeth	15,193
11	Alyssa	13,709
12	Kayla	13,422
13	Megan	13,258
14	Lauren	12,908
15	Rachel	12,209
16	Victoria	12,148
17	Brianna	12,047
18	Abigail	11,100
19	Amanda	10,928
20	Jennifer	10,692
21	Olivia	10,610
22	Emma	10,451
23	Morgan	10,217
24	Nicole	9,911
25	Brittany	9,844

All 200 girls’ names of 1998 (16,601 recorded)

Boys

#	Name	Births
1	Michael	36,618
2	Jacob	36,031
3	Matthew	31,146
4	Joshua	28,095
5	Christopher	27,007
6	Nicholas	26,632
7	Brandon	23,832
8	Tyler	23,712
9	Andrew	23,664
10	Austin	23,478
11	Joseph	23,186
12	Daniel	23,165
13	David	20,892
14	William	20,836
15	John	20,633
16	Zachary	20,580
17	Ryan	20,198
18	James	19,690
19	Anthony	19,634
20	Justin	17,971
21	Jonathan	17,649
22	Alexander	17,466
23	Robert	15,527
24	Kyle	15,277
25	Dylan	14,540

All 200 boys’ names of 1998 (11,311 recorded)

Biggest climbers, girls

Names that gained the most ground on 1997:

Calista #2,820 → #697 +2,123
Ireland #1,983 → #818 +1,165
Abril #2,116 → #958 +1,158
Mya #993 → #238 +755
Ally #1,036 → #417 +619
Myah #1,334 → #786 +548
Rhianna #1,419 → #905 +514
Camryn #850 → #367 +483

Biggest climbers, boys

Names that gained the most ground on 1997:

Tyrese #2,347 → #611 +1,736
Zion #1,499 → #694 +805
Mekhi #1,706 → #921 +785
Tyriq #1,519 → #776 +743
Tavian #1,599 → #858 +741
Dawson #734 → #175 +559
Kamron #1,242 → #743 +499
Savion #1,212 → #729 +483

First recorded in 1998, girls

Names the SSA had never published before 1998:

Naidelyn 78
Ariyon 34
Adamaris 32
Inaara 28
Adamari 28
Syann 26
Aeris 23
Arieon 20
Aurion 20
Rosicela 19

Ariyon, Arieon and Aurion are here because the girls’ file records them: the SSA publishes every name given to five or more babies of one sex, and a rank is a position within that list. It is not a claim about whose name it is.

First recorded in 1998, boys

Names the SSA had never published before 1998:

Zyshonne 26
Taye 21
Dawsen 21
Andhy 16
Jaxen 15
Mcgwire 15
Rishav 15
Danyael 15
Nasheem 13
Nomar 12

Try it on yourself

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby-name files. Names given to fewer than five babies in a year are not published, so the totals here run below the true number of births. How far below is not the same in every year: the files hold 201,484 births for 1880 and 3,315,343 for 2025, so a change from one year to the next in the early decades is partly a change in what the record covers.