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If you’re a millennial, chances are you know (or are) a Jessica. You probably also know an Ashley, Amanda, and at least a handful of Michaels and Christophers. Whether due to socioeconomic factors or pop culture influences, certain names have a tendency to become popular during certain generations, and millennials are no different.
Baby name website Nameberry tabulated the names of all babies born in the millennial generation, defined as the years between 1982 and 2004, and the ones that topped the list were Jessica and Michael.
Over 1.1 million boys were named Michael within those decades, making it the most popular name across both sexes. Michael, a boys’ name that’s both traditional and modern, has a long-standing popularity dating back to the ’60s, according to Social Security Administration records.
For girls, Jessica was given to over 750,000 baby girls, after having dethroned Jennifer from the decade before. A mix of classic and trendy names — Ashley, Amanda, Sarah, and Jennifer — rounded out the top five.
And though there may be millions of millennial Jessicas and Michaels out there, it’s likely that this won’t carry over to the next generation of babies. According to SSA information, the most popular baby names in the 2010s so far are Emma (#48 on the millennial list) and Jacob (#13).
Below are the Top 20 most millennial names for each gender, with the total number of people who received the name during that generation. Click here for a list of the Top 100 names.
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
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
Did your name make the list? Let us know @BritandCo.
(Photo via Getty)
