Biggest Baby Name Debuts of the 1980s

I’ve already posted a year-by-year list of the top baby name debuts, but I thought it might be fun to look at top debut names decade-by-decade as well.

So let’s start with the ’80s.

Here are all the “100+” debut names of the 1980s. Each went from being given to fewer than 5 babies a year to suddenly being given to more than 100 babies in one particular year. (I’m ignoring the glitch names of ’89.)

1. Sade: 392 baby girls in 1985
2. Fallon: 232 baby girls in 1981
3. Toccara: 182 baby girls in 1981
4. Cordero: 173 baby boys in 1986
5. Khiry: 158 baby boys in 1989
6. Shardae: 129 baby girls in 1985
7. Sharde: 124 baby girls in 1985
8. Jaleesa: 116 baby girls in 1987
9. Sharday: 100 baby girls in 1985

Not surprisingly, all nine can be traced back to pop culture:

• Sade, Shardae, Sharde & Sharday were inspired by Sade.
• Fallon was inspired by Dynasty.
• Toccara was inspired by Toccara perfume.
• Cordero was inspired by soap opera One Life to Live.
• Khiry was inspired by The Boys.
• Jaleesa was inspired by A Different World.

Which decade should we do next?