The Most Popular Baby Names in 1980 and Now

My high school graduating class was about 700 students. There was only one other Karen. In college and medical school, I can’t remember meeting another person with my name. When I moved to the city to do my residency, yep, you guessed it, still the only Karen. I was named after the title and main character of a book my mom loved. I don’t think many other people even knew the book existed.

Then, I moved to Ridgewood, NJ. If you live in this town and you are about my age, your name is Karen, that is, if it isn’t Jennifer. When we picked the ’80s to focus on this week, it seemed like the perfect time to see just how popular my name was. In 1980, it was 54th on the list, right between Stacy and Anna. I know what you are thinking. I realize I’m not 33.  I checked my birth year as well. In that year, which wasn’t that long before 1980, Karen was 23rd on the list. Maybe more people read the book than I thought. Jennifer was #1 in both years.

Just for fun, here are the top 20 boy and girl names of 1980 and the top 20 boy and girl names of 2013. These are according to babycenter.com

1980

2013