NAMES ACROSS GENERATIONS
Names of people born in the 1980s
Names of people born in each decade, from historical records of adults; not baby-name rankings.
Sunita and Rajesh lead the girls’ and boys’ lists for India’s 1980s birth cohort in Naampy v3. Each group shows its top 50 names by Latin-script records, with meanings. Unisex names are outside these two groups.
Girls: people born in the 1980s
| Rank | Name and meaning | Records | Per 100,000 cohort records | Cohort shares, 1950s–1990s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunita well guided | 998,047 | 797 | |
| 2 | Anita Grace; Anna | 699,477 | 558 | |
| 3 | Mamata affection; attachment | 563,161 | 450 | |
| 4 | Gita song; sacred song | 542,687 | 433 | |
| 5 | Rekha line; streak | 529,385 | 423 | |
| 6 | Seema boundary; limit | 525,931 | 420 | |
| 7 | Lakshmi good fortune; prosperity; Lakshmi | 451,258 | 360 | |
| 8 | Sangita music; singing together | 447,920 | 358 | |
| 9 | Poonam full moon; full-moon day | 442,075 | 353 | |
| 10 | Suman flower; well disposed | 440,005 | 351 | |
| 11 | Reena Joy; singing | 410,627 | 328 | |
| 12 | Meena fish | 347,767 | 278 | |
| 13 | Sarita river; flowing stream | 315,091 | 252 | |
| 14 | Kiran ray; beam of light | 307,716 | 246 | |
| 15 | Asha hope; wish | 301,908 | 241 | |
| 16 | Rita Pearl; cosmic order; truth | 278,717 | 222 | |
| 17 | Pooja worship; honour | 275,713 | 220 | |
| 18 | Usha dawn | 262,500 | 210 | |
| 19 | Savita sun; the impeller | 262,215 | 209 | |
| 20 | Neelam sapphire; blue gemstone | 259,879 | 207 | |
| 21 | Saroj lotus; born in a lake | 248,521 | 198 | |
| 22 | Kavitha poetry; poem | 241,155 | 193 | |
| 23 | Pinki Pinky | 240,157 | 192 | |
| 24 | Pushpa flower; blossom | 236,538 | 189 | |
| 25 | Renu dust; fine particle | 235,031 | 188 | |
| 26 | Soni Golden; beautiful | 225,363 | 180 | |
| 27 | Susila of good conduct | 225,254 | 180 | |
| 28 | Rani queen | 218,210 | 174 | |
| 29 | Lalita playful; graceful; charming | 216,487 | 173 | |
| 30 | Aarti ritual offering of light | 214,818 | 171 | |
| 31 | Jyoti light; radiance | 201,668 | 161 | |
| 32 | Nitu Familiar form of Nita or Neeti; guidance; right conduct | 200,586 | 160 | |
| 33 | Mira Mirabai, the Krishna bhakti poet | 195,827 | 156 | |
| 34 | Preeti love; affection | 195,768 | 156 | |
| 35 | Manju lovely; pleasing | 193,429 | 154 | |
| 36 | Sita furrow; Sita of the Ramayana | 191,500 | 153 | |
| 37 | Rajani night | 181,288 | 145 | |
| 38 | Radha Radha; success; accomplishment | 177,622 | 142 | |
| 39 | Nirmala spotless; pure | 168,373 | 134 | |
| 40 | Archana worship; honouring | 160,955 | 128 | |
| 41 | Sheela conduct; character | 157,982 | 126 | |
| 42 | Priyanka dear; beloved | 157,037 | 125 | |
| 43 | Kamala lotus; Lakshmi | 147,616 | 118 | |
| 44 | Munni Little girl | 144,885 | 116 | |
| 45 | Rubi ruby | 144,327 | 115 | |
| 46 | Maya illusion; creative appearance | 144,270 | 115 | |
| 47 | Nisa Women; night | 136,608 | 109 | |
| 48 | Sumitra good friend | 135,943 | 109 | |
| 49 | Kumari girl; maiden | 133,005 | 106 | |
| 50 | Kanchan gold; golden | 131,178 | 105 |
Boys: people born in the 1980s
| Rank | Name and meaning | Records | Per 100,000 cohort records | Cohort shares, 1950s–1990s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rajesh lord of kings | 699,479 | 558 | |
| 2 | Muhammad praised; praiseworthy | 584,601 | 467 | |
| 3 | Manoj born of the mind | 579,216 | 462 | |
| 4 | Sunil deep blue; dark blue | 576,015 | 460 | |
| 5 | Ram Rama; pleasing | 544,578 | 435 | |
| 6 | Sanjay victory; victorious | 543,097 | 434 | |
| 7 | Mukesh Shiva | 530,030 | 423 | |
| 8 | Anil wind; air | 463,121 | 370 | |
| 9 | Rakesh lord of the full moon | 460,177 | 367 | |
| 10 | Vinod delight; recreation | 420,692 | 336 | |
| 11 | Dinesh sun; lord of the day | 402,091 | 321 | |
| 12 | Vijay victory; triumph | 396,223 | 316 | |
| 13 | Raju king; familiar form of Raj | 381,671 | 305 | |
| 14 | Ashok free from sorrow | 370,391 | 296 | |
| 15 | Jitendra conqueror of Indra | 368,671 | 294 | |
| 16 | Ramesh Vishnu; lord of Rama (Lakshmi) | 367,814 | 294 | |
| 17 | Ajay unconquered; invincible | 367,248 | 293 | |
| 18 | Deepak lamp; light | 351,807 | 281 | |
| 19 | Amit unmeasured; boundless | 347,026 | 277 | |
| 20 | Suresh lord of the gods | 343,674 | 274 | |
| 21 | Pradeep lamp; illuminating light | 300,155 | 240 | |
| 22 | Sandeep kindled; illuminated | 290,210 | 232 | |
| 23 | Pavan wind; purifier | 248,492 | 198 | |
| 24 | Rajendra chief of kings; emperor | 240,081 | 192 | |
| 25 | Pramod joy; delight | 235,431 | 188 | |
| 26 | Surendra chief of the gods; Indra | 225,613 | 180 | |
| 27 | Mahesh Shiva; great lord | 222,437 | 178 | |
| 28 | Ravi sun | 222,147 | 177 | |
| 29 | Vikas unfolding; development | 212,505 | 170 | |
| 30 | Pankaj lotus; born in mud | 209,052 | 167 | |
| 31 | Dilip Dilipa, the ancestral king | 198,505 | 158 | |
| 32 | Mahendra great Indra | 197,056 | 157 | |
| 33 | Aravind lotus | 196,796 | 157 | |
| 34 | Rajkumar prince; king's son | 185,638 | 148 | |
| 35 | Abdul servant of the | 182,543 | 146 | |
| 36 | Arun reddish; colour of dawn | 181,585 | 145 | |
| 37 | Manish mind; understanding | 181,146 | 145 | |
| 38 | Rajeev blue lotus | 176,408 | 141 | |
| 39 | Umesh Shiva; lord of Uma | 174,676 | 139 | |
| 40 | Naresh king; lord of people | 171,369 | 137 | |
| 41 | Kuldeep lamp of the family | 171,309 | 137 | |
| 42 | Praveen skilled; proficient | 167,895 | 134 | |
| 43 | Babu affectionate or respectful address | 167,087 | 133 | |
| 44 | Satish Shiva; lord of Sati | 162,227 | 130 | |
| 45 | Dharmendra lord of dharma; lord of justice | 154,624 | 123 | |
| 46 | Ravindra lord of the sun; sun-chief | 153,372 | 122 | |
| 47 | Prakash Light; radiance | 147,492 | 118 | |
| 48 | Chandan sandalwood | 146,380 | 117 | |
| 49 | Sanjiv reviving; bringing to life | 144,316 | 115 | |
| 50 | Ashish blessing; benediction | 139,937 | 112 |
Download these rankings as CSV (Naampy v3 derived counts, CC0; profile links included).
Download all published birth-decade counts and cohort shares as CSV. Missing cells are omitted.
Source and method
Source: Naampy v3, released 10 June 2025, CC0. The records come from historical Indian electoral rolls and chiefly describe adults. Birth years are filtered to 1910–2001; the partial 2000s cohort is excluded from comparisons. Age fields may contain errors, and coverage differs by place and cohort. These are records, not counts of unique people or a representative national survey.
Rankings and quiz answers use only the Latin-script table and indexable profiles with editorial meanings. Gender groups come from the name’s editorial gender, and describe names rather than the identity of any bearer. Each name can group the spellings listed on its profile. Native-script tables are separate views and are never added to these totals.
A share is a name’s published decade count divided by all records in that decade, multiplied by 100,000. Only counts of at least 100 are used. Missing and grouped withheld cells are excluded from charts and comparisons; an omission does not mean zero. Shares and ratios are rates, not record counts. Full methodology.