This list combines 3,419 spelling variations into 1,002 grouped names based on shared pronunciations. The most popular name in 1987 is Michael, given to 66,217 babies in total. Learn more about how this works.

Christopher has the most spelling variations with 39 different spellings, while Jerrell has the highest confusion index at 87.4%, indicating the greatest diversity in how parents choose to spell it.

When combining spelling variations, Jerrell showed the biggest improvement, moving up 294 positions from 523 to 229, while William had the largest drop, falling 5 positions from 15 to 20.

Looking at trends, Orie shows the strongest upward momentum (births in 1985–1987 are 886.53% higher compared to 1978–1987), while Shannon shows the steepest decline (63.39% lower). Compared to 1986, Corbin had the largest rank improvement, moving up 120 positions to rank #451, while Durrell fell 92 positions to rank #491.