1980s spelling families

Counted together, the Ashley family spellings would rank #3 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Ashley, ranked #4 on its own.

Yearly data for the Ashley family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1980–1989

Year	Ashley	Ashlee	Ashleigh	Ashlie	Ashly	Ashli	Combined
1980	7,296	435	293	154	94	76	8,348
1981	8,874	653	569	157	107	82	10,442
1982	14,851	812	552	250	161	138	16,764
1983	33,289	1,494	947	421	323	165	36,639
1984	38,773	1,609	997	443	364	182	42,368
1985	47,010	2,065	1,278	533	466	263	51,615
1986	49,671	2,117	1,256	534	491	297	54,366
1987	54,856	2,466	1,348	508	507	313	59,998
1988	49,977	2,154	1,314	565	465	319	54,794
1989	47,588	2,045	1,330	543	472	356	52,334

Ashley family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1980s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Ashley	352,185	#4	90.8%
Ashlee	15,850	#177	4.1%
Ashleigh	9,884	#258	2.5%
Ashlie	4,108	#507	1.1%
Ashly	3,450	#575	0.9%
Ashli	2,191	#777	0.6%

Why these are grouped: Ashley was one of the defining girl names of the 1980s; manually reviewed respellings chart separately, so conventional tables understate the combined footprint.

Counted together, the Megan family spellings would rank #8 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Megan, ranked #14 on its own.

Yearly data for the Megan family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1980–1989

Year	Megan	Meghan	Meagan	Meaghan	Maegan	Meggan	Combined
1980	9,134	2,692	732	341	131	128	13,158
1981	8,964	2,614	841	340	122	123	13,004
1982	9,518	2,734	837	276	138	109	13,612
1983	14,124	3,888	1,190	462	186	149	19,999
1984	16,984	4,505	1,677	514	245	156	24,081
1985	20,013	4,669	2,204	633	387	185	28,091
1986	18,590	3,869	2,244	744	391	151	25,989
1987	17,823	3,770	2,003	652	420	123	24,791
1988	18,570	3,609	2,056	643	421	104	25,403
1989	19,780	3,856	2,464	737	426	84	27,347

Megan family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1980s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Megan	153,500	#14	71.2%
Meghan	36,206	#79	16.8%
Meagan	16,248	#172	7.5%
Meaghan	5,342	#422	2.5%
Maegan	2,867	#654	1.3%
Meggan	1,312	#1123	0.6%

Why these are grouped: Megan, Meghan, and related reviewed spellings coexisted through the decade; combined totals reveal a larger footprint than any single ranking entry.

Counted together, the Brittany family spellings would rank #11 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Brittany, ranked #21 on its own.

Yearly data for the Brittany family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1980–1989

Year	Brittany	Brittney	Britney	Brittani	Brittni	Britany	Combined
1980	1,407	454	184	41	26	43	2,155
1981	1,714	518	217	73	29	38	2,589
1982	3,102	726	278	112	44	65	4,327
1983	4,377	921	357	132	59	73	5,919
1984	7,665	1,559	464	283	122	109	10,202
1985	15,437	3,224	938	557	212	209	20,577
1986	20,313	4,593	1,404	698	328	294	27,630
1987	22,231	5,127	1,585	796	357	274	30,370
1988	26,816	6,576	2,084	871	512	363	37,222
1989	37,792	7,834	2,494	1,142	728	534	50,524

Brittany family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1980s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Brittany	140,854	#21	73.5%
Brittney	31,532	#93	16.5%
Britney	10,005	#255	5.2%
Brittani	4,705	#464	2.5%
Brittni	2,417	#736	1.3%
Britany	2,002	#834	1.0%

Why these are grouped: Brittany and its respellings rose sharply in the 1980s; conventional rankings split the combined footprint across several entries.

Counted together, the Kristen family spellings would rank #11 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Kristen, ranked #38 on its own.

Yearly data for the Kristen family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1980–1989

Year	Kristen	Kristin	Kirsten	Kristyn	Kristan	Kirstin	Combined
1980	7,316	7,701	705	223	205	155	16,305
1981	8,540	9,737	709	298	202	137	19,623
1982	9,534	8,734	740	289	223	141	19,661
1983	8,618	7,267	715	247	183	159	17,189
1984	8,385	7,007	724	295	206	166	16,783
1985	8,445	6,566	751	313	242	157	16,474
1986	7,844	6,000	747	318	223	146	15,278
1987	7,361	5,463	891	307	192	196	14,410
1988	8,382	6,019	1,221	414	192	259	16,487
1989	8,803	6,064	1,538	438	210	351	17,404

Kristen family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1980s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Kristen	83,228	#38	49.1%
Kristin	70,558	#43	41.6%
Kirsten	8,741	#286	5.2%
Kristyn	3,142	#620	1.9%
Kristan	2,078	#808	1.2%
Kirstin	1,867	#874	1.1%

Why these are grouped: Kristen/Kristin and rarer reviewed variants are ranked separately by convention; the family view combines their 1980s footprints.

Counted together, the Courtney family spellings would rank #36 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Courtney, ranked #37 on its own.

Yearly data for the Courtney family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1980–1989

Year	Courtney	Cortney	Kourtney	Kortney	Combined
1980	5,618	462	141	67	6,288
1981	6,636	621	149	89	7,495
1982	7,100	584	147	94	7,925
1983	6,748	552	176	111	7,587
1984	7,150	618	211	94	8,073
1985	7,531	731	215	129	8,606
1986	9,122	758	292	155	10,327
1987	8,909	751	293	129	10,082
1988	12,043	953	415	208	13,619
1989	13,452	1,024	439	256	15,171

Courtney family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1980s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Courtney	84,309	#37	88.6%
Cortney	7,054	#346	7.4%
Kourtney	2,478	#716	2.6%
Kortney	1,332	#1111	1.4%

Why these are grouped: Courtney is the dominant spelling, but Cortney/Kourtney variants add measurable volume in the 1980s and are ranked separately by convention.

Counted together, the Caitlin family spellings would rank #40 in the decade's rankings for their sex. The most common spelling, Caitlin, ranked #87 on its own.

Yearly data for the Caitlin family family

Yearly SSA births by spelling variant, 1980–1989

Year	Caitlin	Katelyn	Kaitlin	Kaitlyn	Caitlyn	Katlyn	Combined
1980	646	132	135	65	42	12	1,032
1981	784	152	211	92	46	19	1,304
1982	1,192	242	253	138	105	24	1,954
1983	1,885	424	506	274	157	34	3,280
1984	2,343	702	682	449	212	72	4,460
1985	3,593	1,419	1,236	879	373	141	7,641
1986	3,881	1,939	1,466	1,207	537	201	9,231
1987	4,989	2,219	1,959	1,706	596	294	11,763
1988	7,246	3,510	2,841	2,688	1,171	505	17,961
1989	7,025	4,036	3,171	3,392	1,234	615	19,473

Caitlin family spelling variants, ranked separately and as a group

Variant	1980s births	Decade rank	Share of family
Caitlin	33,584	#87	43.0%
Katelyn	14,775	#190	18.9%
Kaitlin	12,460	#220	16.0%
Kaitlyn	10,890	#240	13.9%
Caitlyn	4,473	#476	5.7%
Katlyn	1,917	#863	2.5%

Why these are grouped: Caitlin/Kaitlin-family spellings each chart separately; grouping the reviewed variants shows their combined 1980s footprint.