Top Baby Names in Arkansas, 1990s — Most Popular Boys & Girls Names

The most popular baby names in Arkansas from 1990 to 1999, ranked by total births during the decade.

What the Data Says About the 1990s in Arkansas

During the 1990s (1990–1999), the Social Security Administration recorded 135,317 births across the top 50 boy and top 50 girl names in Arkansas. The decade's leading boy name was Christopher with 3,377 births, while Ashley was the top girl name with 2,926 births. The top 50 boys in this decade collectively accounted for 78,780 births versus 56,537 for the top 50 girls — a common SSA pattern in which the boy-name pool is more concentrated among fewer high-frequency choices. These totals represent only names appearing five or more times per year in Arkansas; rarer names fall below the SSA's privacy-disclosure threshold and are excluded.

The 1990s sits within a specific cultural window of U.S. naming history. Late-20th-century decades like the 1990s show accelerating naming diversity, as popular culture, television, and celebrity influence began fragmenting the top-name distribution. Christopher and Ashley leading Arkansas during this window reflects how regional preferences interact with broader national trends.

Decade totals are computed by summing SSA state-year records for Arkansas across all ten years of the 1990s. Because the SSA suppresses any name with fewer than five annual occurrences in a state, the true number of unique names given in Arkansas during this decade is larger than what this page lists. The dataset also treats every spelling as a separate name — for example, Kayla and Kaylah are tracked independently — so combined-spelling totals would shift the rankings somewhat. This page is provided for informational and research purposes and does not constitute naming, legal, or genealogical advice.

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

Rank Name Births
1 Christopher 3,377
2 Michael 3,170
3 Joshua 3,109
4 Jacob 3,084
5 Tyler 2,881
6 James 2,841
7 William 2,643
8 Matthew 2,629
9 Zachary 2,492
10 Brandon 2,365
11 Cody 2,351
12 Justin 2,350
13 Austin 2,306
14 John 2,201
15 Andrew 1,809
16 Joseph 1,751
17 David 1,741
18 Robert 1,741
19 Nicholas 1,635
20 Jonathan 1,570
21 Jordan 1,535
22 Daniel 1,447
23 Ryan 1,437
24 Aaron 1,372
25 Dylan 1,366
26 Hunter 1,346
27 Kyle 1,176
28 Dustin 1,150
29 Charles 1,105
30 Caleb 1,082
31 Anthony 1,074
32 Timothy 995
33 Dakota 977
34 Logan 958
35 Steven 949
36 Samuel 942
37 Nathan 938
38 Thomas 928
39 Ethan 919
40 Benjamin 900
41 Blake 870
42 Christian 862
43 Jeremy 853
44 Alexander 841
45 Dalton 822
46 Kevin 818
47 Cameron 787
48 Eric 787
49 Taylor 772
50 Seth 726

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

Rank Name Births
1 Ashley 2,926
2 Jessica 2,736
3 Brittany 2,240
4 Hannah 2,143
5 Sarah 2,116
6 Emily 2,079
7 Taylor 1,728
8 Kayla 1,639
9 Lauren 1,605
10 Samantha 1,478
11 Megan 1,441
12 Haley 1,350
13 Amber 1,333
14 Courtney 1,327
15 Madison 1,318
16 Elizabeth 1,292
17 Rachel 1,248
18 Morgan 1,231
19 Amanda 1,176
20 Shelby 1,135
21 Jasmine 1,040
22 Alexis 978
23 Heather 967
24 Tiffany 959
25 Mary 925
26 Victoria 905
27 Anna 904
28 Kelsey 891
29 Jordan 882
30 Jennifer 863
31 Stephanie 829
32 Brianna 815
33 Whitney 807
34 Rebecca 796
35 Sydney 744
36 Allison 715
37 Lindsey 713
38 Destiny 702
39 Chelsea 690
40 Kaitlyn 669
41 Brittney 665
42 Kimberly 648
43 Sara 636
44 Alyssa 634
45 Katherine 634
46 Kristen 632
47 Olivia 607
48 Danielle 584
49 Bailey 582
50 Katelyn 580

Nearby Rankings

Related decade and state views for Arkansas

Compare 1990s leaders: Christopher vs Ashley → or pick any two names →

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files, 1910–2024 (ssa.gov).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year are included (ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html).

Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details.