Top Names of 1986 — Rankings & Counts

The most popular names recorded in 1986 were Jessica for girls and Matthew for boys. Full top-50 lists below, from official NSW & VIC BDM data.

Girls

#	Name	Babies
1	Jessica	1,829
2	Sarah	1,748
3	Rebecca	1,252
4	Amanda	1,062
5	Nicole	878
6	Melissa	866
7	Lauren	813
8	Emma	787
9	Samantha	785
10	Amy	778
11	Kate	595
12	Kylie	538
13	Rachel	526
14	Lisa	521
15	Natalie	504
16	Danielle	499
17	Elizabeth	492
18	Laura	481
19	Michelle	472
20	Megan	454
21	Stephanie	444
22	Erin	409
23	Katie	394
24	Emily	393
25	Renee	379
26	Jennifer	369
27	Tara	362
28	Angela	346
29	Katherine	345
30	Natasha	343
31	Kristy	335
32	Stacey	306
33	Belinda	298
34	Kelly	295
35	Cassandra	286
36	Hayley	284
37	Ashleigh	282
38	Melanie	281
39	Anna	279
40	Chloe	272
41	Brooke	270
42	Jenna	269
43	Jade	261
44	Alicia	253
45	Alexandra	252
46	Courtney	252
47	Catherine	246
48	Katrina	239
49	Vanessa	237
50	Tamara	227

Boys

#	Name	Babies
1	Matthew	2,335
2	Christopher	2,062
3	Daniel	1,979
4	Michael	1,796
5	Andrew	1,520
6	David	1,421
7	James	1,410
8	Benjamin	1,395
9	Luke	1,294
10	Joshua	1,221
11	Adam	1,058
12	Nathan	1,043
13	Timothy	1,039
14	Scott	879
15	Nicholas	820
16	Thomas	790
17	Mitchell	770
18	Ryan	758
19	Jason	747
20	Aaron	746
21	Robert	733
22	Peter	716
23	Mark	673
24	John	644
25	Brendan	609
26	Anthony	599
27	Steven	582
28	Paul	572
29	Samuel	487
30	William	487
31	Alexander	471
32	Joel	470
33	Shane	466
34	Bradley	458
35	Stephen	454
36	Simon	421
37	Dean	403
38	Mathew	392
39	Cameron	388
40	Brett	370
41	Justin	369
42	Patrick	336
43	Jonathan	328
44	Joseph	309
45	Shaun	297
46	Craig	291
47	Kyle	287
48	Ashley	286
49	Trent	279
50	Richard	277