Top Names of 1988 — Rankings & Counts

The most popular names recorded in 1988 were Jessica for girls and Matthew for boys. Full top-50 lists below, from official NSW & VIC BDM data.

Girls

#	Name	Babies
1	Jessica	1,983
2	Sarah	1,561
3	Emma	1,264
4	Rebecca	1,146
5	Samantha	1,125
6	Melissa	894
7	Amy	884
8	Amanda	866
9	Lauren	833
10	Nicole	692
11	Danielle	671
12	Ashleigh	604
13	Stephanie	584
14	Laura	563
15	Natalie	554
16	Emily	543
17	Kate	540
18	Elizabeth	516
19	Kylie	464
20	Rachel	443
21	Lisa	441
22	Michelle	429
23	Alexandra	416
24	Megan	414
25	Cassandra	363
26	Erin	355
27	Chloe	344
28	Katherine	339
29	Natasha	334
30	Hannah	324
31	Ashley	312
32	Kimberley	298
33	Courtney	288
34	Hayley	279
35	Jade	279
36	Jennifer	274
37	Brooke	272
38	Renee	269
39	Kelly	268
40	Stacey	267
41	Angela	264
42	Katie	264
43	Tara	264
44	Kristy	261
45	Tamara	249
46	Vanessa	249
47	Anna	246
48	Jenna	233
49	Melanie	231
50	Belinda	226

Boys

#	Name	Babies
1	Matthew	2,177
2	Daniel	2,114
3	Christopher	1,921
4	Michael	1,797
5	Benjamin	1,488
6	Joshua	1,456
7	James	1,446
8	Andrew	1,369
9	David	1,227
10	Luke	1,092
11	Adam	984
12	Thomas	979
13	Nathan	967
14	Nicholas	942
15	Timothy	903
16	Mitchell	874
17	Scott	857
18	Jason	777
19	Samuel	680
20	Ryan	669
21	Aaron	665
22	Robert	665
23	Alexander	630
24	Peter	610
25	John	605
26	Anthony	568
27	Joel	545
28	Mark	540
29	Steven	518
30	William	492
31	Cameron	491
32	Paul	475
33	Brendan	465
34	Shane	463
35	Bradley	451
36	Simon	397
37	Jamie	394
38	Dean	388
39	Stephen	378
40	Justin	369
41	Patrick	364
42	Joseph	353
43	Mathew	347
44	Jacob	328
45	Trent	327
46	Kyle	315
47	Ashley	304
48	Sean	297
49	Brett	296
50	Shaun	288