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Official JPN data

Popular names of the 1980s

Six JPN tables for births in the 1980s: 10 boys’ and 10 girls’ names in each of the Malay, Chinese and Indian tables. Percentages are each name’s share of its table’s top-10 total; badges compare places with the 1970s.

Top boy (Malay)
Mohd Faizal
Top girl (Malay)
Noraini
New entries (of 60)
32
Biggest climb
Chee Hong ▲5

Popular names of the 1980s · Malaysia

The six JPN tables

Malay table · boys

  1. 1.Mohd Faizal 18.4% New to the top 10
  2. 2.Mohd Firdaus 16.7% New to the top 10
  3. 3.Mohd Hafiz 14% New to the top 10
  4. 4.Mohd 10.3% New to the top 10
  5. 5.Zulkifli 7.2% Down 1 places (from #4)
  6. 6.Mohd Nazri 7.0% New to the top 10
  7. 7.Ismail 6.8% Down 2 places (from #5)
  8. 8.Mohd Ridzuan 6.8% New to the top 10
  9. 9.Mohd Fauzi 6.6% New to the top 10
  10. 10.Muhammad 6.2% New to the top 10
Top-10 total: 45,245.

Malay table · girls

  1. 1.Noraini 16.2% Up 1 places (from #2)
  2. 2.Norhayati 14.7% Down 1 places (from #1)
  3. 3.Siti Hajar 11.3% New to the top 10
  4. 4.Siti Fatimah 10.3% New to the top 10
  5. 5.Siti Aishah 9.9% New to the top 10
  6. 6.Azlina 8.4% New to the top 10
  7. 7.Norhidayah 7.7% New to the top 10
  8. 8.Norliza 7.6% Up 1 places (from #9)
  9. 9.Mastura 6.9% New to the top 10
  10. 10.Juliana 6.9% New to the top 10
Top-10 total: 37,270.

Chinese table · boys

  1. 1.Chee Keong 17.8% Same place
  2. 2.Chee Wei 11.8% New to the top 10
  3. 3.Chee Seng 10.6% Same place
  4. 4.Kok Leong 9.9% Down 2 places (from #2)
  5. 5.Chee Hong 9.6% Up 5 places (from #10)
  6. 6.Chee Wai 8.9% Same place
  7. 7.Kok Wai 8.7% Up 2 places (from #9)
  8. 8.Wai Kit 7.8% New to the top 10
  9. 9.Kok Keong 7.7% Down 4 places (from #5)
  10. 10.Wai Loon 7.3% New to the top 10
Top-10 total: 7,555.

Chinese table · girls

  1. 1.Mei Ling 15.3% Same place
  2. 2.Siew Ling 15.1% Up 1 places (from #3)
  3. 3.Ai Ling 10.9% Up 1 places (from #4)
  4. 4.Pei Ling 9.3% New to the top 10
  5. 5.Yee Ling 9.1% New to the top 10
  6. 6.Hui Ling 8.7% New to the top 10
  7. 7.Pei Pei 8.3% New to the top 10
  8. 8.Sin Yee 8.0% New to the top 10
  9. 9.Mei Yee 7.8% New to the top 10
  10. 10.Wai Yee 7.4% New to the top 10
Top-10 total: 7,553.

Indian table · boys

  1. 1.Saravanan 21.8% Same place
  2. 2.Suresh 14.1% Up 5 places (from #7)
  3. 3.Ganesan 11.1% Up 3 places (from #6)
  4. 4.Murugan 9.3% Down 2 places (from #2)
  5. 5.Prakash 9.2% New to the top 10
  6. 6.Kumaran 8.5% Up 4 places (from #10)
  7. 7.Ramesh 8.0% Down 4 places (from #3)
  8. 8.Kumar 6.3% Up 1 places (from #9)
  9. 9.Muniandy 5.9% Down 1 places (from #8)
  10. 10.Mahendran 5.8% New to the top 10
Top-10 total: 8,049.

Indian table · girls

  1. 1.Kavitha 18.6% Up 2 places (from #3)
  2. 2.Saraswathy 12.5% Down 1 places (from #1)
  3. 3.Punitha 12.5% New to the top 10
  4. 4.Kalaivani 11.6% New to the top 10
  5. 5.Kasturi 8.4% New to the top 10
  6. 6.Sumathi 7.8% Down 2 places (from #4)
  7. 7.Santhi 7.3% Down 5 places (from #2)
  8. 8.Shalini 7.2% New to the top 10
  9. 9.Komathi 7.0% New to the top 10
  10. 10.Amutha 7.0% Down 3 places (from #7)
Top-10 total: 7,060.

Source: JPN via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0) · malaysiannames.com

Dropped out of the top 10 (32)

Names listed in the 1970s but not in the same table in the 1980s. The number is the place they held in the 1970s.

Malay table · boys

Malay table · girls

Chinese table · boys

Chinese table · girls

Indian table · boys

Indian table · girls

Generations: the 1980s vs the 2010s

How many names in each 1980s table were still listed 30 years later.

Malay · boys
1 / 10 (Muhammad)
Malay · girls
0 / 10
Chinese · boys
0 / 10
Chinese · girls
0 / 10
Indian · boys
0 / 10
Indian · girls
1 / 10 (Shalini)
Compare generations →

The Malay, Chinese and Indian tables are JPN’s own breakdown of the data. They describe the data, not people: anyone can bear the same name. In the Chinese tables the published entry is often a surname. Print this page for a six-table A4 poster. Source: JPN via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0)

More from the JPN data

How to cite

Free to quote with a link to this page. Suggested citation:

MalaysianNames (malaysiannames.com). “Popular Names in Malaysia, 1980s: JPN Rankings”. https://malaysiannames.com/en/popular-names/decade/1980/. Updated . Data: JPN via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0), last updated 2023-07-26.

Download the JPN top-10 tables we use (decade, table, sex, rank, name, count, share of the top-10 total):

Source: JPN via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0)

Frequently asked questions

What does the NEW badge mean?

The name was not in the same table’s top 10 for the 1970s. It does not mean nobody bore the name before.

Why percentages, not counts?

Top-10 totals change a lot between decades and tables, so a share of that total compares more fairly. Raw counts show beside the percentage on wide screens.

Why is my name missing?

JPN publishes only the top 10 names per sex in each table. A name outside that list has no public figure, and we do not estimate one.