NameCensus.

An almanac of American names

Every American name, counted and explained.

Name Census is a free reference built on SSA baby name records going back to 1880, Census Bureau surname tables, and CDC life tables. Look up any name for its popularity history, meaning, gender split, geographic spread, and a living-bearer estimate adjusted for mortality.

First names tracked

104,819

Since 1880

Last names tracked

162,253

Latest Census surname file

US population

343M

July 2025 estimate

Data sources

3

SSA, Census, CDC

Top male first names

By total births since 1880

Ranked by total male births in the SSA national files. Click any name for its full profile with decade trends and a living-bearer count.

  1. 01 James 5.2M
  2. 02 John 5.2M
  3. 03 Robert 4.8M
  4. 04 Michael 4.4M
  5. 05 William 4.2M
  6. 06 David 3.7M
  7. 07 Joseph 2.7M
  8. 08 Richard 2.6M
  9. 09 Charles 2.4M
  10. 10 Thomas 2.4M

Top female first names

By total births since 1880

Ranked by total female births. Female naming trends shift faster than male ones, so this list looks different from a living-bearer ranking.

  1. 01 Mary 4.1M
  2. 02 Elizabeth 1.7M
  3. 03 Patricia 1.6M
  4. 04 Jennifer 1.5M
  5. 05 Linda 1.5M
  6. 06 Barbara 1.4M
  7. 07 Margaret 1.3M
  8. 08 Susan 1.1M
  9. 09 Dorothy 1.1M
  10. 10 Sarah 1.1M

Top US last names

From the Census Bureau's surname frequency tables. Each profile includes the Census count, a per-100,000 frequency rate, an ancestry breakdown, and the name's meaning.

  1. 01 Smith 2.4M
  2. 02 Johnson 1.9M
  3. 03 Williams 1.6M
  4. 04 Brown 1.4M
  5. 05 Jones 1.4M
  6. 06 Garcia 1.2M
  7. 07 Miller 1.2M
  8. 08 Davis 1.1M
  9. 09 Rodriguez 1.1M
  10. 10 Martinez 1.1M
  1. 11 Hernandez 1.0M
  2. 12 Lopez 875K
  3. 13 Gonzalez 841K
  4. 14 Wilson 802K
  5. 15 Anderson 784K
  6. 16 Thomas 756K
  7. 17 Taylor 751K
  8. 18 Moore 724K
  9. 19 Jackson 708K
  10. 20 Martin 703K

Notable American name bearers

Public figures linked into the Name Census database. Each profile combines first-name and surname frequency to estimate how many Americans share the same full name.

More ways to explore

Beyond individual name profiles, Name Census offers several cross-cutting views that let you browse the data by time period, geography, or full-name combination.

Top names, 1880 to today →

The 50 most popular male and female first names for every decade in the SSA data, presented side by side with sparkline trends showing how each name moved within that ten-year window.

Top 100 names in every state →

The SSA publishes separate baby name files for all 50 states plus DC and territories. Pick any state to see the 100 names that have been given to the most babies born there since 1910.

How we count living bearers →

A full walkthrough of the calculation behind every living-bearer estimate on the site: which life tables we use, how we handle the earliest birth years, what assumptions we make, and where the numbers fall short.