Most common first names in the United States (updated for 2024)

It's our business to know which names are the most popular. So we track newly-born baby names every year and rank them to find out what the most common names are over the last 100 years in the United States.

The birth data comes from Social Security card applications and we actually have data going all the way back to 1880.

All of that data is available but in an effort to not overwhelm you with information we try to focus on recent years.

We're not just showing the same data as the SSA, though! You can click any of the names in the list to find more information about the history and meaning of the name.

(Beat that, SSA!)

Here are the most popular boys and girls names for the last 100 years, from 1925 to 2024.

MaleFemale
RankNameCountNameCount
1James4,625,363Mary3,054,624
2Robert4,357,620Patricia1,551,808
3John4,354,502Jennifer1,469,987
4Michael4,345,849Linda1,448,284
5David3,564,272Elizabeth1,403,790
6William3,484,904Barbara1,385,994
7Richard2,423,956Susan1,103,157
8Joseph2,300,049Jessica1,048,264
9Thomas2,134,536Sarah987,732
10Christopher2,049,683Karen986,709
11Charles2,037,956Lisa966,159
12Daniel1,905,388Nancy960,589
13Matthew1,620,154Betty890,465
14Anthony1,409,172Sandra874,027
15Mark1,349,030Margaret867,664
16Donald1,308,961Ashley853,546
17Steven1,284,623Kimberly842,721
18Andrew1,257,112Emily839,846
19Paul1,252,337Donna822,123
20Joshua1,231,302Michelle814,243
21Kenneth1,204,693Carol805,597
22Kevin1,178,801Amanda773,876
23Brian1,170,401Melissa755,953
24George1,085,858Deborah740,449
25Timothy1,074,172Stephanie739,354
26Ronald1,071,731Dorothy737,114
27Jason1,043,551Rebecca729,249
28Edward1,041,890Sharon722,198
29Jeffrey977,623Laura711,837
30Ryan952,490Cynthia705,803
31Jacob947,952Amy683,154
32Gary900,434Kathleen680,072
33Nicholas899,086Angela660,294
34Eric882,217Shirley653,962
35Jonathan857,270Brenda607,600
36Stephen837,588Emma600,812
37Larry801,849Anna596,649
38Justin783,529Pamela594,520
39Scott770,424Nicole591,769
40Brandon765,789Samantha585,488
41Benjamin758,472Katherine565,185
42Samuel721,821Christine557,278
43Gregory708,305Helen552,703
44Alexander691,200Debra550,522
45Patrick666,181Rachel545,644
46Frank660,209Carolyn537,933
47Raymond646,002Janet536,725
48Jack633,602Maria530,981
49Dennis610,563Catherine527,338
50Jerry600,515Heather525,371
51Tyler597,858Diane517,320
52Aaron592,045Olivia514,993
53Jose568,068Julie507,070
54Adam560,808Joyce496,038
55Nathan558,970Victoria492,988
56Henry552,968Ruth492,514
57Zachary545,913Virginia478,066
58Douglas545,422Lauren472,988
59Peter535,380Kelly472,858
60Kyle482,820Christina471,271
61Noah464,528Joan466,931
62Ethan462,968Evelyn453,238
63Jeremy442,542Judith449,653
64Walter441,463Andrea439,496
65Christian438,912Hannah439,385
66Keith430,292Cheryl439,302
67Roger425,514Megan438,965
68Terry422,428Jacqueline420,029
69Sean421,575Martha408,819
70Austin421,556Madison404,939
71Gerald418,792Teresa403,495
72Carl411,799Gloria402,354
73Harold408,283Janice400,631
74Dylan397,782Sara399,548
75Arthur392,380Ann398,197
76Lawrence391,246Abigail396,115
77Jordan390,269Kathryn395,600
78Jesse386,986Sophia388,604
79Bryan385,005Frances384,820
80Billy375,358Jean384,181
81Bruce374,490Judy380,804
82Gabriel373,275Alice380,182
83Joe370,795Isabella378,931
84Logan367,878Julia376,489
85Alan353,230Grace374,617
86Juan351,173Denise372,603
87Albert348,721Amber372,233
88Willie348,272Beverly370,855
89Elijah341,144Danielle369,994
90Wayne333,019Marilyn368,240
91Randy328,758Charlotte366,983
92Vincent323,905Theresa364,636
93Mason320,453Natalie363,042
94Roy320,261Diana361,781
95Ralph314,494Brittany359,703
96Bobby313,196Doris359,337
97Russell312,092Kayla343,794
98Bradley309,375Alexis342,628
99Philip309,217Lori341,488
100Eugene308,677Marie337,979

You can use the links below to see more of the most common names by gender.

Why is the latest data for 2024?

You might be wondering why we're showing name data for 2024 when we're living in 2026.

This is because the Social Security Administration who collect the data have to first verify it and safeguard privacy. Data from the previous year is released around May each year.

It's not entirely accurate, but the data is usually published on the Friday before Mother's Day.

Based on that assumption, we can expect the data for 2025 to be released on or around May 8, 2026.

Baby name data vs census data

The Census Bureau hasn't released any first name data since 1990 (but they do still release last name data). And even if they did it would only be released every 10 years so it's not a very reliable source of name trends and popularity.

The Social Security Administration records the data from Social Security card applications as people register their babies for a social security card.

Yearly data is much better to spot trends and see what the common and popular names are right now. It's also a great way to see what names are falling out of favor.

It's still slightly delayed so that they can make sure the data is accurate and that they're not releasing any personal information - but it's much less than 10 years.

Data source

It should be pretty obvious given how much we've mentioned them, but the data comes from the Social Security Administration (SSA). They've been collecting data on baby names since 1880.

Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in any geographic area are not included in the data to protect privacy.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

<a href="https://namecensus.com/first-names/">Most common first names in the United States (updated for 2024)</a>

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