Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1880

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1880. These names are taken directly from the Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States.

The table below shows the top 50 most popular baby boy names since 1880, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1880.

Rank Name Count
1 James 5,214,556
2 John 5,158,303
3 Robert 4,838,084
4 Michael 4,401,358
5 William 4,167,256
6 David 3,654,461
7 Joseph 2,646,985
8 Richard 2,572,718
9 Charles 2,417,415
10 Thomas 2,338,178
11 Christopher 2,054,300
12 Daniel 1,957,181
13 Matthew 1,632,495
14 George 1,478,728
15 Anthony 1,469,003
16 Donald 1,413,532
17 Paul 1,394,198
18 Mark 1,357,913
19 Andrew 1,314,978
20 Edward 1,298,593
21 Steven 1,289,086
22 Kenneth 1,280,212
23 Joshua 1,233,392
24 Kevin 1,179,103
25 Brian 1,170,716
26 Ronald 1,080,796
27 Timothy 1,078,825
28 Jason 1,044,936
29 Jeffrey 977,854
30 Jacob 967,734
31 Ryan 952,511
32 Nicholas 916,477
33 Frank 914,102
34 Gary 901,510
35 Eric 884,668
36 Stephen 862,078
37 Jonathan 858,593
38 Larry 806,901
39 Benjamin 796,475
40 Samuel 794,812
41 Justin 785,075
42 Raymond 777,114
43 Scott 773,607
44 Brandon 765,831
45 Henry 733,936
46 Jack 730,735
47 Alexander 712,854
48 Gregory 710,282
49 Patrick 681,860
50 Walter 627,187

More Popular Baby Names

You can also use the links below to research more about the most popular baby names.

Top 1000 most popular boy names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Top 1000 most popular girl names: 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000

Historical Data for Baby Names

If you're interested to see how the trends and popularity of baby names have changed, you can use the links below to view the historical data by decade.

Most popular first names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular boy names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Most popular girl names, 1880-present | since 1950 | since 1960 | since 1970 | since 1980 | since 1990 | since 2000 | since 2010

Data Source(s)

All of the data on this page is sourced from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and excludes any names with fewer than 5 occurrences in any geographic area.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time 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!

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1880". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 19, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1880/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1880". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1880/. Accessed 19 March, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1880. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1880/.