Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1884

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1884. 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 1884, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1884.

Rank Name Count
1 James 5,192,073
2 John 5,121,428
3 Robert 4,828,695
4 Michael 4,400,078
5 William 4,131,515
6 David 3,651,270
7 Joseph 2,636,712
8 Richard 2,569,954
9 Charles 2,397,514
10 Thomas 2,328,436
11 Christopher 2,053,959
12 Daniel 1,954,802
13 Matthew 1,632,107
14 Anthony 1,468,463
15 George 1,459,009
16 Donald 1,413,359
17 Paul 1,392,851
18 Mark 1,357,553
19 Andrew 1,312,450
20 Edward 1,289,325
21 Steven 1,289,019
22 Kenneth 1,280,103
23 Joshua 1,233,190
24 Kevin 1,179,103
25 Brian 1,170,716
26 Ronald 1,080,790
27 Timothy 1,078,559
28 Jason 1,044,861
29 Jeffrey 977,854
30 Jacob 966,203
31 Ryan 952,511
32 Nicholas 916,211
33 Frank 901,864
34 Gary 901,488
35 Eric 884,629
36 Stephen 861,414
37 Jonathan 858,510
38 Larry 806,860
39 Benjamin 794,518
40 Samuel 790,929
41 Justin 785,060
42 Raymond 776,291
43 Scott 773,401
44 Brandon 765,831
45 Jack 729,821
46 Henry 724,191
47 Alexander 712,022
48 Gregory 710,271
49 Patrick 680,962
50 Walter 620,252

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 1884". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 25, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1884/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1884". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1884/. Accessed 25 April, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1884. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1884/.