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 5,180,045
2 John 5,113,498
3 Robert 4,824,644
4 Michael 4,391,249
5 William 4,120,233
6 David 3,643,529
7 Joseph 2,628,941
8 Richard 2,568,281
9 Charles 2,391,625
10 Thomas 2,321,971
11 Christopher 2,048,424
12 Daniel 1,945,755
13 Matthew 1,625,082
14 Anthony 1,461,909
15 George 1,456,389
16 Donald 1,412,957
17 Paul 1,391,525
18 Mark 1,356,133
19 Andrew 1,307,326
20 Steven 1,287,680
21 Edward 1,287,589
22 Kenneth 1,278,806
23 Joshua 1,228,044
24 Kevin 1,177,043
25 Brian 1,169,546
26 Ronald 1,080,261
27 Timothy 1,076,732
28 Jason 1,042,267
29 Jeffrey 977,177
30 Jacob 958,600
31 Ryan 948,139
32 Nicholas 912,588
33 Gary 901,254
34 Frank 901,160
35 Eric 883,080
36 Stephen 860,503
37 Jonathan 854,335
38 Larry 806,597
39 Benjamin 783,676
40 Justin 782,993
41 Samuel 782,587
42 Raymond 775,329
43 Scott 772,917
44 Brandon 764,068
45 Jack 720,932
46 Henry 712,970
47 Gregory 709,664
48 Alexander 703,349
49 Patrick 679,259
50 Walter 618,979

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 March 30, 2023. 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 30 March, 2023

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