Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1885

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1885. 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 1885, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1885.

Rank Name Count
1 James 5,174,352
2 John 5,104,110
3 Robert 4,822,176
4 Michael 4,390,876
5 William 4,111,336
6 David 3,642,768
7 Joseph 2,626,234
8 Richard 2,567,532
9 Charles 2,386,823
10 Thomas 2,319,399
11 Christopher 2,048,356
12 Daniel 1,945,182
13 Matthew 1,624,965
14 Anthony 1,461,730
15 George 1,451,428
16 Donald 1,412,898
17 Paul 1,391,103
18 Mark 1,356,037
19 Andrew 1,306,710
20 Steven 1,287,660
21 Edward 1,285,150
22 Kenneth 1,278,777
23 Joshua 1,228,003
24 Kevin 1,177,043
25 Brian 1,169,546
26 Ronald 1,080,250
27 Timothy 1,076,655
28 Jason 1,042,242
29 Jeffrey 977,177
30 Jacob 958,219
31 Ryan 948,139
32 Nicholas 912,519
33 Gary 901,249
34 Frank 897,942
35 Eric 883,068
36 Stephen 860,338
37 Jonathan 854,314
38 Larry 806,579
39 Benjamin 783,167
40 Justin 782,987
41 Samuel 781,642
42 Raymond 775,030
43 Scott 772,861
44 Brandon 764,068
45 Jack 720,658
46 Henry 710,496
47 Gregory 709,659
48 Alexander 703,113
49 Patrick 679,037
50 Dennis 618,725

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 1885". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 23, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1885/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1885". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1885/. Accessed 23 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1885. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1885/.