Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1887

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1887. 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 1887, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1887.

Rank Name Count
1 James 5,163,822
2 John 5,086,328
3 Robert 4,817,411
4 Michael 4,390,158
5 William 4,095,040
6 David 3,641,382
7 Joseph 2,621,100
8 Richard 2,566,140
9 Charles 2,377,691
10 Thomas 2,314,796
11 Christopher 2,048,219
12 Daniel 1,944,092
13 Matthew 1,624,742
14 Anthony 1,461,403
15 George 1,442,083
16 Donald 1,412,794
17 Paul 1,390,209
18 Mark 1,355,857
19 Andrew 1,305,497
20 Steven 1,287,619
21 Edward 1,280,618
22 Kenneth 1,278,698
23 Joshua 1,227,905
24 Kevin 1,177,043
25 Brian 1,169,546
26 Ronald 1,080,237
27 Timothy 1,076,517
28 Jason 1,042,205
29 Jeffrey 977,172
30 Jacob 957,530
31 Ryan 948,139
32 Nicholas 912,368
33 Gary 901,235
34 Frank 891,748
35 Eric 883,042
36 Stephen 859,999
37 Jonathan 854,265
38 Larry 806,537
39 Justin 782,970
40 Benjamin 782,240
41 Samuel 779,884
42 Raymond 774,369
43 Scott 772,767
44 Brandon 764,068
45 Jack 720,064
46 Gregory 709,647
47 Henry 705,686
48 Alexander 702,702
49 Patrick 678,571
50 Dennis 618,515

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 1887". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 23, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1887/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1887". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1887/. Accessed 23 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1887. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1887/.