Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1890

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1890. 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 1890, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1890.

Rank Name Count
1 James 5,148,472
2 John 5,060,423
3 Robert 4,809,959
4 Michael 4,388,971
5 William 4,071,093
6 David 3,639,151
7 Joseph 2,612,922
8 Richard 2,564,035
9 Charles 2,364,870
10 Thomas 2,307,963
11 Christopher 2,048,013
12 Daniel 1,942,455
13 Matthew 1,624,402
14 Anthony 1,460,838
15 George 1,428,457
16 Donald 1,412,582
17 Paul 1,388,675
18 Mark 1,355,565
19 Andrew 1,303,801
20 Steven 1,287,570
21 Kenneth 1,278,552
22 Edward 1,273,724
23 Joshua 1,227,781
24 Kevin 1,177,043
25 Brian 1,169,546
26 Ronald 1,080,204
27 Timothy 1,076,305
28 Jason 1,042,152
29 Jeffrey 977,172
30 Jacob 956,565
31 Ryan 948,139
32 Nicholas 912,124
33 Gary 901,222
34 Eric 882,997
35 Frank 882,431
36 Stephen 859,483
37 Jonathan 854,226
38 Larry 806,488
39 Justin 782,953
40 Benjamin 780,226
41 Samuel 777,341
42 Raymond 773,017
43 Scott 772,639
44 Brandon 764,068
45 Jack 719,162
46 Gregory 709,636
47 Alexander 702,100
48 Henry 698,576
49 Patrick 677,872
50 Dennis 618,205

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 1890". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1890/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1890". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1890/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1890. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1890/.