Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1912

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1912. 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 1912, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1912.

Rank Name Count
1 James 5,016,434
2 John 4,870,271
3 Robert 4,735,828
4 Michael 4,377,822
5 William 3,910,093
6 David 3,620,383
7 Richard 2,542,103
8 Joseph 2,537,033
9 Charles 2,281,329
10 Thomas 2,258,920
11 Christopher 2,046,708
12 Daniel 1,930,746
13 Matthew 1,621,665
14 Anthony 1,451,074
15 Donald 1,404,028
16 Paul 1,363,459
17 Mark 1,353,367
18 George 1,329,483
19 Andrew 1,289,821
20 Steven 1,286,906
21 Kenneth 1,270,646
22 Joshua 1,227,164
23 Edward 1,219,603
24 Kevin 1,177,043
25 Brian 1,169,534
26 Ronald 1,079,124
27 Timothy 1,074,844
28 Jason 1,041,837
29 Jeffrey 977,159
30 Jacob 951,227
31 Ryan 948,123
32 Nicholas 909,390
33 Gary 900,936
34 Eric 882,455
35 Stephen 854,667
36 Jonathan 853,914
37 Frank 816,585
38 Larry 805,349
39 Justin 782,654
40 Scott 771,801
41 Benjamin 770,531
42 Brandon 764,068
43 Samuel 758,808
44 Raymond 749,970
45 Gregory 709,317
46 Jack 702,060
47 Alexander 697,166
48 Patrick 672,972
49 Henry 649,074
50 Dennis 615,997

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 1912". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 23, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1912/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1912". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1912/. Accessed 23 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1912. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1912/.