Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1916

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1916. 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 1916, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1916.

Rank Name Count
1 James 4,917,921
2 John 4,730,831
3 Robert 4,657,383
4 Michael 4,365,668
5 William 3,798,612
6 David 3,604,598
7 Richard 2,516,996
8 Joseph 2,468,620
9 Thomas 2,225,397
10 Charles 2,218,172
11 Christopher 2,045,958
12 Daniel 1,922,017
13 Matthew 1,619,383
14 Anthony 1,437,396
15 Donald 1,385,503
16 Mark 1,351,819
17 Paul 1,334,647
18 Steven 1,286,027
19 Andrew 1,279,115
20 George 1,263,966
21 Kenneth 1,255,184
22 Joshua 1,226,803
23 Kevin 1,176,998
24 Edward 1,173,985
25 Brian 1,169,482
26 Ronald 1,077,101
27 Timothy 1,074,129
28 Jason 1,041,614
29 Jeffrey 977,102
30 Ryan 948,107
31 Jacob 947,673
32 Nicholas 905,340
33 Gary 900,714
34 Eric 881,953
35 Jonathan 853,653
36 Stephen 849,306
37 Larry 804,405
38 Justin 782,324
39 Frank 772,428
40 Scott 771,294
41 Brandon 764,045
42 Benjamin 763,729
43 Samuel 745,301
44 Raymond 724,484
45 Gregory 708,925
46 Alexander 692,825
47 Jack 685,418
48 Patrick 670,702
49 Henry 618,792
50 Dennis 614,509

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 1916". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 31, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1916/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1916". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1916/. Accessed 31 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1916. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1916/.