Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1921

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1921. 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 1921, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1921.

Rank Name Count
1 James 4,712,596
2 John 4,461,937
3 Robert 4,460,098
4 Michael 4,344,960
5 William 3,576,364
6 David 3,571,896
7 Richard 2,456,174
8 Joseph 2,343,859
9 Thomas 2,158,506
10 Charles 2,089,995
11 Christopher 2,044,607
12 Daniel 1,904,358
13 Matthew 1,614,887
14 Anthony 1,412,771
15 Mark 1,348,917
16 Donald 1,337,219
17 Steven 1,284,098
18 Paul 1,277,070
19 Andrew 1,259,624
20 Joshua 1,226,197
21 Kenneth 1,221,586
22 Kevin 1,176,902
23 Brian 1,169,394
24 George 1,138,009
25 Edward 1,081,358
26 Ronald 1,073,244
27 Timothy 1,072,819
28 Jason 1,041,180
29 Jeffrey 977,003
30 Ryan 948,062
31 Jacob 942,089
32 Gary 900,340
33 Nicholas 898,345
34 Eric 881,034
35 Jonathan 853,186
36 Stephen 840,229
37 Larry 802,539
38 Justin 781,652
39 Scott 770,435
40 Brandon 763,985
41 Benjamin 752,138
42 Samuel 722,514
43 Gregory 708,105
44 Frank 692,218
45 Alexander 685,090
46 Raymond 669,781
47 Patrick 666,500
48 Jack 646,178
49 Dennis 611,508
50 Jerry 602,465

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 1921". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 28, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1921/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1921". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1921/. Accessed 28 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1921. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1921/.