Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1931

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1931. 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 1931, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1931.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,307,523
2 James 4,191,247
3 John 3,902,348
4 Robert 3,870,251
5 David 3,478,320
6 William 3,066,839
7 Richard 2,216,398
8 Joseph 2,104,652
9 Christopher 2,041,770
10 Thomas 1,995,319
11 Daniel 1,860,369
12 Charles 1,788,397
13 Matthew 1,606,630
14 Anthony 1,362,982
15 Mark 1,342,418
16 Steven 1,280,563
17 Joshua 1,225,092
18 Andrew 1,224,638
19 Kevin 1,176,242
20 Brian 1,168,768
21 Paul 1,144,294
22 Donald 1,128,289
23 Kenneth 1,118,230
24 Timothy 1,069,820
25 Ronald 1,047,541
26 Jason 1,040,161
27 Jeffrey 976,728
28 Ryan 947,949
29 Jacob 933,471
30 Gary 898,182
31 Edward 886,751
32 Nicholas 884,959
33 George 880,166
34 Eric 878,987
35 Jonathan 852,114
36 Stephen 825,186
37 Larry 794,039
38 Justin 780,354
39 Scott 768,570
40 Brandon 763,856
41 Benjamin 731,824
42 Gregory 705,842
43 Samuel 680,271
44 Alexander 673,151
45 Patrick 654,383
46 Dennis 602,812
47 Tyler 595,319
48 Aaron 582,799
49 Jerry 582,167
50 Adam 554,043

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 1931". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1931/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1931". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1931/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1931. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1931/.