Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1936

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1936. 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 1936, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1936.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,287,865
2 James 3,927,732
3 John 3,664,839
4 Robert 3,583,889
5 David 3,412,713
6 William 2,862,014
7 Richard 2,054,328
8 Christopher 2,040,543
9 Joseph 2,015,309
10 Thomas 1,910,084
11 Daniel 1,838,157
12 Charles 1,638,612
13 Matthew 1,603,475
14 Anthony 1,342,730
15 Mark 1,338,853
16 Steven 1,278,918
17 Joshua 1,224,598
18 Andrew 1,212,198
19 Kevin 1,175,551
20 Brian 1,167,962
21 Paul 1,083,361
22 Timothy 1,068,080
23 Kenneth 1,059,653
24 Jason 1,039,728
25 Ronald 988,040
26 Donald 980,881
27 Jeffrey 976,548
28 Ryan 947,885
29 Jacob 930,779
30 Gary 885,798
31 Nicholas 880,258
32 Eric 877,794
33 Jonathan 851,453
34 Stephen 818,068
35 Edward 814,362
36 George 783,619
37 Justin 779,956
38 Larry 775,369
39 Scott 767,710
40 Brandon 763,808
41 Benjamin 724,423
42 Gregory 704,352
43 Alexander 669,606
44 Samuel 664,086
45 Patrick 646,291
46 Tyler 595,216
47 Dennis 593,855
48 Aaron 580,427
49 Adam 552,776
50 Jerry 550,844

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 1936". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 23, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1936/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1936". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1936/. Accessed 23 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1936. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1936/.