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 4,296,694
2 James 3,939,760
3 John 3,672,769
4 Robert 3,587,940
5 David 3,420,454
6 William 2,873,296
7 Richard 2,056,001
8 Christopher 2,046,078
9 Joseph 2,023,080
10 Thomas 1,916,549
11 Daniel 1,847,204
12 Charles 1,644,501
13 Matthew 1,610,500
14 Anthony 1,349,284
15 Mark 1,340,273
16 Steven 1,280,257
17 Joshua 1,229,744
18 Andrew 1,217,322
19 Kevin 1,177,611
20 Brian 1,169,132
21 Paul 1,084,687
22 Timothy 1,069,907
23 Kenneth 1,060,950
24 Jason 1,042,322
25 Ronald 988,569
26 Donald 981,283
27 Jeffrey 977,225
28 Ryan 952,257
29 Jacob 938,382
30 Gary 886,032
31 Nicholas 883,881
32 Eric 879,343
33 Jonathan 855,628
34 Stephen 818,979
35 Edward 816,098
36 George 786,239
37 Justin 782,023
38 Larry 775,632
39 Scott 768,194
40 Brandon 765,571
41 Benjamin 735,265
42 Gregory 704,959
43 Alexander 678,279
44 Samuel 672,428
45 Patrick 647,994
46 Tyler 597,468
47 Dennis 594,272
48 Aaron 584,923
49 Adam 556,401
50 Nathan 551,648

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 April 25, 2024. 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 25 April, 2024

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