Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1937

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1937. 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 1937, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1937.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,290,892
2 James 3,885,068
3 John 3,625,093
4 Robert 3,529,441
5 David 3,402,975
6 William 2,833,905
7 Christopher 2,045,801
8 Richard 2,022,510
9 Joseph 2,005,624
10 Thomas 1,898,206
11 Daniel 1,842,387
12 Charles 1,615,409
13 Matthew 1,609,892
14 Anthony 1,345,305
15 Mark 1,339,561
16 Steven 1,279,815
17 Joshua 1,229,644
18 Andrew 1,215,043
19 Kevin 1,177,458
20 Brian 1,168,788
21 Paul 1,072,381
22 Timothy 1,069,468
23 Kenneth 1,048,463
24 Jason 1,042,225
25 Jeffrey 977,156
26 Ronald 971,649
27 Donald 952,645
28 Ryan 952,244
29 Jacob 937,882
30 Nicholas 882,953
31 Gary 880,842
32 Eric 879,047
33 Jonathan 855,456
34 Stephen 817,117
35 Edward 801,904
36 Justin 781,962
37 George 768,042
38 Larry 768,020
39 Scott 767,976
40 Brandon 765,559
41 Benjamin 733,911
42 Gregory 704,566
43 Alexander 677,666
44 Samuel 669,535
45 Patrick 646,139
46 Tyler 597,456
47 Dennis 591,644
48 Aaron 584,480
49 Adam 556,185
50 Nathan 551,184

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 1937". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 19, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1937/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1937". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1937/. Accessed 19 April, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1937. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1937/.