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 4,282,063
2 James 3,873,040
3 John 3,617,163
4 Robert 3,525,390
5 David 3,395,234
6 William 2,822,623
7 Christopher 2,040,266
8 Richard 2,020,837
9 Joseph 1,997,853
10 Thomas 1,891,741
11 Daniel 1,833,340
12 Charles 1,609,520
13 Matthew 1,602,867
14 Anthony 1,338,751
15 Mark 1,338,141
16 Steven 1,278,476
17 Joshua 1,224,498
18 Andrew 1,209,919
19 Kevin 1,175,398
20 Brian 1,167,618
21 Paul 1,071,055
22 Timothy 1,067,641
23 Kenneth 1,047,166
24 Jason 1,039,631
25 Jeffrey 976,479
26 Ronald 971,120
27 Donald 952,243
28 Ryan 947,872
29 Jacob 930,279
30 Gary 880,608
31 Nicholas 879,330
32 Eric 877,498
33 Jonathan 851,281
34 Stephen 816,206
35 Edward 800,168
36 Justin 779,895
37 Larry 767,757
38 Scott 767,492
39 George 765,422
40 Brandon 763,796
41 Benjamin 723,069
42 Gregory 703,959
43 Alexander 668,993
44 Samuel 661,193
45 Patrick 644,436
46 Tyler 595,204
47 Dennis 591,227
48 Aaron 579,984
49 Adam 552,560
50 Nathan 545,664

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 March 24, 2023. 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 24 March, 2023

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