Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1938

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1938. 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 1938, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1938.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,283,798
2 James 3,828,512
3 John 3,576,344
4 Robert 3,467,599
5 David 3,382,001
6 William 2,793,187
7 Christopher 2,045,507
8 Richard 1,989,536
9 Joseph 1,988,302
10 Thomas 1,878,434
11 Daniel 1,837,264
12 Matthew 1,609,286
13 Charles 1,584,885
14 Anthony 1,340,968
15 Mark 1,338,752
16 Steven 1,279,280
17 Joshua 1,229,552
18 Andrew 1,212,639
19 Kevin 1,177,280
20 Brian 1,168,269
21 Timothy 1,068,794
22 Paul 1,059,501
23 Jason 1,042,144
24 Kenneth 1,035,246
25 Jeffrey 977,069
26 Ronald 953,511
27 Ryan 952,230
28 Jacob 937,345
29 Donald 924,775
30 Nicholas 882,018
31 Eric 878,747
32 Gary 874,076
33 Jonathan 855,259
34 Stephen 814,984
35 Edward 786,974
36 Justin 781,890
37 Scott 767,758
38 Brandon 765,552
39 Larry 757,699
40 George 749,609
41 Benjamin 732,488
42 Gregory 704,059
43 Alexander 676,991
44 Samuel 666,507
45 Patrick 644,050
46 Tyler 597,437
47 Dennis 588,485
48 Aaron 584,015
49 Adam 555,963
50 Nathan 550,750

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 1938". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1938/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1938". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1938/. Accessed 30 November, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1938. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1938/.