Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1939

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1939. 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 1939, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1939.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,274,717
2 James 3,769,412
3 John 3,525,822
4 Robert 3,405,330
5 David 3,359,008
6 William 2,750,758
7 Christopher 2,045,199
8 Joseph 1,970,564
9 Richard 1,955,153
10 Thomas 1,857,054
11 Daniel 1,831,680
12 Matthew 1,608,679
13 Charles 1,553,741
14 Mark 1,337,849
15 Anthony 1,336,279
16 Steven 1,278,508
17 Joshua 1,229,480
18 Andrew 1,210,229
19 Kevin 1,177,034
20 Brian 1,167,660
21 Timothy 1,067,912
22 Paul 1,046,143
23 Jason 1,042,052
24 Kenneth 1,020,847
25 Jeffrey 976,912
26 Ryan 952,222
27 Jacob 936,857
28 Ronald 933,216
29 Donald 898,103
30 Nicholas 881,029
31 Eric 878,377
32 Gary 865,215
33 Jonathan 855,024
34 Stephen 812,258
35 Justin 781,806
36 Edward 772,425
37 Scott 767,499
38 Brandon 765,545
39 Larry 745,308
40 George 731,175
41 Benjamin 731,072
42 Gregory 703,523
43 Alexander 676,325
44 Samuel 663,265
45 Patrick 641,759
46 Tyler 597,404
47 Dennis 584,249
48 Aaron 583,538
49 Adam 555,749
50 Nathan 550,234

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 1939". NameCensus.com. Accessed on May 8, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1939/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1939". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1939/. Accessed 8 May, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1939. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1939/.