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 4,265,888
2 James 3,757,384
3 John 3,517,892
4 Robert 3,401,279
5 David 3,351,267
6 William 2,739,476
7 Christopher 2,039,664
8 Joseph 1,962,793
9 Richard 1,953,480
10 Thomas 1,850,589
11 Daniel 1,822,633
12 Matthew 1,601,654
13 Charles 1,547,852
14 Mark 1,336,429
15 Anthony 1,329,725
16 Steven 1,277,169
17 Joshua 1,224,334
18 Andrew 1,205,105
19 Kevin 1,174,974
20 Brian 1,166,490
21 Timothy 1,066,085
22 Paul 1,044,817
23 Jason 1,039,458
24 Kenneth 1,019,550
25 Jeffrey 976,235
26 Ryan 947,850
27 Ronald 932,687
28 Jacob 929,254
29 Donald 897,701
30 Nicholas 877,406
31 Eric 876,828
32 Gary 864,981
33 Jonathan 850,849
34 Stephen 811,347
35 Justin 779,739
36 Edward 770,689
37 Scott 767,015
38 Brandon 763,782
39 Larry 745,045
40 George 728,555
41 Benjamin 720,230
42 Gregory 702,916
43 Alexander 667,652
44 Samuel 654,923
45 Patrick 640,056
46 Tyler 595,152
47 Dennis 583,832
48 Aaron 579,042
49 Adam 552,124
50 Nathan 544,714

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 March 30, 2023. 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 30 March, 2023

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