Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1940

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1940. 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 1940, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1940.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,263,890
2 James 3,709,778
3 John 3,474,803
4 Robert 3,345,677
5 David 3,333,646
6 William 2,708,681
7 Christopher 2,044,840
8 Joseph 1,952,844
9 Richard 1,919,775
10 Thomas 1,834,924
11 Daniel 1,825,883
12 Matthew 1,608,057
13 Charles 1,522,956
14 Mark 1,336,982
15 Anthony 1,331,670
16 Steven 1,277,378
17 Joshua 1,229,379
18 Andrew 1,207,790
19 Kevin 1,176,761
20 Brian 1,166,852
21 Timothy 1,066,845
22 Jason 1,041,981
23 Paul 1,032,808
24 Kenneth 1,006,136
25 Jeffrey 976,534
26 Ryan 952,201
27 Jacob 936,430
28 Ronald 913,380
29 Nicholas 879,997
30 Eric 877,945
31 Donald 874,046
32 Gary 855,534
33 Jonathan 854,729
34 Stephen 809,082
35 Justin 781,715
36 Scott 767,223
37 Brandon 765,545
38 Edward 757,998
39 Larry 730,778
40 Benjamin 729,649
41 George 713,289
42 Gregory 702,927
43 Alexander 675,603
44 Samuel 660,011
45 Patrick 639,228
46 Tyler 597,365
47 Aaron 583,067
48 Dennis 578,036
49 Adam 555,533
50 Nathan 549,766

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 1940". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 20, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1940/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1940". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1940/. Accessed 20 April, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1940. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1940/.