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 4,255,061
2 James 3,697,750
3 John 3,466,873
4 Robert 3,341,626
5 David 3,325,905
6 William 2,697,399
7 Christopher 2,039,305
8 Joseph 1,945,073
9 Richard 1,918,102
10 Thomas 1,828,459
11 Daniel 1,816,836
12 Matthew 1,601,032
13 Charles 1,517,067
14 Mark 1,335,562
15 Anthony 1,325,116
16 Steven 1,276,039
17 Joshua 1,224,233
18 Andrew 1,202,666
19 Kevin 1,174,701
20 Brian 1,165,682
21 Timothy 1,065,018
22 Jason 1,039,387
23 Paul 1,031,482
24 Kenneth 1,004,839
25 Jeffrey 975,857
26 Ryan 947,829
27 Jacob 928,827
28 Ronald 912,851
29 Eric 876,396
30 Nicholas 876,374
31 Donald 873,644
32 Gary 855,300
33 Jonathan 850,554
34 Stephen 808,171
35 Justin 779,648
36 Scott 766,739
37 Brandon 763,782
38 Edward 756,262
39 Larry 730,515
40 Benjamin 718,807
41 George 710,669
42 Gregory 702,320
43 Alexander 666,930
44 Samuel 651,669
45 Patrick 637,525
46 Tyler 595,113
47 Aaron 578,571
48 Dennis 577,619
49 Adam 551,908
50 Nathan 544,246

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 March 30, 2023. 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 30 March, 2023

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