Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1942

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1942. 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 1942, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1942.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,234,727
2 James 3,580,559
3 John 3,362,502
4 David 3,275,405
5 Robert 3,220,244
6 William 2,616,117
7 Christopher 2,043,722
8 Joseph 1,914,832
9 Richard 1,843,243
10 Daniel 1,812,609
11 Thomas 1,784,293
12 Matthew 1,606,664
13 Charles 1,458,530
14 Mark 1,334,193
15 Anthony 1,321,663
16 Steven 1,273,343
17 Joshua 1,229,196
18 Andrew 1,202,652
19 Kevin 1,176,044
20 Brian 1,164,720
21 Timothy 1,063,828
22 Jason 1,041,807
23 Paul 1,003,546
24 Kenneth 974,865
25 Jeffrey 974,235
26 Ryan 952,170
27 Jacob 935,450
28 Nicholas 877,684
29 Eric 876,761
30 Ronald 868,249
31 Jonathan 854,094
32 Gary 828,399
33 Donald 828,300
34 Stephen 798,852
35 Justin 781,538
36 Scott 766,482
37 Brandon 765,525
38 Edward 728,017
39 Benjamin 726,625
40 Gregory 701,347
41 Larry 693,448
42 George 675,712
43 Alexander 674,025
44 Samuel 653,113
45 Patrick 633,190
46 Tyler 597,289
47 Aaron 581,991
48 Dennis 560,632
49 Adam 555,076
50 Nathan 548,743

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 1942". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 2, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1942/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1942". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1942/. Accessed 2 December, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1942. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1942/.