Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1945

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1945. 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 1945, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1945.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,152,705
2 James 3,334,129
3 David 3,157,148
4 John 3,152,998
5 Robert 2,998,624
6 William 2,441,675
7 Christopher 2,035,484
8 Joseph 1,840,631
9 Daniel 1,776,575
10 Richard 1,706,009
11 Thomas 1,682,258
12 Matthew 1,597,212
13 Charles 1,345,508
14 Mark 1,325,474
15 Anthony 1,297,091
16 Steven 1,259,119
17 Joshua 1,223,739
18 Andrew 1,187,980
19 Kevin 1,172,221
20 Brian 1,158,123
21 Timothy 1,054,394
22 Jason 1,038,841
23 Jeffrey 967,006
24 Paul 951,823
25 Ryan 947,715
26 Jacob 926,409
27 Kenneth 918,152
28 Eric 871,981
29 Nicholas 869,764
30 Jonathan 848,152
31 Ronald 785,832
32 Justin 779,153
33 Stephen 774,715
34 Gary 773,169
35 Scott 764,329
36 Brandon 763,717
37 Donald 756,061
38 Benjamin 710,753
39 Gregory 697,274
40 Edward 674,623
41 Alexander 662,703
42 Samuel 632,491
43 Larry 626,086
44 Patrick 619,953
45 George 609,713
46 Tyler 594,921
47 Aaron 575,869
48 Adam 550,737
49 Zachary 543,268
50 Nathan 541,613

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 1945". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1945/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1945". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1945/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1945. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1945/.