Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1946

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1946. 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 1946, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1946.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,131,633
2 James 3,271,697
3 David 3,127,782
4 John 3,094,811
5 Robert 2,932,735
6 William 2,402,740
7 Christopher 2,039,881
8 Joseph 1,827,583
9 Daniel 1,775,915
10 Richard 1,661,640
11 Thomas 1,656,853
12 Matthew 1,603,507
13 Mark 1,323,349
14 Charles 1,318,931
15 Anthony 1,297,960
16 Steven 1,254,484
17 Joshua 1,228,788
18 Andrew 1,190,097
19 Kevin 1,173,592
20 Brian 1,157,304
21 Timothy 1,052,630
22 Jason 1,041,319
23 Jeffrey 964,901
24 Ryan 952,052
25 Paul 936,157
26 Jacob 933,595
27 Kenneth 901,356
28 Eric 872,179
29 Nicholas 872,029
30 Jonathan 851,446
31 Justin 781,098
32 Stephen 766,988
33 Brandon 765,470
34 Scott 763,965
35 Ronald 762,696
36 Gary 752,056
37 Donald 734,328
38 Benjamin 720,033
39 Gregory 695,407
40 Alexander 670,485
41 Edward 660,489
42 Samuel 636,878
43 Patrick 617,801
44 Larry 603,524
45 Tyler 597,131
46 George 593,015
47 Aaron 579,881
48 Adam 554,153
49 Nathan 546,645
50 Zachary 545,494

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 1946". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 9, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1946/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1946". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1946/. Accessed 9 December, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1946. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1946/.