Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1947

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1947. 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 1947, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1947.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,081,619
2 James 3,172,230
3 David 3,073,600
4 John 3,007,625
5 Robert 2,844,546
6 William 2,331,420
7 Christopher 2,032,747
8 Joseph 1,795,530
9 Daniel 1,754,001
10 Thomas 1,611,517
11 Richard 1,601,092
12 Matthew 1,595,591
13 Mark 1,316,598
14 Anthony 1,284,633
15 Charles 1,274,837
16 Steven 1,244,267
17 Joshua 1,223,529
18 Andrew 1,181,215
19 Kevin 1,170,497
20 Brian 1,153,549
21 Timothy 1,045,651
22 Jason 1,038,608
23 Jeffrey 960,099
24 Ryan 947,615
25 Jacob 925,536
26 Paul 913,769
27 Kenneth 878,024
28 Eric 868,809
29 Nicholas 866,731
30 Jonathan 846,169
31 Justin 778,890
32 Brandon 763,698
33 Scott 761,959
34 Stephen 754,241
35 Ronald 730,314
36 Gary 724,896
37 Donald 707,660
38 Benjamin 707,536
39 Gregory 689,129
40 Alexander 660,847
41 Edward 640,174
42 Samuel 624,014
43 Patrick 610,792
44 Tyler 594,827
45 Larry 574,812
46 Aaron 574,807
47 George 568,818
48 Adam 550,281
49 Zachary 543,200
50 Nathan 540,568

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 1947". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 25, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1947/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1947". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1947/. Accessed 25 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1947. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1947/.