Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1948

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1948. 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 1948, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1948.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 4,031,116
2 James 3,077,466
3 David 3,015,790
4 John 2,919,306
5 Robert 2,752,899
6 William 2,264,428
7 Christopher 2,030,474
8 Joseph 1,768,016
9 Daniel 1,738,812
10 Matthew 1,594,545
11 Thomas 1,566,679
12 Richard 1,542,569
13 Mark 1,308,827
14 Anthony 1,276,619
15 Charles 1,234,063
16 Steven 1,230,736
17 Joshua 1,223,388
18 Andrew 1,176,871
19 Kevin 1,168,947
20 Brian 1,150,100
21 Timothy 1,038,903
22 Jason 1,038,474
23 Jeffrey 954,434
24 Ryan 947,513
25 Jacob 925,014
26 Paul 890,976
27 Eric 866,465
28 Nicholas 864,796
29 Kenneth 853,442
30 Jonathan 844,973
31 Justin 778,742
32 Brandon 763,667
33 Scott 759,930
34 Stephen 738,915
35 Benjamin 705,604
36 Ronald 695,417
37 Gary 694,866
38 Gregory 679,801
39 Donald 679,404
40 Alexander 659,766
41 Edward 619,631
42 Samuel 618,906
43 Patrick 604,172
44 Tyler 594,760
45 Aaron 574,126
46 Adam 550,012
47 George 544,900
48 Zachary 543,130
49 Nathan 539,951
50 Larry 539,872

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 1948". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 24, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1948/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1948". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1948/. Accessed 24 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1948. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1948/.