Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1951

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1951. 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 1951, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1951.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 3,853,366
2 David 2,838,830
3 James 2,815,783
4 John 2,675,875
5 Robert 2,499,994
6 William 2,080,268
7 Christopher 2,018,601
8 Joseph 1,687,781
9 Daniel 1,684,877
10 Matthew 1,590,971
11 Thomas 1,432,104
12 Richard 1,389,650
13 Mark 1,268,227
14 Anthony 1,251,674
15 Joshua 1,222,914
16 Steven 1,171,581
17 Andrew 1,163,118
18 Kevin 1,158,673
19 Brian 1,138,446
20 Charles 1,116,240
21 Jason 1,037,872
22 Timothy 1,011,013
23 Ryan 947,230
24 Jeffrey 933,876
25 Jacob 923,509
26 Nicholas 858,691
27 Eric 858,111
28 Jonathan 840,720
29 Paul 826,396
30 Kenneth 782,482
31 Justin 778,303
32 Brandon 763,536
33 Scott 750,308
34 Benjamin 699,440
35 Stephen 680,855
36 Alexander 656,287
37 Gregory 645,789
38 Gary 603,796
39 Samuel 603,320
40 Ronald 600,491
41 Donald 598,841
42 Tyler 594,542
43 Patrick 580,726
44 Aaron 571,833
45 Edward 562,770
46 Adam 549,163
47 Zachary 542,783
48 Nathan 537,918
49 Jose 521,460
50 George 481,485

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 1951". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 25, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1951/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1951". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1951/. Accessed 25 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1951. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1951/.