Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1952

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1952. 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 1952, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1952.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 3,780,565
2 David 2,774,043
3 James 2,728,522
4 John 2,594,303
5 Robert 2,413,642
6 William 2,017,489
7 Christopher 2,012,868
8 Daniel 1,663,758
9 Joseph 1,659,626
10 Matthew 1,589,367
11 Thomas 1,383,822
12 Richard 1,335,099
13 Mark 1,247,021
14 Anthony 1,241,831
15 Joshua 1,222,748
16 Andrew 1,157,745
17 Kevin 1,152,320
18 Steven 1,143,216
19 Brian 1,133,344
20 Charles 1,076,837
21 Jason 1,037,683
22 Timothy 998,308
23 Ryan 947,125
24 Jeffrey 924,161
25 Jacob 923,007
26 Nicholas 856,302
27 Eric 854,447
28 Jonathan 838,944
29 Paul 803,544
30 Justin 778,168
31 Brandon 763,486
32 Kenneth 756,637
33 Scott 744,925
34 Benjamin 697,096
35 Stephen 658,379
36 Alexander 655,075
37 Gregory 631,684
38 Samuel 597,845
39 Tyler 594,471
40 Patrick 571,974
41 Ronald 571,444
42 Aaron 570,970
43 Donald 570,922
44 Gary 565,633
45 Adam 548,863
46 Edward 542,855
47 Zachary 542,632
48 Nathan 537,048
49 Jose 518,773
50 Kyle 478,777

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 1952". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 29, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1952/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1952". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1952/. Accessed 29 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1952. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1952/.