Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1956

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1956. 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 1956, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1956.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 3,449,202
2 David 2,468,015
3 James 2,396,895
4 John 2,277,608
5 Robert 2,074,763
6 Christopher 1,992,027
7 William 1,782,468
8 Matthew 1,586,013
9 Daniel 1,574,144
10 Joseph 1,546,789
11 Joshua 1,227,114
12 Thomas 1,201,605
13 Anthony 1,198,202
14 Andrew 1,140,005
15 Mark 1,114,968
16 Richard 1,109,410
17 Kevin 1,103,958
18 Brian 1,103,916
19 Jason 1,039,078
20 Steven 1,004,315
21 Ryan 950,916
22 Timothy 932,607
23 Charles 932,591
24 Jacob 928,316
25 Jeffrey 855,298
26 Nicholas 850,666
27 Eric 839,246
28 Jonathan 832,957
29 Justin 779,429
30 Brandon 764,794
31 Scott 711,143
32 Paul 702,138
33 Benjamin 698,183
34 Alexander 658,798
35 Kenneth 653,582
36 Tyler 596,305
37 Samuel 583,943
38 Aaron 571,556
39 Stephen 570,405
40 Gregory 563,502
41 Adam 551,235
42 Zachary 544,065
43 Nathan 539,000
44 Patrick 535,227
45 Jose 510,521
46 Kyle 478,033
47 Edward 467,312
48 Ronald 462,655
49 Ethan 461,872
50 Noah 458,472

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 1956". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 25, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1956/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1956". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1956/. Accessed 25 April, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1956. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1956/.