Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1961

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1961. 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 1961, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1961.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 2,997,026
2 David 2,043,842
3 James 1,981,529
4 Christopher 1,929,821
5 John 1,881,404
6 Robert 1,680,919
7 Matthew 1,549,546
8 William 1,500,465
9 Daniel 1,434,444
10 Joseph 1,385,104
11 Joshua 1,220,539
12 Anthony 1,104,159
13 Andrew 1,098,890
14 Jason 1,033,351
15 Brian 1,008,585
16 Thomas 984,120
17 Kevin 976,061
18 Ryan 944,984
19 Jacob 918,081
20 Richard 861,753
21 Mark 843,600
22 Nicholas 835,958
23 Steven 827,350
24 Jonathan 813,109
25 Eric 797,381
26 Timothy 792,776
27 Justin 775,775
28 Charles 764,556
29 Brandon 762,230
30 Jeffrey 728,074
31 Benjamin 675,547
32 Alexander 644,080
33 Scott 621,195
34 Tyler 593,310
35 Paul 569,363
36 Aaron 559,720
37 Samuel 550,082
38 Adam 544,719
39 Zachary 540,418
40 Nathan 526,913
41 Kenneth 515,834
42 Jose 488,762
43 Patrick 481,709
44 Stephen 477,887
45 Kyle 472,305
46 Gregory 460,382
47 Ethan 453,223
48 Noah 439,131
49 Jeremy 439,093
50 Christian 426,810

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 1961". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 29, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1961/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1961". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1961/. Accessed 29 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1961. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1961/.