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 3,005,855
2 David 2,051,583
3 James 1,993,557
4 Christopher 1,935,356
5 John 1,889,334
6 Robert 1,684,970
7 Matthew 1,556,571
8 William 1,511,747
9 Daniel 1,443,491
10 Joseph 1,392,875
11 Joshua 1,225,685
12 Anthony 1,110,713
13 Andrew 1,104,014
14 Jason 1,035,945
15 Brian 1,009,755
16 Thomas 990,585
17 Kevin 978,121
18 Ryan 949,356
19 Jacob 925,684
20 Richard 863,426
21 Mark 845,020
22 Nicholas 839,581
23 Steven 828,689
24 Jonathan 817,284
25 Eric 798,930
26 Timothy 794,603
27 Justin 777,842
28 Charles 770,445
29 Brandon 763,993
30 Jeffrey 728,751
31 Benjamin 686,389
32 Alexander 652,753
33 Scott 621,679
34 Tyler 595,562
35 Paul 570,689
36 Aaron 564,216
37 Samuel 558,424
38 Adam 548,344
39 Zachary 542,663
40 Nathan 532,433
41 Kenneth 517,131
42 Jose 492,752
43 Patrick 483,412
44 Stephen 478,798
45 Kyle 473,109
46 Ethan 461,494
47 Gregory 460,989
48 Noah 457,752
49 Jeremy 440,522
50 Christian 431,252

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 April 25, 2024. 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 25 April, 2024

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