Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1966

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1966. 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 1966, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1966.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 2,577,627
2 Christopher 1,832,446
3 David 1,656,391
4 James 1,620,992
5 Matthew 1,508,174
6 John 1,490,338
7 Robert 1,334,664
8 Daniel 1,308,999
9 William 1,278,773
10 Joseph 1,236,266
11 Joshua 1,218,625
12 Andrew 1,052,013
13 Jason 1,024,491
14 Anthony 1,003,150
15 Ryan 941,948
16 Jacob 915,599
17 Brian 889,937
18 Kevin 830,645
19 Nicholas 825,458
20 Thomas 808,466
21 Jonathan 791,531
22 Justin 773,327
23 Brandon 760,883
24 Eric 729,250
25 Steven 677,390
26 Richard 663,493
27 Benjamin 663,457
28 Timothy 653,807
29 Alexander 637,712
30 Charles 631,596
31 Mark 599,448
32 Tyler 591,993
33 Jeffrey 570,507
34 Aaron 548,948
35 Zachary 538,733
36 Adam 533,230
37 Samuel 527,479
38 Nathan 519,430
39 Scott 482,194
40 Jose 469,217
41 Kyle 465,158
42 Ethan 452,457
43 Paul 441,449
44 Noah 438,481
45 Jeremy 438,041
46 Christian 423,440
47 Patrick 420,457
48 Austin 406,528
49 Stephen 401,601
50 Sean 399,759

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 1966". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1966/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1966". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1966/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1966. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1966/.