Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1970

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1970. 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 1970, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1970.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 2,248,001
2 Christopher 1,707,989
3 Matthew 1,450,485
4 David 1,395,747
5 James 1,373,524
6 John 1,243,997
7 Daniel 1,218,331
8 Joshua 1,215,525
9 Joseph 1,131,750
10 William 1,128,327
11 Robert 1,102,433
12 Andrew 1,009,953
13 Jason 991,739
14 Ryan 934,027
15 Anthony 920,497
16 Jacob 913,487
17 Nicholas 815,878
18 Brian 772,396
19 Justin 769,422
20 Jonathan 769,046
21 Brandon 758,136
22 Kevin 733,008
23 Thomas 696,281
24 Eric 655,683
25 Benjamin 652,170
26 Alexander 631,093
27 Tyler 590,316
28 Steven 570,601
29 Timothy 546,412
30 Charles 544,797
31 Zachary 537,277
32 Aaron 535,410
33 Richard 531,352
34 Adam 522,796
35 Nathan 513,007
36 Samuel 510,532
37 Mark 460,897
38 Kyle 456,982
39 Jeffrey 454,874
40 Ethan 451,707
41 Jose 450,630
42 Noah 437,748
43 Jeremy 434,632
44 Christian 417,254
45 Austin 405,744
46 Dylan 390,120
47 Jordan 381,031
48 Scott 375,914
49 Patrick 369,328
50 Sean 367,243

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 1970". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 29, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1970/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1970". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1970/. Accessed 29 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1970. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1970/.