Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1971

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1971. 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 1971, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1971.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 2,171,539
2 Christopher 1,671,749
3 Matthew 1,437,313
4 David 1,341,728
5 James 1,323,793
6 Joshua 1,218,498
7 Daniel 1,203,847
8 John 1,193,397
9 Joseph 1,112,789
10 William 1,100,702
11 Robert 1,049,284
12 Andrew 1,003,081
13 Jason 967,048
14 Ryan 936,070
15 Jacob 920,176
16 Anthony 905,866
17 Nicholas 816,801
18 Justin 769,103
19 Jonathan 765,018
20 Brandon 757,354
21 Brian 741,636
22 Kevin 708,087
23 Thomas 676,057
24 Benjamin 659,083
25 Alexander 637,298
26 Eric 633,663
27 Tyler 591,816
28 Steven 545,125
29 Zachary 538,963
30 Aaron 533,322
31 Charles 528,261
32 Timothy 525,802
33 Adam 522,103
34 Nathan 515,979
35 Samuel 514,316
36 Richard 502,573
37 Ethan 459,707
38 Noah 456,029
39 Kyle 455,022
40 Jose 448,925
41 Jeremy 431,740
42 Mark 430,829
43 Jeffrey 425,398
44 Christian 419,074
45 Austin 408,845
46 Dylan 396,503
47 Jordan 384,629
48 Logan 365,120
49 Patrick 359,289
50 Sean 357,688

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 1971". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 23, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1971/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1971". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1971/. Accessed 23 April, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1971. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1971/.