Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1972

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1972. 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 1972, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1972.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 2,085,111
2 Christopher 1,617,980
3 Matthew 1,407,734
4 David 1,280,860
5 James 1,257,143
6 Joshua 1,209,703
7 Daniel 1,173,013
8 John 1,133,945
9 Joseph 1,080,494
10 William 1,053,991
11 Robert 994,578
12 Andrew 987,041
13 Jason 930,261
14 Ryan 925,510
15 Jacob 911,517
16 Anthony 880,083
17 Nicholas 810,564
18 Justin 763,979
19 Brandon 752,328
20 Jonathan 752,213
21 Brian 707,830
22 Kevin 681,162
23 Thomas 646,431
24 Benjamin 643,990
25 Alexander 626,260
26 Eric 609,141
27 Tyler 588,842
28 Zachary 536,017
29 Aaron 520,420
30 Steven 520,107
31 Adam 512,622
32 Nathan 507,410
33 Timothy 503,879
34 Charles 502,514
35 Samuel 501,567
36 Richard 474,738
37 Kyle 451,390
38 Ethan 451,070
39 Jose 438,928
40 Noah 436,930
41 Jeremy 422,813
42 Christian 411,986
43 Austin 405,228
44 Mark 404,267
45 Jeffrey 398,872
46 Dylan 389,547
47 Jordan 380,461
48 Logan 357,488
49 Gabriel 348,160
50 Patrick 346,778

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 1972". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1972/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1972". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1972/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1972. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1972/.