Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1976

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1976. 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 1976, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1976.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,809,837
2 Christopher 1,422,276
3 Matthew 1,304,462
4 Joshua 1,170,432
5 David 1,112,414
6 James 1,086,252
7 Daniel 1,079,546
8 Joseph 992,722
9 John 978,853
10 William 942,878
11 Andrew 941,643
12 Jacob 901,119
13 Ryan 877,611
14 Robert 840,478
15 Anthony 813,317
16 Nicholas 798,030
17 Jason 739,173
18 Justin 736,604
19 Brandon 729,680
20 Jonathan 711,566
21 Benjamin 617,517
22 Alexander 617,086
23 Kevin 600,470
24 Tyler 585,273
25 Thomas 575,101
26 Brian 570,730
27 Zachary 530,913
28 Eric 526,294
29 Nathan 486,232
30 Samuel 483,791
31 Adam 482,956
32 Aaron 482,259
33 Ethan 448,969
34 Steven 448,317
35 Kyle 441,103
36 Charles 440,044
37 Timothy 438,372
38 Noah 434,887
39 Jose 413,209
40 Austin 403,983
41 Christian 401,370
42 Richard 396,137
43 Dylan 388,128
44 Jordan 379,134
45 Jeremy 377,547
46 Logan 357,200
47 Gabriel 339,594
48 Mark 326,725
49 Jeffrey 320,318
50 Elijah 317,079

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 1976". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 31, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1976/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1976". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1976/. Accessed 31 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1976. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1976/.