Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1979

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1979. 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 1979, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1979.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,616,953
2 Christopher 1,288,600
3 Matthew 1,215,232
4 Joshua 1,111,416
5 Daniel 1,011,346
6 David 999,623
7 James 980,004
8 Joseph 923,253
9 Andrew 900,677
10 Jacob 892,251
11 John 884,521
12 William 880,757
13 Ryan 821,886
14 Nicholas 775,749
15 Anthony 769,646
16 Robert 743,112
17 Brandon 706,125
18 Justin 702,305
19 Jonathan 679,575
20 Alexander 617,862
21 Benjamin 594,153
22 Tyler 583,050
23 Jason 581,808
24 Kevin 541,464
25 Thomas 532,357
26 Zachary 524,598
27 Brian 479,414
28 Samuel 476,447
29 Eric 465,948
30 Nathan 463,352
31 Ethan 455,364
32 Adam 451,676
33 Noah 451,590
34 Aaron 451,465
35 Kyle 430,571
36 Austin 405,250
37 Charles 402,406
38 Steven 400,104
39 Christian 399,032
40 Jose 396,078
41 Dylan 393,417
42 Timothy 385,990
43 Jordan 380,866
44 Logan 364,149
45 Richard 346,867
46 Gabriel 336,996
47 Elijah 327,707
48 Jeremy 317,711
49 Mason 313,916
50 Caleb 301,592

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 1979". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 29, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1979/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1979". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1979/. Accessed 29 March, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1979. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1979/.