Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1981

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1981. 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 1981, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1981.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,480,507
2 Christopher 1,188,815
3 Matthew 1,141,722
4 Joshua 1,044,220
5 Daniel 952,923
6 David 915,629
7 James 901,303
8 Jacob 876,180
9 Joseph 864,382
10 Andrew 862,307
11 William 830,403
12 John 813,804
13 Ryan 773,853
14 Anthony 734,507
15 Nicholas 733,376
16 Brandon 680,642
17 Robert 674,802
18 Justin 658,142
19 Jonathan 646,247
20 Alexander 611,517
21 Tyler 578,385
22 Benjamin 567,996
23 Zachary 516,193
24 Kevin 504,738
25 Thomas 498,315
26 Jason 483,229
27 Samuel 464,748
28 Ethan 453,950
29 Noah 449,747
30 Nathan 441,470
31 Aaron 425,212
32 Eric 423,044
33 Brian 422,015
34 Kyle 419,336
35 Adam 415,741
36 Austin 403,093
37 Christian 394,449
38 Dylan 391,953
39 Jose 379,915
40 Jordan 377,837
41 Charles 372,618
42 Steven 367,852
43 Logan 363,161
44 Timothy 347,755
45 Gabriel 330,264
46 Elijah 326,256
47 Richard 313,487
48 Mason 313,258
49 Caleb 299,751
50 Liam 292,347

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 1981". NameCensus.com. Accessed on September 24, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1981/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1981". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1981/. Accessed 24 September, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1981. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1981/.