Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1985

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1985. 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 1985, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1985.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,207,732
2 Christopher 959,958
3 Matthew 952,313
4 Joshua 890,166
5 Jacob 834,409
6 Daniel 817,976
7 Andrew 767,723
8 David 756,792
9 James 751,887
10 Joseph 741,568
11 William 729,686
12 John 678,412
13 Ryan 663,733
14 Anthony 655,483
15 Nicholas 653,038
16 Alexander 591,376
17 Brandon 591,003
18 Tyler 556,146
19 Jonathan 554,417
20 Justin 546,642
21 Robert 541,438
22 Benjamin 513,255
23 Zachary 488,813
24 Ethan 451,035
25 Noah 443,747
26 Samuel 440,130
27 Kevin 434,558
28 Thomas 428,388
29 Nathan 398,220
30 Austin 395,450
31 Dylan 388,777
32 Christian 384,492
33 Kyle 379,628
34 Aaron 368,235
35 Jordan 362,824
36 Logan 360,001
37 Jose 346,443
38 Eric 341,120
39 Jason 335,574
40 Adam 328,162
41 Elijah 323,468
42 Brian 318,792
43 Charles 317,713
44 Gabriel 316,921
45 Mason 312,100
46 Steven 297,687
47 Caleb 293,372
48 Liam 291,776
49 Timothy 278,697
50 Cameron 275,737

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 1985". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 19, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1985/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1985". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1985/. Accessed 19 April, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1985. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1985/.