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 1,198,903
2 Christopher 954,423
3 Matthew 945,288
4 Joshua 885,020
5 Jacob 826,806
6 Daniel 808,929
7 Andrew 762,599
8 David 749,051
9 James 739,859
10 Joseph 733,797
11 William 718,404
12 John 670,482
13 Ryan 659,361
14 Nicholas 649,415
15 Anthony 648,929
16 Brandon 589,240
17 Alexander 582,703
18 Tyler 553,894
19 Jonathan 550,242
20 Justin 544,575
21 Robert 537,387
22 Benjamin 502,413
23 Zachary 486,568
24 Ethan 442,764
25 Kevin 432,498
26 Samuel 431,788
27 Noah 425,126
28 Thomas 421,923
29 Nathan 392,700
30 Austin 392,099
31 Dylan 382,079
32 Christian 380,050
33 Kyle 378,824
34 Aaron 363,739
35 Jordan 358,946
36 Logan 352,426
37 Jose 342,453
38 Eric 339,571
39 Jason 332,980
40 Adam 324,537
41 Brian 317,622
42 Charles 311,824
43 Elijah 311,489
44 Gabriel 309,735
45 Mason 304,112
46 Steven 296,348
47 Caleb 287,633
48 Timothy 276,870
49 Liam 271,320
50 Cameron 270,798

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 March 31, 2023. 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 31 March, 2023

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