Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1986

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1986. 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 1986, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1986.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,133,979
2 Matthew 898,203
3 Christopher 894,810
4 Joshua 842,816
5 Jacob 814,523
6 Daniel 770,377
7 Andrew 732,428
8 David 710,523
9 James 703,993
10 Joseph 703,579
11 William 693,794
12 John 638,979
13 Ryan 629,450
14 Nicholas 627,012
15 Anthony 626,841
16 Alexander 574,412
17 Brandon 559,933
18 Tyler 543,680
19 Jonathan 526,120
20 Justin 519,031
21 Robert 505,295
22 Benjamin 488,983
23 Zachary 475,222
24 Ethan 442,093
25 Samuel 424,780
26 Noah 424,019
27 Kevin 413,684
28 Thomas 404,318
29 Austin 389,374
30 Nathan 382,048
31 Dylan 380,749
32 Christian 377,136
33 Kyle 362,307
34 Jordan 353,483
35 Logan 351,428
36 Aaron 350,602
37 Jose 334,052
38 Eric 318,730
39 Elijah 310,808
40 Jason 306,941
41 Gabriel 306,522
42 Adam 304,365
43 Mason 303,659
44 Charles 298,927
45 Brian 294,550
46 Caleb 285,550
47 Steven 277,619
48 Liam 271,171
49 Cameron 269,006
50 Lucas 260,512

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 1986". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1986/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1986". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1986/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1986. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1986/.