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 1,142,808
2 Matthew 905,228
3 Christopher 900,345
4 Joshua 847,962
5 Jacob 822,126
6 Daniel 779,424
7 Andrew 737,552
8 David 718,264
9 James 716,021
10 Joseph 711,350
11 William 705,076
12 John 646,909
13 Ryan 633,822
14 Anthony 633,395
15 Nicholas 630,635
16 Alexander 583,085
17 Brandon 561,696
18 Tyler 545,932
19 Jonathan 530,295
20 Justin 521,098
21 Robert 509,346
22 Benjamin 499,825
23 Zachary 477,467
24 Ethan 450,364
25 Noah 442,640
26 Samuel 433,122
27 Kevin 415,744
28 Thomas 410,783
29 Austin 392,725
30 Nathan 387,568
31 Dylan 387,447
32 Christian 381,578
33 Kyle 363,111
34 Logan 359,003
35 Jordan 357,361
36 Aaron 355,098
37 Jose 338,042
38 Elijah 322,787
39 Eric 320,279
40 Gabriel 313,708
41 Mason 311,647
42 Jason 309,535
43 Adam 307,990
44 Charles 304,816
45 Brian 295,720
46 Liam 291,627
47 Caleb 291,289
48 Steven 278,958
49 Cameron 273,945
50 Lucas 271,421

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 28, 2024. 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 28 March, 2024

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