Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1987

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1987. 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 1987, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1987.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,069,755
2 Matthew 851,274
3 Christopher 838,109
4 Joshua 805,269
5 Jacob 800,870
6 Daniel 733,799
7 Andrew 698,568
8 Joseph 674,742
9 David 673,363
10 James 669,945
11 William 669,463
12 John 608,768
13 Anthony 604,886
14 Nicholas 604,213
15 Ryan 599,927
16 Alexander 563,804
17 Tyler 532,767
18 Brandon 532,675
19 Jonathan 502,146
20 Justin 492,397
21 Benjamin 475,181
22 Robert 473,936
23 Zachary 463,497
24 Ethan 441,494
25 Noah 422,982
26 Samuel 417,203
27 Kevin 393,747
28 Thomas 386,962
29 Austin 386,170
30 Dylan 378,916
31 Christian 373,925
32 Nathan 372,050
33 Logan 350,100
34 Jordan 346,180
35 Kyle 342,995
36 Aaron 337,913
37 Jose 325,686
38 Elijah 310,090
39 Gabriel 303,473
40 Mason 303,009
41 Eric 299,204
42 Charles 286,301
43 Adam 286,199
44 Jason 284,535
45 Caleb 283,452
46 Brian 273,517
47 Liam 271,020
48 Cameron 266,957
49 Steven 259,520
50 Lucas 258,316

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 1987". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 30, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1987/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1987". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1987/. Accessed 30 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1987. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1987/.