Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1988

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1988. 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 1988, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1988.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,006,101
2 Matthew 804,777
3 Jacob 786,550
4 Christopher 783,615
5 Joshua 765,270
6 Daniel 697,929
7 Andrew 662,361
8 Joseph 646,219
9 William 645,257
10 James 637,288
11 David 636,570
12 Anthony 581,758
13 Nicholas 580,960
14 John 579,220
15 Ryan 571,437
16 Alexander 551,965
17 Tyler 521,226
18 Brandon 507,853
19 Jonathan 479,038
20 Justin 460,903
21 Benjamin 460,292
22 Zachary 450,287
23 Robert 443,704
24 Ethan 440,838
25 Noah 421,987
26 Samuel 408,626
27 Austin 382,077
28 Dylan 376,918
29 Kevin 373,327
30 Christian 370,601
31 Thomas 368,830
32 Nathan 362,141
33 Logan 348,149
34 Jordan 337,774
35 Aaron 325,230
36 Kyle 323,129
37 Jose 316,948
38 Elijah 309,343
39 Mason 302,191
40 Gabriel 300,395
41 Caleb 280,949
42 Eric 279,001
43 Charles 274,125
44 Liam 270,872
45 Adam 269,270
46 Jason 265,192
47 Cameron 263,798
48 Lucas 255,990
49 Jackson 253,258
50 Brian 253,161

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 1988". NameCensus.com. Accessed on March 28, 2023. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1988/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1988". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1988/. Accessed 28 March, 2023

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1988. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1988/.