Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1980

In this article we'll look at what the most popular baby boy names are since 1980. 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 1980, with a total count for the number of births registered with that given name since 1980.

Rank Name Count
1 Michael 1,549,211
2 Christopher 1,237,911
3 Matthew 1,179,577
4 Joshua 1,080,282
5 Daniel 982,818
6 David 957,549
7 James 940,632
8 Joseph 894,584
9 Jacob 884,703
10 Andrew 882,042
11 William 856,055
12 John 849,090
13 Ryan 798,664
14 Nicholas 754,402
15 Anthony 752,122
16 Robert 709,082
17 Brandon 694,815
18 Justin 684,905
19 Jonathan 665,244
20 Alexander 614,801
21 Benjamin 581,633
22 Tyler 581,006
23 Jason 531,399
24 Kevin 522,722
25 Zachary 520,441
26 Thomas 515,883
27 Samuel 470,761
28 Ethan 454,655
29 Nathan 452,615
30 Brian 450,741
31 Noah 450,676
32 Eric 445,675
33 Aaron 438,385
34 Adam 434,615
35 Kyle 425,120
36 Austin 404,256
37 Christian 396,766
38 Dylan 392,777
39 Jose 388,235
40 Charles 387,581
41 Steven 383,771
42 Jordan 379,458
43 Timothy 366,909
44 Logan 363,681
45 Gabriel 333,761
46 Richard 330,147
47 Elijah 327,010
48 Mason 313,596
49 Caleb 300,733
50 Jeremy 296,700

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 1980". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 20, 2024. https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1980/.

  • "Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1980". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1980/. Accessed 20 April, 2024

  • Most Popular Baby Boy Names Since 1980. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/baby-names/popular-boy-names-since-1980/.