How many babies get one of the year's 10 most popular names?

In 2025, 7.5% of babies got one of that year's 10 most popular names for their sex, down from 35% in 1880 and 29% in 1950. Parents now spread across far more names. The share counts babies of both sexes with a top-10 girls' or boys' name. Social Security leaves out any name given to fewer than 5 babies in a year, so the total is slightly short.

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Key facts

Measure: Percent of babies given a top-10 name. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2025, is 7.5%.
  • That is down 27.9 percentage points from 35.4% in 1880.
  • The highest was 35.4% in 1880.
  • It is the lowest in the data, which go back to 1880.

Source and date

Source
U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications (national data)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How many babies get one of the year's 10 most popular names?” Chart. Data: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications (national data), https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/share-of-babies-with-a-top-10-name (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Percent of babies given a top-10 name
1880 35.4
1881 34.4
1882 33.6
1883 32.7
1884 31.6
1885 30.7
1886 30.1
1887 29.3
1888 28.6
1889 28
1890 27.2
1891 26.7
1892 26.6
1893 26.3
1894 25.6
1895 25.4
1896 25.3
1897 25
1898 24.8
1899 24.6
1900 24.4
1901 23.9
1902 24.1
1903 24.1
1904 24
1905 23.7
1906 24.2
1907 23.9
1908 24.3
1909 24.4
1910 24.4
1911 25.3
1912 25.9
1913 26.2
1914 26.6
1915 26.5
1916 26.6
1917 26.8
1918 26.9
1919 26.7
1920 27.2
1921 27.3
1922 27.4
1923 27.6
1924 27.7
1925 27.7
1926 27.6
1927 27.7
1928 27.7
1929 27.8
1930 27.9
1931 28.3
1932 28.2
1933 28.1
1934 28.3
1935 29
1936 28.7
1937 28.6
1938 28.4
1939 28.3
1940 28.3
1941 28.6
1942 29
1943 29.3
1944 29.4
1945 29.2
1946 29.8
1947 30.1
1948 29.8
1949 29.4
1950 29.1
1951 29
1952 28.6
1953 28.3
1954 27.9
1955 27.3
1956 26.6
1957 25.6
1958 24.5
1959 23.8
1960 23.2
1961 22.8
1962 22.5
1963 22.6
1964 22.5
1965 22.4
1966 22.2
1967 22.2
1968 22.4
1969 22
1970 21.7
1971 21.8
1972 22.2
1973 22.2
1974 22.3
1975 21.7
1976 21.3
1977 21
1978 20.7
1979 20.7
1980 20.5
1981 20.6
1982 20.7
1983 21
1984 20.9
1985 20.5
1986 20.2
1987 20.1
1988 19.4
1989 18.7
1990 17.8
1991 16.7
1992 15.6
1993 15
1994 14.5
1995 14.1
1996 13.6
1997 13.4
1998 13
1999 12.5
2000 11.9
2001 11.3
2002 11
2003 10.7
2004 10.4
2005 9.9
2006 9.5
2007 9.3
2008 9
2009 8.9
2010 8.9
2011 8.9
2012 8.9
2013 8.7
2014 8.5
2015 8.4
2016 8.2
2017 8.2
2018 8.1
2019 8.1
2020 7.9
2021 7.7
2022 7.5
2023 7.5
2024 7.5
2025 7.5

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