What was the most popular boys' name in each decade?

John was the top boys' name from the 1880s to the 1910s, given to about 8% of boys in the 1880s. Robert, James and Michael followed; Michael led for four decades. Since then the top name has had a far smaller share: Jacob, Noah, and Liam so far in the 2020s, at about 1% of boys. The bars show each top name's share of boys born in the decade, so decades compare fairly; the 2020s cover 2020 to 2025. Social Security leaves out any name given to fewer than 5 babies in a year.

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Key facts

Measure: Percent of boys born in the decade given the name. Written from the data below.

  • 1880s: John has the highest figure, 8.2%, followed by 1890s: John (7.1%) and 1900s: John (6.2%).
  • 2010s: Noah has the lowest figure, 1%, followed by 2020–25: Liam (1.2%) and 2000s: Jacob (1.4%).
  • The highest is 8.4 times the lowest.

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. “What was the most popular boys' name in each decade?” 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/top-boys-name-by-decade (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.

Decade and top name Percent of boys born in the decade given the name
1880s: John 8.21
1890s: John 7.07
1900s: John 6.23
1910s: John 5.64
1920s: Robert 5.23
1930s: Robert 5.59
1940s: James 5.35
1950s: James 4.17
1960s: Michael 4.32
1970s: Michael 4.28
1980s: Michael 3.6
1990s: Michael 2.37
2000s: Jacob 1.37
2010s: Noah 0.98
2020–25: Liam 1.2

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