The 50 most popular boy names of the last 100 years
From the How popular is your name now? series
What do Ryan Gosling, Donald Trump, Albert Einstein and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They are all recipients of some of the most popular boy names of the last century.
Most popular boy names of the last century
What do Ryan Gosling, Donald Trump, Albert Einstein and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? Stumped? Here's the answer: they are all recipients of some of the most popular boy names of the last century.
MooseRoots, a genealogy data site, discovered the 100 most popular boy names from of the last century using 2016 data from the Social Security Administration. Popularity is determined by the total number of occurrences of baby names from 1916-2015 in the U.S.
Also included is the year in which the name was the most popular, as well as the ranking of the name in that year. It should be noted that some names reached their popularity peak outside of the last century, but have stood the test of time and still appear on this list.
Some interesting trends can be analyzed from the list of 100. The name "Christian" peaked in popularity in 2006 after actor Christian Bale starred in "Batman Begins" in 2005. The name "Daniel" peaked in popularity in 2008, right in the midst of the mania of the "Harry Potter" franchise, in which actor Daniel Radcliffe played the lead character. Although these relationships are not proven correlations, it is interesting to see how names could potentially act as maps through popular culture and history. Scroll through the slides to discover more of the most popular names of the last century.
Note: Each name is accompanied by an image of a notable male of the same name.
#50. Jerry
Number of Occurrences: 604,320
Most Popular Year: 1941
Rank in Most Popular Year: 14
#49. Dennis
Number of Occurrences: 611,452
Most Popular Year: 1949
Rank in Most Popular Year: 16
#48. Alexander
Number of Occurrences: 623,641
Most Popular Year: 2009
Rank in Most Popular Year: 4
#47. Jack
Number of Occurrences: 631,750
Most Popular Year: 1930
Rank in Most Popular Year: 14
#46. Patrick
Number of Occurrences: 658,294
Most Popular Year: 1968
Rank in Most Popular Year: 30
#45. Benjamin
Number of Occurrences: 684,442
Most Popular Year: 2015
Rank in Most Popular Year: 10
#44. Samuel
Number of Occurrences: 687,646
Most Popular Year: 1884
Rank in Most Popular Year: 17
#43. Gregory
Number of Occurrences: 704,223
Most Popular Year: 1963
Rank in Most Popular Year: 21
#42. Raymond
Number of Occurrences: 717,602
Most Popular Year: 1919
Rank in Most Popular Year: 14
#41. Brandon
Number of Occurrences: 745,520
Most Popular Year: 1994
Rank in Most Popular Year: 6
#40. Justin
Number of Occurrences: 765,616
Most Popular Year: 1988
Rank in Most Popular Year: 7
#39. Frank
Number of Occurrences: 767,442
Most Popular Year: 1895
Rank in Most Popular Year: 6
#38. Scott
Number of Occurrences: 768,055
Most Popular Year: 1971
Rank in Most Popular Year: 10
#37. Larry
Number of Occurrences: 802,180
Most Popular Year: 1949
Rank in Most Popular Year: 10
#36. Jonathan
Number of Occurrences: 819,504
Most Popular Year: 1988
Rank in Most Popular Year: 15
#35. Stephen
Number of Occurrences: 842,151
Most Popular Year: 1951
Rank in Most Popular Year: 19
#34. Eric
Number of Occurrences: 867,872
Most Popular Year: 1976
Rank in Most Popular Year: 13
#33. Nicholas
Number of Occurrences: 876,707
Most Popular Year: 1999
Rank in Most Popular Year: 5
#32. Jacob
Number of Occurrences: 878,974
Most Popular Year: 2012
Rank in Most Popular Year: 1
#31. Gary
Number of Occurrences: 898,480
Most Popular Year: 1954
Rank in Most Popular Year: 9
#30. Ryan
Number of Occurrences: 908,402
Most Popular Year: 1991
Rank in Most Popular Year: 11
#29. Jeffrey
Number of Occurrences: 970,986
Most Popular Year: 1966
Rank in Most Popular Year: 9
#28. Jason
Number of Occurrences: 1,018,899
Most Popular Year: 1978
Rank in Most Popular Year: 2
#27. Timothy
Number of Occurrences: 1,060,589
Most Popular Year: 1967
Rank in Most Popular Year: 11
#26. Ronald
Number of Occurrences: 1,073,387
Most Popular Year: 1943
Rank in Most Popular Year: 9
#24. Brian
Number of Occurrences: 1,159,931
Most Popular Year: 1977
Rank in Most Popular Year: 8
#23. Edward
Number of Occurrences: 1,161,014
Most Popular Year: 1923
Rank in Most Popular Year: 8
#22. Joshua
Number of Occurrences: 1,183,279
Most Popular Year: 2006
Rank in Most Popular Year: 3
#21. Andrew
Number of Occurrences: 1,235,374
Most Popular Year: 2003
Rank in Most Popular Year: 5
#20. Kenneth
Number of Occurrences: 1,245,190
Most Popular Year: 1939
Rank in Most Popular Year: 13
#19. George
Number of Occurrences: 1,245,503
Most Popular Year: 1911
Rank in Most Popular Year: 4
#18. Steven
Number of Occurrences: 1,274,181
Most Popular Year: 1961
Rank in Most Popular Year: 10
#17. Paul
Number of Occurrences: 1,324,932
Most Popular Year: 1931
Rank in Most Popular Year: 12
#16. Mark
Number of Occurrences: 1,341,184
Most Popular Year: 1964
Rank in Most Popular Year: 6
#15. Donald
Number of Occurrences: 1,382,078
Most Popular Year: 1934
Rank in Most Popular Year: 6
#14. Anthony
Number of Occurrences: 1,388,799
Most Popular Year: 2008
Rank in Most Popular Year: 7
#13. Matthew
Number of Occurrences: 1,559,938
Most Popular Year: 1996
Rank in Most Popular Year: 2
#12. Daniel
Number of Occurrences: 1,856,319
Most Popular Year: 2008
Rank in Most Popular Year: 5
#11. Christopher
Number of Occurrences: 2,001,860
Most Popular Year: 1994
Rank in Most Popular Year: 2
#10. Charles
Number of Occurrences: 2,178,265
Most Popular Year: 1883
Rank in Most Popular Year: 4
#9. Thomas
Number of Occurrences: 2,184,048
Most Popular Year: 1955
Rank in Most Popular Year: 8
#8. Joseph
Number of Occurrences: 2,411,191
Most Popular Year: 1917
Rank in Most Popular Year: 5
#7. Richard
Number of Occurrences: 2,504,113
Most Popular Year: 1947
Rank in Most Popular Year: 5
#6. David
Number of Occurrences: 3,547,628
Most Popular Year: 1960
Rank in Most Popular Year: 1
#5. William
Number of Occurrences: 3,714,280
Most Popular Year: 1920
Rank in Most Popular Year: 2
#4. Michael
Number of Occurrences: 4,297,063
Most Popular Year: 1998
Rank in Most Popular Year: 1
#3. Robert
Number of Occurrences: 4,626,414
Most Popular Year: 1953
Rank in Most Popular Year: 1
#2. John
Number of Occurrences: 4,676,131
Most Popular Year: 1923
Rank in Most Popular Year: 1
#1. James
Number of Occurrences: 4,836,379
Most Popular Year: 1952
Rank in Most Popular Year: 1
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