The Most Popular Names by Decade Since 1880

A The Most Popular Names by Decade Since 1880 Data is sourced entirely from Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the US (excluding US territories) after 1879. Social security numbers were first issued in November 1935. Note that many people prior to 1937 did not apply for a Social Security card, so their names are not included in the data. The top 10 names are included as well as the 100th most popular name. 1,177,184 1880s 1,399,591 female births male births Male Names Female Names 1. John . . 2. William 89,951 1. Mary ............ 91,669 · 84,881 2. Anna 38,159 3. James 4. George.* 5. Charles- 6. Frank 7. Joseph 54,058 3. Emma 25,404 47,651 4. Elizabeth ... 25,007 46,657 5. Margaret...... 21,800 •30,967 6. Minnie 21,724 • 26,293 7. Ida 18,283 8. Henry 24,139 8. Bertha .***. 18,263 9. Robert ..... 10. Thomas ..... -24,077 9. Clara ·…** 17,717 23,750 10. Alice ..... 17,142 100. Milton 1,479 100. Amelia 2,957 1,231,327 1890s 2,353,371 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. Mary. .... 2. Anna 1. John ......... -80,668 131,137 2. William........ 72,245 55,261 3. James....... 50,723 3. Margaret .. 37,939 4. George.. 43,358 4. Helen 37,802 5. Elizabeth - 6. Ruth.... 7. Florence.. 8. Ethel..** 5. Charles. -36,848 33,879 6. Joseph 7. Frank• 29,000 32,868 28,718 32,345 8. Robert 26,148 31,453 9. Edward .... 22,033 9. Emma 28,652 10. Henry 21,664 10. Marie 25,853 100. Cecil ........... 1,808 100. Leona ....... . 5,083 1,467,479 1900s 3,106,367 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. John . 1. Mary .. 2. Helen ....... 3. Margaret.. 4. Anna 5. Ruth 6. Elizabeth- 84,591 161,508 2. William...... 69,321 69,429 3. James.....* 4. George ..* 5. Charles 6. Joseph 7. Frank 62,170 57,923 43,589 54,917 36,187 51,011 • 35,852 41,708 35,173 7. Dorothy...... 39,112 8. Robert 29,046 8. Marie....... •37,089 9. Edward 24,515 9. Florence.... 36,191 10. Thomas. 21,785 10. Mildred 36,173 100. Patrick ... . 2,141 100. Velma .... 6,558 6,948,532 1910s 8,509,802 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. John . ........ 376,324 1. Mary ...... 478,640 2. William....... 303,027 2. Helen.* 248,154 3. James.. 4. Robert 5. Joseph 6. George · 7. Charles .... 275,081 3. Dorothy 207,479 239,193 4. Margaret..** 189,233 179,302 5. Ruth 173,679 6. Mildred 7. Anna....... 176,615 123,994 173,540 119,000 8. Edward- 125,722 8. Elizabeth- 116,808 9. Frank 10. Thomas.... 116,020 9. Frances 105,598 91,622 10. Virginia …** 94,321 100. Homer.. . 11,471 100. Maxine . . 17,801 11,372,498 1920s 12,401,510 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. Robert ..... . 576,334 2. John 1. Mary. ..... 701,723 2. Dorothy 564,043 368,852 3. James -..... 4. William 515,303 3. Helen 290,392 512,378 4. Betty 283,081 CRAYOLA 5. Margaret 6. Ruth 7. Virginia- 5. Charles 298,026 244,995 6. George ..** 261,941 218,500 GOLD MEDAI 7. Joseph 8. Richard ..... 9. Edward .... 10. Donald 243,806 169,546 EIGHT 222,603 SCHOOL 8. Doris..** COLORS 151,181 CRAYONS FOR EDUCATIONAL COLOR WORK. 197,351 9. Mildred 147,152 191,824 EW TOn SMITH Co. 10. Frances ..... 140,385 100. Oscar ..... 17,740 100. Ellen 28,389 10,849,930 1930s 11,044,925 female births male births Male Names Female Names 1. Mary - 2. Betty **** 3. Barbara ..... 1. Robert ....... 590,642 ******.... 572,890 2. James ...... 3. John ..... 547,312 300,350 487,804 296,375 4. William 416,592 4. Shirley 229,345 5. Richard 330,393 5. Patricia- 220,556 6. Dorothy ** 7. Joan…** 8. Margaret. 9. Nancy- 6. Charles. з03,104 210,374 7. Donald...* 283,609 173,417 8. George 192,220 157,346 9. Thomas .. 10. Joseph- 183,830 142,469 180,507 10. Helen 140,394 100. Charlie 19,150 100. Julia 24,935 15,154,592 1940s 14,893,613 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. James ...... 1. Mary ....... .. 639,986 2. Linda 795,638 2. Robert.. 757,973 531,609 3. John ... 4. William -...... 711,491 3. Barbara 425,226 556,347 4. Patricia .**.. 411,386 5. Richard 477,363 5. Carol· 292,307 6. David...** 426,283 6. Sandra...*.... 265,518 7. Charles...... 361,670 7. Nancy ... 252,027 8. Thomas. 350,766 Slinky 8. Sharon** 221,212 9. Michael 10. Ronald 9. Judith 10. Susan........ 336,557 218,004 282,389 212,004 100. Keith .... 25,869 100. Dianne ......... 32,293 20.510,690 1950s 19,731,157 male births female births Male Names 1. James ....... 2. Michael..... Female Names 1. Mary 2. Linda 843,262 625,498 836,991 564,219 3. Robert ..... 829,909 3. Patricia 459,562 4. John- 5. David- 797,418 4. Susan 437,671 769,468 5. Deborah..... 430,476 6. William.............590,880 7. Richard ... 6. Barbara-.. 7. Debra 345,660 535,071 341,265 8. Thomas........ 454,107 8. Karen **** 332,458 9. Mark .......... 382,391 9. Nancy ....... 286,735 10. Charles 360,915 10. Donna.. 270,305 100. Vincent...... . 35,336 100. Doris ............... 42,890 19,617,720 1960s 18,899,276 female births male births Male Names Female Names 1. Michael. .833,387 1. Lisa... 496,972 2. David 734,183 2. Mary** 355,218 3. John 713,618 3. Susan........ 287,660 4. James 684,987 4. Karen 286,034 5. Robert ... 650,978 5. Kimberly 259,085 6. Mark 441,531 6. Patricia 231,127 7. William .. 421,609 7. Linda 225,401 8. Richard .. 374,011 8. Donna 213,450 9. Thomas .. 10. Jeffrey.…** 327,236 9. Michelle- 208,270 302,111 10. Cynthia· 196,601 100. Greg 36,463 100. Tamara .... 39,003 17,110,853 1970s 16,460,513 female births male births Male Names Female Names 1. Michael .. . 707,719 2. Christopher ....... 475,676 3. Jason 1. Jennifer... . 581,767 2. Amy 269,000 462,954 3. Melissa 253,285 4. David 445,985 4. Michelle 249,139 5. James 444,964 5. Kimberly -- 229,112 6. John -** 7. Robert ..... 402,851 6. Lisa ...... 228,660 397,450 7. Angela 225,209 8. Brian 322,861 8. Heather 203,937 9. William -.*.. 283,587 9. Michelle . 208,270 10. Jeffrey 302,111 10. Stephanie -.. 160,461 100. Cory .. . 27,524 100. Kristina ·... .. 32,650 19,229,058 1980s 18,450,257 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. Michael .. .. 663,522 1. Jessica ... . 469,426 2. Christopher ........ 554,764 3. Matthew.... .458,864 4. Joshua- 2. Jennifer 440,829 3. Amanda .... 369,690 4. Ashley 5. Sarah 396,527 352,137 5. David 383,578 272,536 6. James 7. Daniel 6. Stephanie .. 7. Melissa.... 8. Nicole 9. Elizabeth- 356,338 218,118 345,390 217,889 8. Robert.* 321,575 210,445 9. John-… 10. Joseph 320,988 198,926 299,345 10. Heather...... 191,830 100. Christian . . 30,236 100. Misty - 29,114 20,545,048 1990s 19,639,350 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. Michael ........... 462,278 1. Jessica .. 2. Ashley .* 3. Emily ..303,060 2. Christopher ……..... 360,176 3. Matthew- 301,779 458,864 237,211 4. Joshua- 5. Jacob ... 329,082 4. Sarah 224,222 298,249 5. Samantha….. 6. Amanda- 7. Brittany **.. 223,980 6. Nicholas.... 7. Andrew ..... 275,271 191,039 272,774 190,810 8. Daniel 272,105 8. Elizabeth.... 172,581 9. Tyler ...* 10. Joseph 9. Taylor........ 10. Megan -.* 262,256 169,010 260,605 160,350 100. Jack 37,469 100. Cheyenne ..... 31,842 21,250,677 2000s 20,297,093 male births female births Male Names Female Names 1. Jacob ........... 273,642 250,370 1. Emily............. 223,590 2. Michael.. 2. Madison 193,063 3. Joshua · 4. Matthew ..... 5. Daniel .... 231,771 3. Emma. 181,156 4. Olivia 5. Hannah.. 221,411 155,935 203,569 155,607 6. Christopher.….. 203,154 7. Andrew .... 8. Ethan 6. Abigail.. 7. Isabella 150,803 202,332 149,415 201,689, 194,535 8. Samantha. 9. Elizabeth - 10. Ashley -…* 134,203 9. Joseph ..*.. 10. William ....... 133,279 - 194,199 132,977 100. Anthony. . 191,710 100. Alexis ................. 130,695 Male Names Female Names 2014 1. Noah... . 19,144 1. Emma........... 20,799 2. Olivia 2. Liam..... 18,342 19,674 3. Sophia 4. Isabella 3. Mason....... 17,092 18,490 *... 4. Jacob- 5. William ....... 16,712 16,950 16,687 5. Ava..... 15,586 6. Ethan..... 6. Mia 7. Emily 8. Abigail- 9. Madison ...... 10. Charlotte· 15,619 13,442 7. Michael 15,323 12,562 8. Alexander.......... 15,293 11,985 9. James ...... 10. Daniel · -14,301 10,247 13,829 10,048 100. Camden . . 3,872 100. Jasmine ......... 2,988 AMA AAA STATE OF PLAY® Source: www.ssa.gov