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Key Takeaways
- William & James have been fixtures of U.S. baby-naming lists since the 1880s.
- Traditional English picks like Thomas have slipped, while Biblical names—Noah, Jacob, Elijah—now dominate.
The names we give our children offer a window into changing tastes, cultural influences, and even social aspirations.
This animation tracks the 20 most popular U.S. names for boys in the 1880s all the way to the 2010s, showing which names endure and which fade.
Data for this visualization comes from the United States Social Security Administration, which ranks baby names based on the occurrences in their records.
For that reason, this dataset is restricted to names where the year of birth, sex, and state of birth are all listed, and where the given name is at least 2 characters long.
Ranked: Most Popular Names for American Boys
For more than 140 years, William and James have proven almost immune to fashion.
Below is the 1880s compared with the 2010s directly, with both names making each list:
Unsurprisingly, they are also on the list of most popular names of the last century.
John held a similar grip through the mid-20th century but fell out of the top 20 by the 2010s as tastes diversified.
| Rank | 1880s | 1900s | 1920s | 1940s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John | John | Robert | James |
| 2 | William | William | John | Robert |
| 3 | James | James | James | John |
| 4 | George | George | William | William |
| 5 | Charles | Charles | Charles | Richard |
| 6 | Frank | Robert | George | David |
| 7 | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | Charles |
| 8 | Henry | Frank | Richard | Thomas |
| 9 | Robert | Edward | Edward | Michael |
| 10 | Thomas | Thomas | Donald | Ronald |
| 11 | Edward | Henry | Thomas | Larry |
| 12 | Harry | Walter | Frank | Donald |
| 13 | Walter | Harry | Harold | Joseph |
| 14 | Arthur | Willie | Paul | Gary |
| 15 | Fred | Arthur | Raymond | George |
| 16 | Albert | Albert | Walter | Kenneth |
| 17 | Samuel | Clarence | Jack | Paul |
| 18 | Clarence | Fred | Henry | Edward |
| 19 | Louis | Harold | Kenneth | Jerry |
| 20 | David | Paul | Arthur | Dennis |
Even so, the persistence of these classics suggests that a segment of parents reliably pick time-tested options regardless of wider cultural shifts.
Rise of and Modern… Biblical Name Choice
Starting in the 1980s, Biblical names surged.
Jacob ruled the 1990s; Noah raced to first place in the 2010s; Elijah and Benjamin also entered the top tier.
| Rank | 1950s | 1970s | 1990s | 2010s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James | Michael | Michael | Noah |
| 2 | Michael | Christopher | Christopher | Liam |
| 3 | Robert | Jason | Matthew | Jacob |
| 4 | John | David | Joshua | William |
| 5 | David | James | Jacob | Mason |
| 6 | William | John | Nicholas | Ethan |
| 7 | Richard | Robert | Andrew | Michael |
| 8 | Thomas | Brian | Daniel | Alexander |
| 9 | Mark | William | Tyler | James |
| 10 | Charles | Matthew | Joseph | Elijah |
| 11 | Steven | Joseph | Brandon | Benjamin |
| 12 | Gary | Daniel | David | Daniel |
| 13 | Joseph | Kevin | James | Aiden |
| 14 | Donald | Eric | Ryan | Logan |
| 15 | Ronald | Jeffrey | John | Jayden |
| 16 | Kenneth | Richard | Zachary | Matthew |
| 17 | Paul | Scott | Justin | Lucas |
| 18 | Larry | Mark | William | David |
| 19 | Daniel | Steven | Anthony | Jackson |
| 20 | Stephen | Thomas | Robert | Joseph |
This trend coincided with evangelical growth and pop-culture references—from TV characters to celebrities’ children—that reinforced scriptural choices.
Meanwhile, names once considered “modern” in the mid-1900s—such as Michael, Jason, and Brian—have completed their popularity arc.
This illustrates how once-trendy picks can become time-stamped to a particular generation.
The Fall (and Possible Return) of Traditional English Names
Thomas exemplifies the gradual decline of several classic Anglo names.
A perennial favorite through the 1970s, it slipped out the top 20 altogether after the 1980s.
Similar patterns show for George and Edward, which have not appeared in the top cohort since mid-century.
Yet naming fashions are cyclical; as parents look for “different but familiar,” vintage names often rebound.
Early signs of a revival are visible with Henry, back in the top 50 in the 2010s after multiple decades outside it.
This suggests we may soon see more old-world staples returning to the national spotlight.
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Charted: America’s Most Popular Baby Names in 2023 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.Use This Visualization