Liam
Liam was given to 20,818 boys in 2025, #1 among boys’ names; 359,085 Americans have been recorded with it since 1947 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 356,000 Americans named Liam and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 5 and 14.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Liam by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Liam mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Liam is “a male given name from Irish, currently popular in Ireland, England, Scotland, and the United States.”
From Irish Liam, a clipping of Uilliam, itself from English William.
/ˈliːəm/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Liam?
#1 among boys’ names, 2025
Liam rose from #2 in 2015 to #1 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 9.6 to 12.2 per 1,000.
22,288 babies in 2024, the peak
Liam peaked in 2024, when 22,288 babies were given it (22,252 boys, #1 among boys’ names). The 20,846 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 94% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 20,818 | #1 | 12.2 |
| 2024 | 22,252 | #1 | 12.9 |
| 2023 | 20,904 | #1 | 12.2 |
| 2022 | 20,579 | #1 | 11.8 |
| 2021 | 20,424 | #1 | 11.7 |
| 2020 | 19,865 | #1 | 11.5 |
| 2019 | 20,631 | #1 | 11.5 |
| 2018 | 19,977 | #1 | 11.0 |
| 2017 | 18,874 | #1 | 10.2 |
| 2016 | 18,277 | #2 | 9.6 |
Every recorded year (74)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18,410 | #2 | 9.6 |
| 2014 | 18,488 | #2 | 9.6 |
| 2013 | 18,153 | #3 | 9.6 |
| 2012 | 16,824 | #6 | 8.9 |
| 2011 | 13,450 | #15 | 7.1 |
| 2010 | 10,933 | #30 | 5.7 |
| 2009 | 8,567 | #49 | 4.3 |
| 2008 | 5,982 | #75 | 2.9 |
| 2007 | 5,141 | #89 | 2.5 |
| 2006 | 4,514 | #98 | 2.2 |
| 2005 | 4,152 | #104 | 2.1 |
| 2004 | 3,827 | #112 | 1.9 |
| 2003 | 3,565 | #114 | 1.8 |
| 2002 | 3,382 | #113 | 1.7 |
| 2001 | 3,029 | #131 | 1.6 |
| 2000 | 2,781 | #140 | 1.4 |
| 1999 | 2,709 | #141 | 1.4 |
| 1998 | 2,209 | #155 | 1.2 |
| 1997 | 2,112 | #162 | 1.1 |
| 1996 | 1,748 | #184 | 0.92 |
| 1995 | 1,206 | #239 | 0.63 |
| 1994 | 668 | #360 | 0.35 |
| 1993 | 400 | #515 | 0.20 |
| 1992 | 305 | #588 | 0.15 |
| 1991 | 270 | #619 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 277 | #604 | 0.13 |
| 1989 | 224 | #666 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 171 | #718 | 0.09 |
| 1987 | 147 | #755 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 152 | #734 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 150 | #722 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 145 | #724 | 0.08 |
| 1983 | 145 | #717 | 0.08 |
| 1982 | 156 | #697 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 123 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 114 | #826 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 118 | #804 | 0.07 |
| 1978 | 112 | #809 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 97 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 70 | #996 | 0.04 |
| 1975 | 82 | #910 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 72 | #966 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 61 | #1,043 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 63 | #1,019 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 60 | #1,054 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 49 | #1,188 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 47 | #1,143 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 54 | #1,012 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 60 | #939 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 47 | #1,083 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 36 | #1,286 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 38 | #1,270 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 43 | #1,187 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 24 | #1,652 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 27 | #1,563 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 24 | #1,673 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,012 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 24 | #1,622 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 28 | #1,502 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 18 | #1,916 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 12 | #2,382 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 8 | #3,080 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,517 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 5 | #4,044 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Liam a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Liam has been given almost only to boys: 549 girls in 74 years of records.
Girls and boys named Liam: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Liam, and how old are they?
356,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 359,085 Americans ever recorded as Liam. The median Liam alive today is 9 years old; half are between 5 and 14.
The 2020 Census counted 218,131 people named Liam (700 women and girls, 217,431 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 236,856 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 205 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,020 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,040 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 92,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 256,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Liam born?
The states with the most babies named Liam are Texas, California and Florida, with 34% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 2,688 | #1 | 0.9× |
| California | 2,624 | #1 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 1,865 | #1 | 1.2× |
| New York | 1,368 | #2 | 1.3× |
| New Jersey | 749 | #1 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 690 | #1 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 680 | #2 | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 661 | #1 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 590 | #1 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 566 | #2 | 1.1× |
Where Liam is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Liam is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1947 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Liam with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 362,615 babies since 1880, Liam is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 20,846 of their 21,085 babies (99%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Liam
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Liam and names like it
- Compare Liam and LyamBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sLiam peaked in 2024.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Liam since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Liam: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Liam.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Liam alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.