Top 10 US name Boys' name Peak 2024 509,025 births

Noah — #2 US boys' name

509,025 babies named Noah in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 2024. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.

1880s8951890s6861900s6221910s17341920s22841930s16061940s15231950s14561960s15191970s56881980s123841990s562652000s1435162010s1833302020s95517
#2
of 14,243 boys in use

More common than 99.9% of names given to boys today.

2010s
Peak decade

36% of everyone ever named Noah was born in this single decade.

2024
Single peak year

20,337 babies were named Noah in 2024 — its busiest year on record.

What the Data Says About Noah

The Social Security Administration has registered 509,025 babies named Noah between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Noah currently holds the #2 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 2024, when 20,337 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Noah performed strongest in the 2010s, accumulating 183,330 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Noah shows notable generational variation in parental adoption. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in California, which accounts for 63,179 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by Texas and Florida. In total, SSA state-level files list Noah in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Noah in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 509,025 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.

Noah at a glance

Top 10 boys' name

Total births

509,025

Since 1880

145 years of records

Peak year

2024

20,337 births that year

Strongest decade: 2010s

Current rank

#2

In the top 10

As of 2024

Active since

1880

Recorded for 145 years

Last year on file: 2024

Noah popularity over time — boys

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880

Top 10 boys' name
Peak year (2024)
20,337
Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
-5,00005,00010,00015,00020,00025,000 202420051986196719481929191018911880 103

Noah popularity over time — girls

4,547 total births recorded since 1931 (Noah as girls' name)

Unisex variant — 4,547 births
-2000200400600 202420172010200319961989198119611931 6

Noah by decade

Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance

Peak: 2010s
Peak decade
2010s
183,330 births that decade — 36% of Noah's all-time total
1880s8951890s6861900s6221910s17341920s22841930s16061940s15231950s14561960s15191970s56881980s123841990s562652000s1435162010s1833302020s95517

Noah by state

Where Noah concentrates geographically — total births since 1880

Geographically diffuse
Top 8 states by recorded births for the name Noah
Rank State Visual share Births Share of total
#1 California
63,179 12.4%
#2 Texas
45,534 8.9%
#3 Florida
29,061 5.7%
#4 New York
28,654 5.6%
#5 Ohio
20,591 4.0%
#6 Pennsylvania
20,172 4.0%
#7 Illinois
19,679 3.9%
#8 North Carolina
17,321 3.4%
California share of Noah's total US births 12.4%
Even split

63,179 of 509,025 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 51 reporting states.

Noah appears in 51 states. Explore state details →

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Noah?
509,025 babies have been named Noah since 1880. It currently ranks #2 among boys. The peak year was 2024 with 20,337 births.
When was Noah most popular?
Noah was most popular in the 2010s decade with 183,330 total births. The single peak year was 2024.
Where is Noah most popular?
The top states for the name Noah are California (63,179 births), Texas (45,534 births), Florida (29,061 births).
How long has the name Noah been used?
Noah has been recorded in Social Security data since 1880, spanning 145 years of data through 2024.
What names are similar to Noah?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Noam, Noa, Noal, Noach, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for boys.

Data Sources

Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).

Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.

State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.