Most Popular Boy Names of the 2020s

The top 50 boy names by total births in the 2020s decade so far.

What This Ranking Tells Us

These are the most given boy names of the 2020s based on Social Security Administration birth records. Liam has dominated the top spot since 2017, followed closely by Noah and Oliver. The 2020s show a continued shift toward short, classic names with soft consonants. Biblical names (Elijah, James, Benjamin) remain perennial favorites alongside newer entries like Theodore and Mateo. Regional variation exists — state-level data shows different preferences in the South, Midwest, and coasts.

What the Data Says About This Ranking

This ranking lists 50 names drawn from the Social Security Administration's baby-name archive, filtered and sorted by decade total. The #1 entry is Liam with a decade total of 103,878, followed by Noah at 95,517 and Oliver at 74,268. The bottom of the list, Charles (29,188), helps define the cutoff qualifying a name for inclusion here. Every name in this ranking meets the SSA's five-occurrence minimum threshold for public disclosure, so private rare names are excluded from consideration.

Across all 50 ranked entries, the average decade total is 43,960, giving a statistical center of gravity for what "popular" means in this specific ranking context. These are the most given boy names of the 2020s based on Social Security Administration birth records. Rankings of this type are sensitive to how the underlying data is cut: a top-50 list reflects different signals than a top-500 list, and combining spelling variants (Sophia + Sofia) versus keeping them separate — as the SSA does — produces materially different orderings. The rankings displayed here use the SSA's raw spelling-specific data without combining variants.

Because the SSA updates its baby-name files annually (typically each May), this ranking can shift year over year as new birth cohorts are added and historical revisions are applied. Names that appear to be rising or falling should be interpreted against the five-year-minimum sample sizes SSA requires; short-term movement on a single-year basis can be noisy. Source: Social Security Administration, Baby Names Data. This page summarizes publicly released SSA data and is provided for research and informational purposes only; it is not intended as personal naming advice or a recommendation of any specific name for a given child.

# Name Decade Total
1 Liam 103,878
2 Noah 95,517
3 Oliver 74,268
4 Elijah 60,798
5 James 60,474
6 William 57,437
7 Henry 55,961
8 Lucas 55,510
9 Benjamin 55,073
10 Theodore 52,143
11 Mateo 51,151
12 Levi 47,402
13 Sebastian 44,796
14 Jack 44,579
15 Daniel 44,564
16 Michael 44,453
17 Alexander 43,850
18 Ethan 42,689
19 Samuel 41,901
20 Owen 41,604
21 Mason 40,977
22 Jackson 40,725
23 Asher 40,482
24 John 40,277
25 Ezra 39,527
26 Leo 39,259
27 Joseph 38,953
28 Jacob 38,946
29 David 38,734
30 Logan 38,571
31 Hudson 38,330
32 Aiden 37,687
33 Luke 37,162
34 Julian 36,996
35 Matthew 36,985
36 Wyatt 36,291
37 Luca 35,330
38 Grayson 34,898
39 Dylan 34,891
40 Gabriel 34,861
41 Isaac 33,980
42 Elias 33,723
43 Maverick 33,383
44 Carter 33,270
45 Anthony 33,005
46 Thomas 32,830
47 Jayden 31,362
48 Miles 29,787
49 Santiago 29,553
50 Charles 29,188

Source: Social Security Administration, Baby Names Data — U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications (ssa.gov).

Source: SSA Baby Names Methodology — names with fewer than 5 annual occurrences are excluded to protect privacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the SSA count baby names?

The SSA records the first name on every Social Security card application. Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a year are excluded for privacy. The data covers approximately 96% of all births in the United States. It does not include middle names or alternate spellings unless they appear on the SS card.

Why has Liam been #1 for so long?

Liam combines several attributes that parents in the 2020s favor: it is short (one syllable), easy to pronounce across languages, has Irish/English heritage appeal, and sounds both modern and timeless. It also benefits from cultural reinforcement through celebrities and media characters.

Do these rankings count name variations separately?

Yes. The SSA counts each spelling as a separate name. Jayden, Jaden, and Jaiden are three different entries. If variations were combined, some names would rank higher. This is why traditional names with one standard spelling (James, William) may appear more dominant than trendy names with many spellings.

Nearby Rankings

Compare top two: Liam vs Noah → or pick any two names →

Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details.