What is the most popular baby name in Massachusetts?

On a heavy SSA book, Massachusetts's cumulative #1 boy is John (200,990 births) and #1 girl is Mary (116,511 births) since 1910.

How have baby names changed in Massachusetts over the decades?

Massachusetts is TREND-LED today: latest-year leaders already differ from the all-time book on both sexes. Decade #1s moved from John/Mary (1910s) to Noah/Charlotte (2020s).

How many babies are named in Massachusetts?

Our data covers 4,102,262 name registrations in Massachusetts for the top 50 boys and top 50 girls names (HEAVY volume stamp · #12 of 51 jurisdictions). The SSA records all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year, from 1910 through 2025.

State name profile

Most Popular Baby Names in Massachusetts

The boys' and girls' names most often given in Massachusetts, ranked by total recorded births in Social Security Administration state data, 1910–2025.

Compiled byNameAlmanac, Independent data publisher

John
#1 boy name: Mary
#1 girl name: 4,102,262
Births recorded: 1910–2025
Years covered

Massachusetts's all-time #1 names are John for boys and Mary for girls, based on 4,102,262 SSA birth registrations since 1910.

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Massachusetts has recorded 4,102,262 births across its top 50 boy and top 50 girl names since 1910. John leads all boys with 200,990 births, while Mary tops the girls with 116,511. This profile covers decade-by-decade leaders and the full top-50 rankings for both sexes.

John #1 boy name
Mary #1 girl name
4,102,262 births recorded

Where Massachusetts sits by recorded name volume

Massachusetts: 8,213,855 SSA name registrations (HEAVY · rank 12/51). Inventory signal only, orthogonal to the top-50 lists below.

Massachusetts vs all states by SSA name registrations

Where this state's disclosed SSA name-state registration total sits among every tracked jurisdiction

8,213,855 12th of 51 higher than 39 of 51 states

Jurisdictions, banded by SSA name-registration count

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source Social Security Administration state baby-name files · 2026-08-11

Massachusetts naming snapshot

According to SSA state files through 2025, Mary is #1 of 116,511 cumulative SSA births in Massachusetts ≠ Charlotte #1 of 1,000 2025 girl names at all-time rank #51; John is #1 of 200,990 cumulative SSA births in Massachusetts ≠ Noah #1 of 898 2025 boy names at all-time rank #51.

Charlotte
2025 girls #1, all-time #51: Mary
all-time girls #1, 2025 #51: Noah
2025 boys #1, all-time #51: John
all-time boys #1, 2025 #13

Both sexes in Massachusetts already split latest-year vs all-time leaders, cumulative totals since 1910 and 2025 use different denominators.

Data updated Aug 2026

Both sexes trend-led

What a heavy registry book shows for Massachusetts

Massachusetts sits in the heaviest third of SSA name-state registration totals (8,213,855 · HEAVY · #12/51). Cumulative top-50 leaders are John (200,990 boy births) and Mary (116,511 girl births) across 4,102,262 top-50 registrations since 1910. Both sexes are TREND-LED: the latest 2025 #1 differs from the all-time cumulative #1 on each side. Boy top-50 share 2,634,064 vs 1,468,198 for girls.

In Massachusetts, the latest SSA year #1 differs from the all-time cumulative #1 for both boys and girls, a dual trend split against the long book.

Coverage notes on a heavy state file

Decade-by-decade data for Massachusetts extends back to 1910. In the 1910s, the #1 boy name was John and the #1 girl name was Mary. By the 2020s, the top names had shifted to Noah for boys and Charlotte for girls.

SSA state files include any name appearing five or more times in a given state-year; lower-frequency names are suppressed for privacy. Figures are comparable across all 50 states and DC. Alternate spellings (Sophia vs Sofia) are separate names; middle names are not tracked. This page is for informational and research purposes.

Charlotte

348
Sophia

318
Emma

287
Olivia

281
Isabella

258
Amelia

245
Mia

243
Nora

223
Grace

193
Chloe

187

What this shows Charlotte leads 2025 girls in Massachusetts; Mary remains the all-time cumulative #1 at rank #51 in 2025.

Noah

468
Liam

446
Henry

372
Theodore

358
James

323
Jack

319
Benjamin

312
Oliver

310
William

271
Lucas

261

What this shows Noah leads 2025 boys in Massachusetts; John remains the all-time cumulative #1 at rank #51 in 2025.

Mary

116,511
Elizabeth

56,541
Patricia

55,633
Barbara

51,890
Susan

49,012
Jennifer

40,927
Linda

40,707
Margaret

40,326
Nancy

40,055
Kathleen

39,421

What this shows Mary leads Massachusetts girls with 116,511 recorded births.

John

200,990
Robert

172,687
Michael

145,902
James

131,719
William

127,200
David

115,997
Joseph

111,252
Richard

109,550
Thomas

83,245
Paul

78,627

What this shows John leads Massachusetts boys with 200,990 recorded births.

Decade-by-Decade Leaders

The #1 boy and girl name in Massachusetts for each decade

How we calculated this

For each decade, we sum every year's SSA state-level birth count per name, then take the single name with the highest ten-year total for each sex. A name can lead a decade with a strong single peak year or with steady, moderate demand across all ten years, the total treats both the same way.

Decade	Top Boy	Births	Top Girl	Births
1910s	John	18,353	Mary	22,385
1920s	John	26,512	Mary	25,561
1930s	Robert	26,128	Mary	15,301
1940s	Robert	31,889	Mary	16,097
1950s	John	33,132	Susan	19,605
1960s	Michael	31,205	Lisa	18,343
1970s	Michael	22,262	Jennifer	17,270
1980s	Michael	21,734	Jennifer	11,581
1990s	Michael	14,787	Emily	7,220
2000s	Matthew	7,115	Emily	5,341
2010s	Benjamin	4,651	Olivia	4,312
2020s	Noah	2,991	Charlotte	2,095

Boy Top 50 Boy Names

#	Name	Total Births
1	John	200,990
2	Robert	172,687
3	Michael	145,902
4	James	131,719
5	William	127,200
6	David	115,997
7	Joseph	111,252
8	Richard	109,550
9	Thomas	83,245
10	Paul	78,627
11	Daniel	64,252
12	Christopher	61,741
13	Edward	60,385
14	Charles	57,286
15	Matthew	54,724
16	George	50,371
17	Stephen	47,771
18	Mark	46,908
19	Peter	44,732
20	Brian	42,885
21	Anthony	42,764
22	Kevin	42,507
23	Donald	40,591
24	Andrew	38,794
25	Steven	36,861
26	Kenneth	33,274
27	Nicholas	32,354
28	Jeffrey	31,044
29	Timothy	30,476
30	Ryan	29,170
31	Francis	28,922
32	Scott	27,873
33	Ronald	27,515
34	Raymond	26,363
35	Jason	25,780
36	Arthur	25,740
37	Jonathan	25,696
38	Frank	25,621
39	Benjamin	25,147
40	Joshua	24,708
41	Eric	23,869
42	Patrick	23,851
43	Henry	21,956
44	Alexander	21,919
45	Walter	20,851
46	Sean	19,527
47	Philip	18,332
48	Albert	18,205
49	Samuel	18,118
50	Jacob	18,012

Girl Top 50 Girl Names

#	Name	Total Births
1	Mary	116,511
2	Elizabeth	56,541
3	Patricia	55,633
4	Barbara	51,890
5	Susan	49,012
6	Jennifer	40,927
7	Linda	40,707
8	Margaret	40,326
9	Nancy	40,055
10	Kathleen	39,421
11	Dorothy	34,974
12	Karen	34,150
13	Helen	33,516
14	Lisa	33,228
15	Donna	31,610
16	Carol	30,756
17	Sarah	28,414
18	Christine	27,734
19	Catherine	27,131
20	Deborah	26,508
21	Ruth	25,960
22	Jessica	25,689
23	Ann	25,457
24	Joan	25,293
25	Michelle	24,958
26	Emily	24,609
27	Sandra	24,278
28	Diane	24,069
29	Judith	23,800
30	Jean	22,295
31	Anna	21,246
32	Marie	20,930
33	Katherine	20,920
34	Laura	20,723
35	Nicole	20,481
36	Anne	20,365
37	Melissa	19,858
38	Janet	19,583
39	Alice	19,498
40	Cynthia	19,146
41	Eleanor	18,881
42	Amy	18,598
43	Kimberly	18,499
44	Virginia	18,299
45	Theresa	18,016
46	Cheryl	17,834
47	Amanda	17,717
48	Stephanie	17,676
49	Rita	17,320
50	Jane	17,156

Read with Massachusetts

Nearest ABS peers for a heavy-registry state (Massachusetts · HEAVY · TREND-LED).

HEAVY TREND-LED

Indiana · DENSE

7,926,947 SSA registrations (near-scale with Massachusetts; ABS Δ 286,908). Leader lane may differ from Massachusetts's TREND-LED.

Virginia · DENSE

7,595,197 SSA registrations (near-scale with Massachusetts; ABS Δ 618,658). Leader lane may differ from Massachusetts's TREND-LED.

Missouri · DENSE

7,456,004 SSA registrations (near-scale with Massachusetts; ABS Δ 757,851). Leader lane may differ from Massachusetts's TREND-LED.

New Jersey · HEAVY

9,242,220 SSA registrations (near-scale with Massachusetts; ABS Δ 1,028,365). Leader lane may differ from Massachusetts's TREND-LED.

Why names rise and fall

Massachusetts stamps HEAVY · TREND-LED - read the matching SSA methodology before quoting state leaders.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names, State-Level Files, 1910–2025 (ssa.gov).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications, National Data (ssa.gov/oact/babynames).

Read our methodology - heavy-registry states: how cumulative leaders and latest-year splits are computed.

According to the Social Security Administration, as of June 2026 this profile draws directly on the agency's state-level public-use files, which document 6,696,687 state-level records across all 51 reporting jurisdictions spanning 1910-2025.