Most Popular Given Names, US 1800 to 1999

Popular Given Names
US, 1801-1999

The tables below provide links to text files of GINAP (version 1) standardized given names. The file lines consist of a name, a comma, and then the count of occurrences in the sample. Names, separated by sex, are listed in descending order of popularity. For the Census samples, all standardized names that had at least 10 occurrences are listed. For the Social Security samples, all names listed in source (top 1000 names, actually a few more because of final ties in occurrences) are given after standardization.

For other name data, see the Given Names Frequency Project web site.

 

Popular Given Names
US, Females

Years of Birth

Sample Size

Counts

Census of 1850

1801-1810

6363

names

1811-1820

9125

names

1821-1830

14365

names

1831-1840

20553

names

1841-1850

26154

names

Census of 1880

1841-1850

22665

names

1851-1860

37776

names

1861-1870

48686

names

1871-1880

62645

names

Census of 1920

1871-1880

44008

names

1881-1890

60750

names

1891-1900

78755

names

1901-1910

93799

names

1911-1920

109595

names

Social Security Samples

1900-1909

478619

names

1910-1919

607746

names

1920-1929

666392

names

1930-1939

581628

names

1940-1949

765997

names

1950-1959

1003004

names

1960-1969

969700

names

1970-1979

843550

names

1980-1989

938306

names

1990-1999

882469

names

 

Popular Given Names
US, Males

Years of Birth

Sample Size

Counts

Census of 1850

1801-1810

6457

names

1811-1820

9348

names

1821-1830

13969

names

1831-1840

20344

names

1841-1850

26433

names

Census of 1880

1841-1850

20862

names

1851-1860

36188

names

1861-1870

48000

names

1871-1880

64041

names

Census of 1920

1871-1880

44885

names

1881-1890

57597

names

1891-1900

74109

names

1901-1910

93468

names

1911-1920

111696

names

Social Security Samples

1900-1909

463073

names

1910-1919

600922

names

1920-1929

656685

names

1930-1939

589315

names

1940-1949

805466

names

1950-1959

1056854

names

1960-1969

1003067

names

1970-1979

872355

names

1980-1989

973698

names

1990-1999

909288

names

Notes:

  • The source for the US Census of 1850, 1880, and 1920 data is

    Ruggles, Steven, and Matthew Sobek et. al., Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 2.0 (Minneapolis: Historical Census Projects, University of Minnesota, 1997).

  • The source for the Social Security data is:

    Shackleford, Michael W., A.S.A., “Name Distributions in the Social Security Area,” Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary, Actuarial Note Number 139, originally published June 1998 (updated Oct. 2000).

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