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).
