Actuarial Note 139

ACTUARIAL NOTE

Number 139	SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
June 1998	Office of the Chief Actuary

Name Distributions in the Social Security Area, August 1997

by Michael W. Shackleford, A.S.A.

Between 1954 and 1984 the Social Security Administration occasionally published a listing of surnames and their popularity in the Report of Distribution of Surnames in the Social Security Number File. This note expands on that project by presenting the most popular given names.

The source file is a one percent sample of Social Security Number card applications. The selection criteria is based on the last four digits of the Social Security Number, which are random and not correlated with a particular geographical region. In cases where multiple cards were issued to the same person, a reason for this might be a lost card or a name change, the name on the last application was used. This file is not limited to persons born in the United States but is representative of all Social Security Number card holders.

For purposes of this document, names have not been edited or grouped together according to spelling variations of the same name. People quoting from this document are urged to explicitly acknowledge this qualification.

Three tabulations are presented in this note. The first two are an historical perspective on the three most frequent names for both sexes for every year of birth from 1900 to 1997. The third is the 40 most frequent names for boys and girls born in 1996, the most recent year that full data is available.

In addition the following tabulations are available on the Office of the Chief Actuary's web site.

Top 10 given names, by year of birth (1880-1919), and sex.
Top 10 given names, by year of birth (1920-1959), and sex.
Top 10 given names, by year of birth (1960-1997), and sex.
Large list of names for girls born in 1996.
Large list of names for boys born in 1996.
Large list of names for girls born in 1997.
Large list of names for boys born in 1997.

Table 1 displays the three most frequent male given names for each year of birth from 1900 to 1997. The number to the right of each name indicates the frequency in the sample per 1,000 births of the same gender.

**Table 1 -- Most Frequent Male Names for Years of Birth 1900-97**
Year of Birth	Name	Rate	Name	Rate	Name	Rate
	First		Second		Third
1900	John	62.9	William	47.4	James	33.4
1901	John	51.9	William	51.4	James	31.5
1902	John	58.7	William	44.3	James	34.3
1903	John	54.4	William	40.1	James	33.1
1904	John	52.5	William	41.5	George, James	30.9
1905	John	56.7	William	42.4	James	30.3
1906	John	56.7	William	42.0	James	31.6
1907	John	53.1	William	42.7	James	30.6
1908	John	53.4	William	39.2	James	31.4
1909	John	52.5	William	46.0	James	35.8
1910	John	49.6	William	38.1	James	35.8
1911	John	53.1	William	42.3	James	33.1
1912	John	54.0	William	41.2	James	34.4
1913	John	50.1	William	40.0	James	33.5
1914	John	52.4	William	39.9	James	34.5
1915	John	49.1	William	41.9	James	34.7
1916	John	54.3	William	41.0	James	36.1
1917	John	51.9	William	44.5	James	39.1
1918	John	50.4	William	40.6	Robert	35.5
1919	John	51.4	William	39.1	James	37.8
1920	John	46.6	William	41.6	James	37.9
1921	John	49.8	Robert	41.7	James	40.4
1922	John	48.8	Robert	40.9	James	40.6
1923	John	48.3	Robert	45.9	William	43.8
1924	John	47.8	Robert	46.5	James	40.7
1925	John	49.3	Robert	44.9	James	43.1
1926	Robert	47.0	John	45.6	William	41.4
1927	Robert	46.3	James	43.6	John	42.7
1928	Robert	46.2	John	41.4	James	40.4
1929	Robert	48.7	John	43.7	James	41.3
1930	Robert	45.4	James	43.3	John	43.2
1931	Robert	49.2	James	42.3	John	41.2
1932	Robert	49.6	John	42.6	James	39.6
1933	Robert	46.9	James	41.6	John	40.9
1934	Robert	43.2	James	42.9	John	39.0
1935	James	44.5	Robert	43.1	John	38.2
1936	Robert	46.5	James	42.7	John	40.0
1937	Robert	46.0	James	43.5	John	41.0
1938	Robert	47.0	James	45.2	John	39.4
1939	Robert	44.9	James	41.4	John	39.7
1940	James	44.5	Robert	41.5	John	39.9
1941	Robert	44.5	John	43.0	James	41.6
1942	James	49.1	Robert	44.7	John	37.8
1943	James	46.0	Robert	44.6	John	38.5
1944	Robert	44.6	James	43.6	John	43.5
1945	James	44.4	Robert	41.9	John	38.9
1946	James	44.8	Robert	42.3	John	41.5
1947	James	44.4	John	44.1	Robert	41.9
1948	Robert	41.5	James	41.4	John	41.3
1949	James	40.2	Robert	39.9	John	39.6
1950	John	38.7	James	38.6	Robert	38.4
1951	Robert	38.1	James	37.9	John	37.6
1952	James	39.1	Robert	37.5	John	34.2
1953	Michael	37.2	Robert	36.6	James	36.0
1954	Robert	36.5	Michael	35.7	John	35.3
1955	Michael	37.5	James	34.7	David, Robert	34.3
1956	Michael	35.1	Robert	33.8	David	33.5
1957	Michael	34.7	James	33.3	Robert	32.2
1958	Michael	34.8	David	34.4	Robert	31.0
1959	Michael	34.2	David	32.0	James	31.8
1960	David	34.7	Michael	33.3	John	29.1
1961	David	34.1	Michael	33.6	John	30.8
1962	Michael	33.6	John	33.1	David	31.6
1963	David	33.9	John, Michael	33.6
1964	Michael	35.5	John	33.2	David	32.4
1965	Michael	35.7	James	31.2	John	30.7
1966	Michael	35.1	David	31.0	John	29.8
1967	Michael	36.8	David	29.7	James	28.2
1968	Michael	36.3	David	30.5	James	28.3
1969	Michael	41.1	David	28.5	John	28.1
1970	Michael	40.9	David	29.5	John	27.3
1971	Michael	37.3	John	27.0	David	26.8
1972	Michael	38.7	Christopher	26.9	David	23.8
1973	Michael	36.1	Christopher	26.2	James	23.6
1974	Michael	38.3	Jason	28.4	Christopher	26.1
1975	Michael	38.3	Christopher	25.5	Jason	25.0
1976	Michael	34.7	Jason	26.7	Christopher	24.8
1977	Michael	36.9	Jason	28.4	Christopher	23.6
1978	Michael	36.5	Jason	27.3	Christopher	25.5
1979	Michael	32.5	Jason	26.2	Christopher	26.1
1980	Michael	35.0	Jason	24.0	Christopher	23.4
1981	Michael	32.7	Christopher	24.3	Jason	22.4
1982	Michael	34.3	Christopher	28.7	Matthew	22.2
1983	Michael	35.2	Christopher	30.3	Matthew	24.9
1984	Michael	34.9	Christopher	30.7	Matthew	23.7
1985	Michael	30.3	Christopher	29.2	Matthew	22.5
1986	Michael	32.8	Christopher	28.2	Matthew	22.7
1987	Michael	31.9	Christopher	25.3	Matthew	20.4
1988	Michael	30.3	Christopher	25.3	Matthew	22.2
1989	Michael	30.0	Christopher	24.2	Joshua	20.1
1990	Michael	28.9	Christopher	23.3	Joshua	19.6
1991	Michael	28.8	Christopher	23.0	Matthew	19.4
1992	Michael	27.6	Christopher	20.3	Joshua	16.8
1993	Michael	22.4	Christopher	18.1	Joshua	16.9
1994	Michael	20.0	Matthew	17.4	Christopher	16.2
1995	Michael	20.2	Jacob	17.1	Matthew	15.8
1996	Michael	18.6	Matthew	17.4	Jacob	16.4
1997	Michael	20.3	Jacob	16.0	Matthew	15.8

Table 2 displays the three most frequent female given names for each year of birth from 1900 to 1997. The number to the right of each name indicates the frequency in the sample per 1,000 births of the same gender.

**Table 2 -- Most Frequent Female Names for Years of Birth 1900-97**
Year of Birth	Name	Rate	Name	Rate	Name	Rate
	First		Second		Third
1900	Mary	49.2	Helen	22.4	Anna	21.5
1901	Mary	51.5	Helen	23.8	Anna	20.7
1902	Mary	48.4	Helen	23.0	Anna	20.8
1903	Mary	50.5	Margaret	21.3	Helen	21.0
1904	Mary	53.9	Helen	22.4	Margaret	20.6
1905	Mary	47.6	Helen	25.5	Margaret	20.8
1906	Mary	54.5	Helen	21.6	Margaret	19.4
1907	Mary	50.7	Helen	23.8	Margaret	20.4
1908	Mary	51.6	Helen	23.3	Margaret	19.5
1909	Mary	49.7	Helen	28.5	Margaret	18.8
1910	Mary	50.3	Helen	25.5	Margaret	20.6
1911	Mary	50.8	Helen	25.2	Dorothy, Margaret	21.5
1912	Mary	51.2	Helen	31.1	Dorothy	20.6
1913	Mary	51.2	Helen	30.0	Dorothy	22.9
1914	Mary	54.2	Helen	26.7	Dorothy	23.6
1915	Mary	50.5	Helen	30.8	Dorothy	24.2
1916	Mary	55.2	Helen	29.3	Margaret	24.5
1917	Mary	54.9	Helen	26.7	Dorothy	26.0
1918	Mary	51.1	Helen	29.3	Dorothy	25.3
1919	Mary	51.0	Helen	25.6	Dorothy	24.0
1920	Mary	49.5	Dorothy	27.4	Helen	25.8
1921	Mary	57.3	Dorothy	25.9	Helen	25.3
1922	Mary	54.2	Dorothy	26.9	Helen	22.8
1923	Mary	52.0	Dorothy	29.2	Helen	21.8
1924	Mary	49.7	Dorothy	25.2	Helen	22.8
1925	Mary	53.5	Dorothy	27.7	Betty	23.0
1926	Mary	51.3	Dorothy	25.4	Helen	22.1
1927	Mary	49.6	Betty	25.8	Dorothy	25.0
1928	Mary	51.4	Betty	26.8	Dorothy	25.5
1929	Mary	46.4	Betty	28.7	Dorothy	22.9
1930	Mary	50.7	Betty	26.6	Dorothy	21.7
1931	Mary	48.3	Betty	26.6	Dorothy	20.1
1932	Mary	44.0	Betty	24.0	Barbara	21.9
1933	Mary	46.2	Betty	25.4	Barbara	21.7
1934	Mary	48.9	Betty	23.8	Shirley	21.0
1935	Mary	46.4	Shirley	35.3	Barbara	23.1
1936	Mary	46.4	Shirley	27.2	Barbara	24.7
1937	Mary	44.1	Barbara	26.7	Patricia	23.2
1938	Mary	41.7	Barbara	28.8	Patricia	18.9
1939	Mary	39.8	Barbara	27.2	Patricia	20.8
1940	Mary	39.9	Barbara	26.2	Patricia	23.2
1941	Mary	38.2	Barbara	27.6	Patricia	25.0
1942	Mary	41.2	Barbara	29.6	Patricia	23.6
1943	Mary	41.3	Barbara	27.5	Patricia	24.8
1944	Mary	39.3	Barbara	24.8	Patricia	24.4
1945	Mary	36.4	Linda	27.4	Barbara	25.6
1946	Mary	37.3	Linda	28.5	Patricia	25.5
1947	Linda	43.7	Mary	33.5	Patricia	24.8
1948	Linda	47.6	Mary	33.9	Patricia	23.1
1949	Linda	43.3	Mary	35.1	Patricia	21.3
1950	Linda	40.4	Mary	30.6	Patricia	23.4
1951	Linda	31.5	Mary	30.5	Patricia	25.9
1952	Linda	31.4	Mary	30.9	Patricia	26.0
1953	Mary	29.1	Linda	27.5	Deborah	24.5
1954	Mary	28.1	Deborah	24.6	Linda	22.6
1955	Mary	26.5	Deborah	22.4	Debra, Linda	22.2
1956	Mary	25.5	Susan	21.1	Debra	21.0
1957	Mary	25.0	Susan	19.2	Linda	17.8
1958	Mary	25.0	Linda	18.4	Susan	18.3
1959	Mary	23.4	Susan	16.2	Linda	15.9
1960	Mary	21.9	Susan	17.1	Maria	15.8
1961	Mary	19.0	Lisa	16.6	Susan	16.0
1962	Lisa	19.7	Mary	18.0	Maria	15.8
1963	Lisa	21.2	Mary	19.7	Maria	16.0
1964	Lisa	23.1	Mary	18.3	Maria	15.4
1965	Lisa	26.5	Maria	16.3	Karen	15.8
1966	Lisa	26.3	Maria	15.8	Mary	15.1
1967	Lisa	26.3	Maria	15.9	Kimberly	15.8
1968	Lisa	22.8	Michelle	17.1	Kimberly	16.3
1969	Lisa	22.0	Jennifer	16.7	Michelle	16.1
1970	Jennifer	24.4	Lisa	17.2	Kimberly	14.9
1971	Jennifer	28.1	Michelle	17.5	Lisa	16.4
1972	Jennifer	33.2	Michelle	16.8	Lisa	15.0
1973	Jennifer	35.4	Michelle	14.9	Amy	14.4
1974	Jennifer	34.2	Amy	15.3	Michelle	13.5
1975	Jennifer	31.5	Amy	18.1	Michelle	13.7
1976	Jennifer	34.6	Amy	17.2	Melissa	14.0
1977	Jennifer	30.0	Amy	15.5	Melissa	14.5
1978	Jennifer	32.7	Jessica	15.4	Melissa	14.1
1979	Jennifer	30.4	Melissa	16.9	Amanda	15.7
1980	Jennifer	30.7	Jessica	18.9	Amanda	18.3
1981	Jennifer	31.7	Jessica	21.7	Amanda	18.0
1982	Jennifer	30.6	Jessica	26.9	Amanda	17.7
1983	Jennifer	28.8	Jessica	23.1	Ashley	20.3
1984	Jennifer	26.6	Jessica	24.5	Ashley	19.9
1985	Jessica	24.7	Ashley	24.3	Jennifer	22.4
1986	Jessica	27.6	Ashley	25.4	Amanda	19.6
1987	Jessica	28.2	Ashley	27.8	Amanda	19.7
1988	Ashley	24.5	Jessica	22.6	Amanda	20.5
1989	Jessica	22.0	Ashley	21.3	Amanda, Brittany	17.9
1990	Jessica	21.0	Ashley	20.8	Brittany	16.1
1991	Ashley	22.5	Jessica	19.9	Amanda	14.6
1992	Jessica	18.9	Ashley	16.9	Sarah	12.3
1993	Jessica	17.0	Ashley	16.5	Sarah	13.7
1994	Jessica	16.0	Ashley	13.5	Emily	11.6
1995	Emily	13.6	Ashley	13.4	Jessica	13.3
1996	Emily	14.5	Jessica	12.0	Ashley	11.8
1997	Emily	13.8	Sarah	13.3	Taylor	10.6

Table 3 lists the 40 most popular given names for the year of birth of 1996. The sample consists of 19,662 girls and 20,264 boys. The numbers on the left represent rank. The number to the right of each name represents the frequency per 1,000 births of the same gender. Several times in this table there were ties in popularity order. In these cases the order and frequency are given for the first name and left blank in subsequent names.

**Table 3 -- Top 40 Given Names for Year of Birth 1996**
Female
Rank	Name	Rate	Rank	Name	Rate
1.	Emily	14.49	1.	Michael	18.56
2.	Jessica	11.95	2.	Matthew	17.42
3.	Ashley	11.80	3.	Jacob	16.38
4.	Sarah	10.53	4.	Joshua	14.61
5.	Samantha	10.02	5.	Christopher	14.46
6.	Taylor	9.00	6.	Daniel	13.18
7.	Hannah	8.75	7.	Nicholas	13.08
8.	Rachel	8.65	8.	Andrew,	12.68
9.	Alexis	8.60		Tyler
10.	Megan	8.29	10.	Joseph	12.14
11.	Elizabeth	7.93	11.	Brandon	12.04
12.	Kayla	7.63	12.	Anthony	11.65
13.	Lauren	6.87	13.	Austin	11.60
14.	Nicole	6.71	14.	John	11.05
15.	Amanda	6.41	15.	James,	10.91
16.	Madison	6.36		Zachary
17.	Brittany	6.05	17.	David	10.56
18.	Stephanie,	5.90	18.	Ryan	10.22
	Victoria		19.	Justin	9.72
20.	Alyssa,	5.65	20.	Jonathan	9.52
	Amber,		21.	William	9.18
	Brianna		22.	Alexander	8.93
23.	Courtney,	5.34	23.	Robert	8.69
	Jennifer		24.	Christian	8.44
25.	Haley	5.19	25.	Kyle	7.99
26.	Anna	5.04	26.	Kevin	7.20
27.	Danielle,	4.83	27.	Thomas	6.81
	Olivia		28.	Aaron	6.51
29.	Rebecca		29.	Jose	6.46
30.	Jasmine	4.73	30.	Benjamin	6.42
31.	Melissa	4.63	31.	Cody	6.12
32.	Morgan	4.58	32.	Eric,	5.97
33.	Abigail,	4.48		Samuel,
	Alexandra			Steven
35.	Kimberly	4.37	35.	Brian,	5.87
36.	Katherine	4.17		Jordan
37.	Allison	3.92	37.	Dylan	5.53
38.	Mary	3.71	38.	Nathan	5.28
39.	Brooke,	3.66	39.	Adam	5.03
	Sydney		40.	Richard	4.93

For additional lists go to the Popular Baby Names page.

Notes published in the 1990s