Top 1,000 Baby Boy Names in the U.S. Right Now

For families, when it comes time to pick a baby name, one question is at the top of everyone's mind: How popular is too popular? Some say the sky's the limit, and that there's advantages to a name that everyone knows and can spell easily. Others want something more uncommon, so their kid won't be one of multiples in a class.

The first step in either case is to know which names are trending. The Social Security Administration (SSA) keeps a list of the top 1,000 names used in the United States every year. It also tracks data about names that are rising and falling in rank, so you can see how the use of a name has changed over time. From there, we can also see boy name trends, and try to make predictions about which names are on the rise.

When the data was crunched for this year, these were the most popular baby boy names—and also the names we expect to see hitting the top of the list in the next few years.

Most Popular Boy Names (With Meanings)

In May, the SSA released its list of the most popular names, and these are the names used most often:

Liam, "resolute protector"
Noah, "rest"
Oliver, "olive tree planter"
Theodore, "gift of God"
Henry, "ruler of the estate"
James, "supplanter"
Elijah, "Yahweh is God"
Mateo, "gift of God"
William, "resolute protector
Lucas,"bringer of light"

These are the exact same names as last year, only a few have flip-flopped a little: the first four stayed put, Henry and James switched places, Mateo and Elijah switched places, and William and Lucas switched places. But there are no huge surprises here.

Trendy Boy Names (With Meanings)

In addition to keeping track of the most-often-used names, the SSA also looks at which names took the biggest leaps in popularity—and here's where you can find some big surprises. These names are rising fastest through the ranks:

Kasai, "fire"
Akari, "light"
Eziah, "God is salvation"
Jasai, "God supports"
Neithan, "gift from God"
Kael, "slender" or "mighty warrior"
Landry, "ruler of the land"
Haziel, "seen by God"
Syaire, invented name
Brewer, "beer maker"
Kyaire, invented name
Scottie, "from Scotland"
Eiden, "little fire"
Coast, "land near the sea"
Kaycen, invented name
Kolter, "keeper of horses"
Barron, "nobleman"
Denim, "study cotton fabric"
Kyren, "little dark one"
Azlan, "lion"
Chozen, "selected"
Truce, "a temporary agreement to stop arguing"
Yadiel, "praise of God"
Kaleo, "the sound" or "the voice"
Eitan, "steadfast"

Looking at the list, it's interesting how many are English word names, like Coast, Denim, Barron, Chozen, and Truce. Outside of this list, adjectives seem to be particularly popular. Royal (No. 476 on the SSA list), Sincere (No. 631), Rowdy (No. 941), and Loyal (No. 983) all made it onto the list—and are almost all good qualities to have in a son. (And I love that there are little Rowdys running around out there.) Even Legend, which is really a noun but is sometimes used as an adjective, is No. 193 on the list—the highest of all!

Parents Are Loving Those Vowel Sounds

You can see it in the SSA list of fast-climbers how much families are gravitating toward open, airy-sounding names, be it ones with the long "i" sound in Kasai, Eziah, and Jasai, or the -ai combo of Syaire and Kyaire. Families who think these have a nice ring to them can also try these top boy names:

Levi (No. 12)
Elias (No. 13)
Isaiah (No. 57)
Silas (No. 71)
Kai (No. 93)
Malachi (No. 134)
Elian (No. 147)
Ozias (No. 708)
Azaiah (No. 749)
Azai (No. 809)

justin timberlake with family at the omega european masters

Stefan Matzke - sampics//Getty Images

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel thought Silas went with Silas as a boy name.

Genres Rule Over Boys' Names

In addition to Azlan, Aslan—as in the lion from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe—is high on the list of fast-climbers, jumping a whopping 190 places between last year and the year before. But that's not the only fantasy-inspired name hitting the list. When it compiled its list of 2026's baby name trends, the baby-naming site Nameberry noticed a big uptick in fantasy and "Romantasy" names, like these:

Caius (up 133 places from the year before)
Aurelius (up 131 places)
Evren (up 114 places)
Caspian (up 86 places)
Azrael (up 78 places)
Evander (up 70 places)
Bodhi (up 36 places)
Rohan (up 29 places)
Alistair (up 12 places)
Lucien (up 8 places)

And then there's Cassian, currently No. 479 on the SSA list, jumping a whopping 138 places in rank between last year and the year before. Cassian is the bridge between the A Court of Thorns and Roses universe and a galaxy far, far away, which is also capable of generating its own name trends. In terms of Star Wars names, Cassian is outranked by Kylo, which is No. 402 on the SSA list—though Kylo fell 28 places. Still, Kylo is a good match for Rey, which is barely hanging in there, sitting at No. 908. And then there's the daddy of them all: Anakin is No. 648 on the list, down from No. 590 the year before.

diego luna visits star wars galaxy's edge at disneyland park

Handout//Getty Images

Diego Luna, who plays Cassian Andor. Cassian is the hottest new Star Wars-inspired boy name.

Baby Names Go West

Whether it's Yellowstone or Cowboy Carter making the trends, Western names are here to stay. Nameberry says that parents aren't holding back when it comes to "country rebrand" names, going beyond the usual to names that once might've been considered "too much," like Abner or Hiram. Some cowboy names to try on include these handles:

Wyatt (No. 38)
Waylon (No. 56)
Dakota (No. 319)
Sutton (No. 332)
Boone (No. 423)
Truett (No. 521)
Cal (No. 543)
Dutton (No. 779)
Mccoy (No. 806)
Jethro (No. 953)

Outdoorsy Names Take Their Place in the Sun

Coast is not the only boy name to take to the great outdoors. BabyCenter, which also keeps track of the baby names its users pick, have found an uptick in names that feel at home in the wilderness, like Forest (or Forrest), River, and Reef. Maybe it's time to plan that trip you've been putting off? Or go even further: BabyCenter dug into its baby-name data and found a rise in space-themed names, like Eclipse, Orion, and Sol. For parents who want to commune with nature, these names are inspired by the land and sky.