Name Trends

See the popularity of names over time in the USA

How popular is “James” in the USA?

Number of people named “James” by birth year

This chart shows how many people named “James” were born each year.

Due to changes to population growth and data collection rates over time, this isn't a good chart for understanding popularity.

Popularity of “James” by birth year

This chart shows how the popularity of “James” has changed over time.

Popularity is the number of people named “James” born in that year divided by the total number of births for that year.

Bias in sex for “James” by birth year

This chart shows how “James” has been used as gendered name over time. The scale ranges from 1 (only females) to -1 (only males).

Sex is a required field in SSA's Social Security Card applications (only 2 options). Most applications are filed around a person's time of birth.

The raw data

This table shows the data used in the above charts.

Year Count Proportion Females Males Bias toward female
1880 5949 0.029525917 22 5927 -99%
1881 5465 0.028361911 24 5441 -99%
1882 5910 0.026677741 18 5892 -99%
1883 5248 0.024190463 25 5223 -99%
1884 5726 0.023519168 33 5693 -99%
1885 5201 0.021593995 26 5175 -99%
1886 5384 0.021087511 29 5355 -99%
1887 4787 0.01934978 19 4768 -99%
1888 5607 0.018722827 45 5562 -98%
1889 5046 0.01746347 26 5020 -99%
1890 5130 0.017020514 33 5097 -99%
1891 4547 0.015861332 31 4516 -99%
1892 5420 0.016209394 22 5398 -99%
1893 5053 0.015537032 23 5030 -99%
1894 5135 0.015161357 25 5110 -99%
1895 5369 0.015295381 34 5335 -99%
1896 5234 0.014641215 28 5206 -99%
1897 5143 0.014823163 30 5113 -99%
1898 5350 0.014025246 29 5321 -99%
1899 4624 0.01363071 27 4597 -99%
1900 7286 0.016181797 41 7245 -99%
1901 4765 0.013779163 30 4735 -99%
1902 5622 0.014537161 30 5592 -99%
1903 5507 0.014446409 28 5479 -99%
1904 5882 0.014577989 27 5855 -99%
1905 6077 0.014335116 35 6042 -99%
1906 5945 0.013875565 37 5908 -99%
1907 6752 0.014508231 45 6707 -99%
1908 7044 0.014415226 32 7012 -99%
1909 7647 0.014958218 52 7595 -99%
1910 9257 0.015670946 63 9194 -99%
1911 10021 0.015553845 69 9952 -99%
1912 17725 0.017939176 81 17644 -99%
1913 20927 0.018403657 95 20832 -99%
1914 26370 0.018618332 107 26263 -99%
1915 33928 0.018515306 155 33773 -99%
1916 35734 0.018472768 166 35568 -99%
1917 37520 0.018696899 182 37338 -99%
1918 42327 0.019495539 212 42115 -99%
1919 42584 0.020179627 192 42392 -99%
1920 48157 0.021283517 249 47908 -99%
1921 49981 0.021409696 231 49750 -99%
1922 50042 0.021860467 239 49803 -99%
1923 50743 0.022038372 280 50463 -99%
1924 53215 0.022344101 274 52941 -99%
1925 53046 0.022734277 365 52681 -99%
1926 53553 0.023325523 358 53195 -99%
1927 54067 0.023311162 390 53677 -99%
1928 53178 0.023520483 427 52751 -98%
1929 52530 0.023962755 397 52133 -98%
1930 54377 0.02445792 419 53958 -98%
1931 51562 0.02450238 345 51217 -99%
1932 52247 0.024746623 320 51927 -99%
1933 51408 0.025711302 299 51109 -99%
1934 54530 0.026256716 262 54268 -99%
1935 55242 0.026433198 238 55004 -99%
1936 54923 0.026436288 229 54694 -99%
1937 56813 0.026664859 251 56562 -99%
1938 59375 0.026835285 275 59100 -99%
1939 59904 0.027186779 268 59636 -99%
1940 62739 0.027246587 259 62480 -99%
1941 67007 0.027502712 256 66751 -99%
1942 77454 0.02835317 280 77174 -99%
1943 80547 0.028536901 272 80275 -99%
1944 77193 0.028695686 237 76956 -99%
1945 74708 0.028161209 247 74461 -99%
1946 87688 0.027443012 250 87438 -99%
1947 95018 0.02637733 257 94761 -99%
1948 88855 0.025736379 251 88604 -99%
1949 87115 0.024999002 257 86858 -99%
1950 86477 0.024683962 252 86225 -99%
1951 87508 0.023755329 256 87252 -99%
1952 87323 0.022991801 258 87065 -99%
1953 86310 0.02239717 236 86074 -99%
1954 86532 0.021737972 225 86307 -99%
1955 84426 0.021027479 243 84183 -99%
1956 85148 0.020651761 248 84900 -99%
1957 84620 0.020137733 279 84341 -99%
1958 79021 0.019113749 252 78769 -99%
1959 78909 0.018983472 294 78615 -99%
1960 77106 0.018562222 291 76815 -99%
1961 76241 0.018407017 284 75957 -99%
1962 72807 0.018044667 262 72545 -99%
1963 71602 0.018088933 311 71291 -99%
1964 73345 0.018866571 318 73027 -99%
1965 67979 0.01875034 303 67676 -99%
1966 65459 0.018834028 298 65161 -99%
1967 61996 0.018261602 311 61685 -99%
1968 60976 0.018048977 312 60664 -99%
1969 60229 0.017330347 329 59900 -99%
1970 62092 0.017216682 354 61738 -99%
1971 54905 0.015996637 302 54603 -99%
1972 47365 0.01506991 299 47066 -99%
1973 43156 0.014304978 317 42839 -99%
1974 41585 0.013679276 250 41335 -99%
1975 39826 0.013190156 254 39572 -99%
1976 38553 0.012705681 252 38301 -99%
1977 40314 0.012691678 273 40041 -99%
1978 40170 0.012656673 269 39901 -99%
1979 39614 0.011906963 261 39353 -99%
1980 39583 0.011491687 271 39312 -99%
1981 38560 0.011146654 272 38288 -99%
1982 39193 0.011172651 317 38876 -98%
1983 36626 0.010575536 282 36344 -98%
1984 36100 0.010347825 238 35862 -99%
1985 36148 0.010128398 287 35861 -98%
1986 34326 0.009650414 273 34053 -98%
1987 32906 0.009126637 246 32660 -99%
1988 32764 0.008867451 244 32520 -99%
1989 32892 0.008555973 176 32716 -99%
1990 32473 0.008216339 115 32358 -99%
1991 30608 0.007858102 95 30513 -99%
1992 28576 0.007439574 70 28506 -100%
1993 26327 0.006983039 75 26252 -99%
1994 24842 0.006682482 67 24775 -99%
1995 22788 0.006222795 57 22731 -99%
1996 21225 0.005819782 62 21163 -99%
1997 20447 0.005639568 42 20405 -100%
1998 19732 0.005364744 45 19687 -100%
1999 18595 0.005034182 40 18555 -100%
2000 18031 0.00477037 40 17991 -100%
2001 17115 0.00457221 42 17073 -100%
2002 16998 0.00454719 31 16967 -100%
2003 16929 0.004452638 34 16895 -100%
2004 16563 0.004335145 95 16468 -99%
2005 16166 0.004204917 26 16140 -100%
2006 16299 0.004120284 46 16253 -99%
2007 16005 0.004003996 33 15972 -100%
2008 15220 0.003872677 32 15188 -100%
2009 14269 0.003735835 51 14218 -99%
2010 13928 0.003769269 30 13898 -100%
2011 13300 0.003636709 30 13270 -100%
2012 13483 0.003687258 28 13455 -100%
2013 13618 0.00373628 28 13590 -100%
2014 14503 0.003914 42 14461 -99%
2015 14898 0.004026651 39 14859 -99%
2016 14980 0.004084502 67 14913 -99%
2017 14431 0.004036963 77 14354 -99%
2018 13685 0.003894256 45 13640 -99%
2019 13252 0.003820351 68 13184 -99%
2020 12442 0.003727555 66 12376 -99%
2021 12520 0.003699013 68 12452 -99%
2022 12174 0.003603256 85 12089 -99%
2023 11749 0.003563277 79 11670 -99%