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 0.028361617 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 0.01872289 45 5562 -98%
1889 5046 0.01746347 26 5020 -99%
1890 5130 0.017020514 33 5097 -99%
1891 4547 0.015861388 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 0.014025209 29 5321 -99%
1899 4624 0.01363075 27 4597 -99%
1900 7286 0.016181726 41 7245 -99%
1901 4765 0.013779163 30 4735 -99%
1902 5622 0.014537198 30 5592 -99%
1903 5507 0.014446409 28 5479 -99%
1904 5882 0.014577989 27 5855 -99%
1905 6077 0.014335083 35 6042 -99%
1906 5945 0.013875565 37 5908 -99%
1907 6752 0.0145082 45 6707 -99%
1908 7044 0.014415166 32 7012 -99%
1909 7647 0.014958218 52 7595 -99%
1910 9257 0.01567092 63 9194 -99%
1911 10021 0.015553821 69 9952 -99%
1912 17725 0.017939193 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 0.01847274 166 35568 -99%
1917 37520 0.018696852 182 37338 -99%
1918 42328 0.019496018 212 42116 -99%
1919 42583 0.020179115 192 42391 -99%
1920 48157 0.021283451 249 47908 -99%
1921 49981 0.021409687 231 49750 -99%
1922 50042 0.021860497 239 49803 -99%
1923 50743 0.022038277 280 50463 -99%
1924 53216 0.022344446 274 52942 -99%
1925 53047 0.022734549 365 52682 -99%
1926 53552 0.023325099 358 53194 -99%
1927 54066 0.023310792 390 53676 -99%
1928 53180 0.023521597 427 52753 -98%
1929 52527 0.023961199 397 52130 -98%
1930 54377 0.024458008 419 53958 -98%
1931 51562 0.024502601 345 51217 -99%
1932 52243 0.024744904 320 51923 -99%
1933 51408 0.025711611 299 51109 -99%
1934 54529 0.02625669 262 54267 -99%
1935 55236 0.026430998 238 54998 -99%
1936 54927 0.02643867 229 54698 -99%
1937 56809 0.026663082 251 56558 -99%
1938 59376 0.026835846 275 59101 -99%
1939 59901 0.027185651 268 59633 -99%
1940 62742 0.02724834 259 62483 -99%
1941 67002 0.027501088 256 66746 -99%
1942 77455 0.028353868 280 77175 -99%
1943 80549 0.028538115 272 80277 -99%
1944 77192 0.028695837 237 76955 -99%
1945 74707 0.028161045 247 74460 -99%
1946 87691 0.027444191 250 87441 -99%
1947 95015 0.026376775 257 94758 -99%
1948 88851 0.025735414 251 88600 -99%
1949 87115 0.02499919 257 86858 -99%
1950 86479 0.024684278 252 86227 -99%
1951 87507 0.023754772 256 87251 -99%
1952 87323 0.022991631 258 87065 -99%
1953 86316 0.022398744 236 86080 -99%
1954 86536 0.021738835 225 86311 -99%
1955 84422 0.021026295 244 84178 -99%
1956 85147 0.020651285 248 84899 -99%
1957 84620 0.020135662 279 84341 -99%
1958 78990 0.019113103 252 78738 -99%
1959 78915 0.018984912 294 78621 -99%
1960 77117 0.018563217 291 76826 -99%
1961 76221 0.018406752 284 75937 -99%
1962 72807 0.018043652 262 72545 -99%
1963 71614 0.018090785 311 71303 -99%
1964 73351 0.018867584 317 73034 -99%
1965 67989 0.018752353 303 67686 -99%
1966 65464 0.01883514 297 65167 -99%
1967 61998 0.018261507 312 61686 -99%
1968 60987 0.018051198 312 60675 -99%
1969 60236 0.017330879 330 59906 -99%
1970 62100 0.01721734 353 61747 -99%
1971 54911 0.015997462 302 54609 -99%
1972 47378 0.015072603 299 47079 -99%
1973 43171 0.014308673 317 42854 -99%
1974 41595 0.013681639 250 41345 -99%
1975 39830 0.013189921 254 39576 -99%
1976 38556 0.012705321 252 38304 -99%
1977 40316 0.012691146 273 40043 -99%
1978 40172 0.012655823 269 39903 -99%
1979 39624 0.011908708 261 39363 -99%
1980 39594 0.011493715 271 39323 -99%
1981 38573 0.011149594 272 38301 -99%
1982 39195 0.011172459 317 38878 -98%
1983 36624 0.010574458 282 36342 -98%
1984 36105 0.01034902 238 35867 -99%
1985 36152 0.010129408 287 35865 -98%
1986 34320 0.009648713 273 34047 -98%
1987 32908 0.009127322 246 32662 -99%
1988 32765 0.008867967 244 32521 -99%
1989 32888 0.008554997 176 32712 -99%
1990 32474 0.008216885 115 32359 -99%
1991 30609 0.00785856 95 30514 -99%
1992 28578 0.00744032 70 28508 -100%
1993 26328 0.006983586 75 26253 -99%
1994 24841 0.006682438 67 24774 -99%
1995 22787 0.006222748 57 22730 -99%
1996 21225 0.005819983 62 21163 -99%
1997 20447 0.00563973 42 20405 -100%
1998 19732 0.0053649 45 19687 -100%
1999 18594 0.00503409 40 18554 -100%
2000 18030 0.004770323 40 17990 -100%
2001 17115 0.00457242 42 17073 -100%
2002 16997 0.004547335 31 16966 -100%
2003 16929 0.004452938 34 16895 -100%
2004 16563 0.004335457 95 16468 -99%
2005 16166 0.004205333 26 16140 -100%
2006 16298 0.00412053 46 16252 -99%
2007 16001 0.004003605 33 15968 -100%
2008 15218 0.003872828 32 15186 -100%
2009 14268 0.00373623 51 14217 -99%
2010 13925 0.00376919 30 13895 -100%
2011 13297 0.003636728 30 13267 -100%
2012 13477 0.003686558 28 13449 -100%
2013 13614 0.003736361 28 13586 -100%
2014 14498 0.00391395 42 14456 -99%
2015 14896 0.004027701 39 14857 -99%
2016 14972 0.004084171 67 14905 -99%
2017 14423 0.004036937 77 14346 -99%
2018 13674 0.003893785 45 13629 -99%
2019 13242 0.00382074 68 13174 -99%
2020 12434 0.003729475 66 12368 -99%
2021 12497 0.003697651 68 12429 -99%
2022 12112 0.003602729 84 12028 -99%