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 0.024190351 25 5223 -99%
1884 5726 0.023519168 33 5693 -99%
1885 5201 0.021593995 26 5175 -99%
1886 5384 0.021087594 29 5355 -99%
1887 4787 0.019349858 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 0.015861278 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 0.015295424 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 0.016181834 41 7245 -99%
1901 4765 0.013779163 30 4735 -99%
1902 5622 0.014537161 30 5592 -99%
1903 5507 0.014446485 28 5479 -99%
1904 5882 0.014577989 27 5855 -99%
1905 6077 0.014335184 35 6042 -99%
1906 5945 0.013875565 37 5908 -99%
1907 6752 0.014508262 45 6707 -99%
1908 7044 0.014415255 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 0.017939158 81 17644 -99%
1913 20927 0.018403672 95 20832 -99%
1914 26369 0.018617652 107 26262 -99%
1915 33928 0.018515345 155 33773 -99%
1916 35734 0.01847275 166 35568 -99%
1917 37520 0.018696899 182 37338 -99%
1918 42327 0.019495549 212 42115 -99%
1919 42584 0.020179648 192 42392 -99%
1920 48157 0.021283517 249 47908 -99%
1921 49981 0.021409677 231 49750 -99%
1922 50042 0.021860458 239 49803 -99%
1923 50743 0.022038402 280 50463 -99%
1924 53215 0.022344129 274 52941 -99%
1925 53044 0.022733448 365 52679 -99%
1926 53555 0.023326313 358 53197 -99%
1927 54065 0.02331033 390 53675 -99%
1928 53180 0.023521211 427 52753 -98%
1929 52530 0.023962656 397 52133 -98%
1930 54376 0.02445747 419 53957 -98%
1931 51558 0.024500234 345 51213 -99%
1932 52251 0.024748364 320 51931 -99%
1933 51409 0.025711609 299 51110 -99%
1934 54531 0.026257019 262 54269 -99%
1935 55240 0.026431886 238 55002 -99%
1936 54925 0.026437033 229 54696 -99%
1937 56813 0.026664382 251 56562 -99%
1938 59377 0.026836164 275 59102 -99%
1939 59904 0.027186556 268 59636 -99%
1940 62740 0.027246453 259 62481 -99%
1941 67008 0.027502591 256 66752 -99%
1942 77460 0.028354743 280 77180 -99%
1943 80547 0.028536871 272 80275 -99%
1944 77188 0.028693581 237 76951 -99%
1945 74713 0.028162658 247 74466 -99%
1946 87686 0.02744212 250 87436 -99%
1947 95020 0.02637743 257 94763 -99%
1948 88855 0.025736289 251 88604 -99%
1949 87116 0.024999024 257 86859 -99%
1950 86475 0.024683461 252 86223 -99%
1951 87513 0.023756569 256 87257 -99%
1952 87324 0.022992071 258 87066 -99%
1953 86307 0.022396205 236 86071 -99%
1954 86537 0.021739097 225 86312 -99%
1955 84427 0.021027476 243 84184 -99%
1956 85151 0.020652495 248 84903 -99%
1957 84622 0.02013782 279 84343 -99%
1958 79025 0.019116312 252 78773 -99%
1959 78938 0.018984644 294 78644 -99%
1960 77095 0.018560046 291 76804 -99%
1961 76243 0.018405953 284 75959 -99%
1962 72823 0.018046169 262 72561 -99%
1963 71602 0.018089537 311 71291 -99%
1964 73339 0.018864827 318 73021 -99%
1965 67977 0.018749954 303 67674 -99%
1966 65461 0.018834148 298 65163 -99%
1967 61998 0.018262114 310 61688 -99%
1968 60978 0.018049303 312 60666 -99%
1969 60223 0.017328748 329 59894 -99%
1970 62094 0.01721718 354 61740 -99%
1971 54905 0.015996305 302 54603 -99%
1972 47364 0.015069707 300 47064 -99%
1973 43154 0.014304149 316 42838 -99%
1974 41586 0.01367961 250 41336 -99%
1975 39828 0.013190727 254 39574 -99%
1976 38550 0.012704742 252 38298 -99%
1977 40316 0.01269198 273 40043 -99%
1978 40171 0.012656788 269 39902 -99%
1979 39612 0.011906222 261 39351 -99%
1980 39585 0.011492214 271 39314 -99%
1981 38561 0.011146811 272 38289 -99%
1982 39192 0.011172299 317 38875 -98%
1983 36626 0.010575344 282 36344 -98%
1984 36094 0.010345811 238 35856 -99%
1985 36151 0.010128856 287 35864 -98%
1986 34328 0.009650618 273 34055 -98%
1987 32906 0.009126323 246 32660 -99%
1988 32765 0.008867285 244 32521 -99%
1989 32896 0.008556757 176 32720 -99%
1990 32472 0.008215605 115 32357 -99%
1991 30608 0.007857746 95 30513 -99%
1992 28579 0.007439982 70 28509 -100%
1993 26330 0.006983568 75 26255 -99%
1994 24844 0.006682711 67 24777 -99%
1995 22793 0.006223931 57 22736 -99%
1996 21226 0.005819815 62 21164 -99%
1997 20449 0.005639938 42 20407 -100%
1998 19734 0.005365114 45 19689 -100%
1999 18595 0.00503402 40 18555 -100%
2000 18031 0.004770227 40 17991 -100%
2001 17115 0.004572059 42 17073 -100%
2002 16999 0.004547265 31 16968 -100%
2003 16929 0.004452283 34 16895 -100%
2004 16564 0.004335078 95 16469 -99%
2005 16166 0.004204591 26 16140 -100%
2006 16300 0.004120127 46 16254 -99%
2007 16006 0.004003819 33 15973 -100%
2008 15220 0.003872118 32 15188 -100%
2009 14272 0.003735954 51 14221 -99%
2010 13928 0.003768664 30 13898 -100%
2011 13302 0.00363662 30 13272 -100%
2012 13484 0.003686805 28 13456 -100%
2013 13623 0.003736765 28 13595 -100%
2014 14504 0.003913256 42 14462 -99%
2015 14900 0.004026035 39 14861 -99%
2016 14983 0.00408401 67 14916 -99%
2017 14434 0.004036133 77 14357 -99%
2018 13687 0.00389289 45 13642 -99%
2019 13261 0.003820586 68 13193 -99%
2020 12447 0.003726003 66 12381 -99%
2021 12532 0.003698993 68 12464 -99%
2022 12194 0.003604349 85 12109 -99%
2023 11806 0.003565479 79 11727 -99%
2024 11861 0.003563466 68 11793 -99%