Boy Names That Were Once Popular
Past favorite boy names offer a look at changing naming traditions in America.
Names like Homer, Horace, Irving, Vernon, and Milton bring to mind earlier generations. Others, including Stanley, Gerald, Norman, and Clifford, were familiar choices during much of the 20th century.
More recent favorites such as Adam, Patrick, Blake, Carson, and Tristan show that a name doesn't have to sound old-fashioned to belong in this collection. Some names have only recently fallen outside the top 100.
Short names like Joe, Jim, Tom, Bill, and Ed also appear alongside longer choices such as Lawrence, Vincent, Franklin, and Maurice.
What Makes a Boy Name a Past Favorite?
Our Past Favorites collection is based on U.S. Social Security Administration baby name records from 1880 through 2025.
To qualify, a boy name must have entered the U.S. top 100 more than once, with at least one break between its popularity runs. All those runs must have ended before 2025.
Unlike Revived Favorites, which have returned to the top 100 and remain there today, Past Favorites are no longer among the 100 most popular boy names.
A name may have dropped out recently or decades ago. Its place in this collection is determined by its ranking history, not by how old-fashioned it sounds.
Could These Boy Names Make a Comeback?
Baby name trends change over time, and a name that falls out of the top 100 can become popular again.
Names like Arthur, Theodore, Leo, and Henry have already experienced multiple periods of top-100 popularity and are included in our Revived Favorites collection.
Perhaps names like Stanley, Harvey, or Vernon will find a new generation of parents in the future. Explore each name's popularity chart to see when it was most popular and how its ranking has changed.
Explore More Boy Name Favorites
Discover Revived Boy Names that returned to the top 100, or browse Rising Boy Names to find names climbing the popularity charts in 2025.
You can also explore Established Boy Names and Century-Long Favorite Boy Names to discover names with long periods of uninterrupted popularity.