Do you know anyone named Michael? John? Mary? Robert? Linda? Of course you do! These are some of the most popular names that people have given to their children, according to the Social Security Administration which has been tracking baby names since 1920. The names John, James and Robert were dominant for many years. For boys, though, the name Michael has definitely been the most popular in the past 40 years, being ranked number one for most of those years. For little girls the name Mary was clearly the winner for the first 40 years that records like this have been kept, but since then there has been no clear favorite name for baby girls that has dominated over time. 

The latest available records about baby names comes from actuarial records. They were compiled by Michael Shackleford of the Social Security Administration Office of the Chief Actuary. The records are obtained from Social Security Card applications. Keep in mind that the list does not account for variations of spellings. For instance, "Kellie" and "Kelly" are considered as two separate and distinct names.