Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
James was most popular in 1947, when 95,024 American babies were given the name — ranking #2 that year. In 2025 it ranked #11, with 12,004 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 5,274,520 people named James.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and James is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 146 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 5,274,520 American births named James between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 2,970,554 are estimated to be alive today.
12,004 American babies were named James in 2025, ranking #11 that year.
James is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 12,098 births a year, against 13,965 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -13% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record James is a boy’s name — 0.4% of the 5,274,520 Americans given it were girls and 99.5% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 1% girls and 99% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 2,970,554 Americans named James are alive today — 56% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 59 years old, and half are between 41 and 72. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Hebrew · "he who supplants", through Latin Iacobus
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See James on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org