NameYear

Boys' name · peaked in 1945

Johnny name popularity since 1925

311,609 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Johnny (1.1% girls, 98.9% boys). Half of them were born in 1959 or earlier, so the typical Johnny is about 67 years old in 2026. Johnny peaked in 1945 as the #45 name for boys, and it ranked #458 in 2025.

US babies since 1925
311,609
Named Johnny, 1925–2025
Peak year
1945
#45 for boys that year
Typical age
About 67
Median birth year 1959
In 2025
#458
for boys in 2025 (682 babies)
Girls / boys
98.9% boys
3,324 girls · 308,285 boys
Most popular in
Mississippi
3.39× its national share

Peak year is the year Johnny made up the largest share of US boys, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Johnny births per year, 1925–2025

Babies named Johnny per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year by count was 1947. Measured as a share of all babies, Johnny peaked in 1945.

  • Fastest rise: Between 1927 and 1932, Johnny became 1.6× more common.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Johnny's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Johnny.

Decade by decade

Babies named Johnny in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade GirlsBoys Rank
1925–29 2496,867 –
1930s 41524,596 #74
1940s 54357,200 #45
1950s 62965,786 #55
1960s 55049,843 #76
1970s 39632,024 #86
1980s 23323,503 #127
1990s 12318,488 #186
2000s 6914,321 #241
2010s 7811,259 #310
2020–25 394,398 #458

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

39.5% of babies named Johnny from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:

Johnny by generation Greatest Generation born 1925–27 1.3% Silent Generation born 1928–45 18.6% Baby Boomers born 1946–64 39.5% Gen X born 1965–80 18.2% Millennials born 1981–96 11.3% Gen Z born 1997–2012 7.3% Gen Alpha born 2013–25 3.8%

Where Johnny is most popular

The index compares Johnny's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Johnny.

StateIndexBabies
Mississippi3.39×12,760
Alabama3.04×16,733
Arkansas2.93×9,347
New Mexico2.86×4,906
South Carolina2.60×11,318

Other spellings

Spellings that sound like Johnny and were given to at least 1,000 boys from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.

SpellingBoysPeak year
Johnny (this page) 308,285 1945
Johnnie 78,768 1910
Johnie 11,458 1905
Jonny 3,345 2008
Johny 2,993 1905
Johney 1,103 1910
Johnney 1,007 1944

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Johnny's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Johnny.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Johnny (1945).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data