Grandpa Names: The Most Common Names for Men 65 to 85

These are the names you'd hear most in a room of grandfathers. We counted the estimated number of living men aged 65 to 85 with each name, and James leads with 1 million.

Boys' names changed slowly in the 1940s and 1950s, so the list is full of names that are still common today, like James, John and Robert. What gives them away is how few babies get them now.

Grandpa Names: The Most Common Names for Men 65 to 85
#	Name	Aged 65 to 85	Peak year	Alive	Average age
1	James	1,001,285	1947	2.88M	54
2	Robert	970,445	1947	2.53M	58
3	John	941,080	1947	2.69M	55
4	Michael	840,317	1957	3.56M	49
5	David	824,544	1955	2.67M	52
6	William	692,089	1947	2.15M	51
7	Richard	614,478	1946	1.41M	60
8	Thomas	505,996	1952	1.43M	53
9	Charles	429,849	1947	1.18M	54
10	Mark	372,255	1960	1.08M	56
11	Gary	343,503	1952	588K	65
12	Joseph	339,003	1956	1.66M	45
13	Ronald	328,193	1947	637K	64
14	Donald	314,160	1934	631K	64
15	Steven	310,969	1956	1.04M	52
16	Kenneth	297,780	1957	765K	57
17	Larry	292,638	1947	486K	65
18	Paul	283,348	1957	798K	57
19	Daniel	250,931	1985	1.61M	42
20	George	225,323	1921	534K	57
21	Dennis	225,054	1952	399K	63
22	Edward	220,502	1924	578K	56
23	Stephen	208,987	1952	637K	54
24	Timothy	199,253	1959	902K	50
25	Jeffrey	187,405	1962	812K	53

Grandpa Names: The Most Common Names for Men 65 to 85, continued
#	Name	Aged 65 to 85	Peak year	Alive	Average age
26	Jerry	178,599	1947	358K	63
27	Gregory	172,320	1962	570K	54
28	Kevin	158,197	1963	1.04M	45
29	Douglas	156,890	1957	381K	59
30	Anthony	149,457	1990	1.2M	40
31	Frank	138,734	1918	335K	59
32	Bruce	138,480	1956	242K	63
33	Roger	131,528	1953	251K	63
34	Raymond	130,829	1924	351K	56
35	Brian	121,059	1972	1.03M	48
36	Scott	116,804	1971	649K	53
37	Peter	113,273	1957	384K	51
38	Randy	110,795	1956	261K	57
39	Gerald	105,090	1942	211K	64
40	Lawrence	102,773	1952	216K	60
41	Patrick	101,973	1964	546K	47
42	Wayne	100,112	1947	193K	63
43	Carl	93,000	1956	221K	60
44	Danny	91,864	1954	208K	57
45	Dale	91,580	1958	168K	64
46	Keith	91,562	1957	335K	54
47	Alan	90,754	1955	267K	49
48	Walter	89,784	1918	209K	58
49	Christopher	85,346	1984	1.89M	41
50	Joe	83,586	1936	192K	61

How this list works

Names where at least 90% of living people are men, ranked by the estimated number alive aged 65 to 85. Ages are estimates for people alive in 2026, from Social Security baby-name records and SSA life tables. How we calculate this

How this list works

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