boys' name ★ peaked 1990

Anthony

Meaning flower Gender Boy Rank 2025 #46 Trend ↓ Falling 15%

From Latin Antōnius, name of a Roman gens (with excrescent -h- suggested by an unetymological association with Ancient Greek ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”)).

Rank 2025
#46
among boys · ↓2 vs 2024
Babies in 2025
5,977
named Anthony · -6% vs 2024
How common
1 in 286
boys born in 2025
Peak year
1990
25,188 babies
All-time total
1,495,156
#14 all-time among boys
First recorded
1880
in Social Security records

Anthony popularity over time

1,495,156 babies have been named Anthony since 1880, according to official Social Security records. Switch measure to see births per year or the yearly rank.

Measure
Births per 1,000 babies of that sex, comparable across eras
3.757.511.251518801900192019401960198020002020BoysGirls
BoysGirls

By decade. Change compares yearly averages, so the current partial decade is on equal footing. Best rank is the name's best yearly rank within the decade.

Decade Girls Boys Total Per year Change Best rank
1880s – 1,611 1,611 161 – #80
1890s 5 2,453 2,458 246 +53% #64
1900s 5 5,043 5,048 505 +105% #40
1910s 145 35,627 35,772 3,577 +609% #35
1920s 295 50,054 50,349 5,035 +41% #39
1930s 254 42,546 42,800 4,280 -15% #44
1940s 198 64,825 65,023 6,502 +52% #36
1950s 545 136,647 137,192 13,719 +111% #26
1960s 1,290 203,159 204,449 20,445 +49% #20
1970s 1,411 174,873 176,284 17,628 -14% #20
1980s 1,662 211,861 213,523 21,352 +21% #16
1990s 753 216,231 216,984 21,698 +2% #15
2000s 368 191,928 192,296 19,230 -11% #7
2010s 143 112,151 112,294 11,229 -42% #10
2020s (to 2025) 40 39,033 39,073 6,512 -42% #41

Where Anthony is heading

A five-year projection from the recent trend in births per 1,000 boys (damped so it flattens over time), converted to babies at today's birth totals. The implied rank places that projection in the 2025 field. A projection, not a promise: real trends bend.

Year Projected babies Per 1,000 boys Implied rank
2026 5,801 3.40 #52
2027 5,664 3.32 #52
2028 5,550 3.25 #54
2029 5,455 3.19 #56
2030 5,376 3.15 #57

Where Anthony is most popular

Boys named Anthony per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021–2025. National average: 3.70 per 1,000. Strongest in Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

Vs national average
well below below near national above well above no data

All 50 states and DC, sorted by rate. Counts are boys named Anthony born 2021–2025; the per-1,000 rate makes states of different sizes comparable, and the last column shows each state against the national average.

State Boys 2021–2025 Per 1,000 vs national
Delaware 135 8.90 +140%
New Jersey 1,614 8.02 +116%
Rhode Island 129 7.91 +114%
Connecticut 508 7.50 +103%
Massachusetts 972 7.07 +91%
Nevada 344 6.03 +63%
New Mexico 193 5.86 +58%
District of Columbia 81 5.49 +48%
New York 2,365 5.46 +47%
Florida 2,473 5.22 +41%
Illinois 1,324 5.18 +40%
California 4,701 5.14 +39%
Pennsylvania 1,269 4.78 +29%
New Hampshire 104 4.68 +26%
Arizona 752 4.60 +24%
Maryland 531 4.45 +20%
Alaska 53 4.45 +20%
Texas 3,751 4.26 +15%
Nebraska 168 3.86 ≈ national
Virginia 706 3.72 ≈ national
South Carolina 383 3.71 ≈ national
Michigan 727 3.55 ≈ national
South Dakota 66 3.55 ≈ national
Washington 572 3.50 -6%
Ohio 910 3.43 -7%
Louisiana 343 3.35 -9%
Indiana 537 3.35 -10%
Colorado 432 3.35 -10%
Georgia 846 3.34 -10%
Oregon 253 3.33 -10%
North Carolina 844 3.31 -11%
Kansas 217 3.16 -15%
Hawaii 49 3.16 -15%
Oklahoma 278 3.14 -15%
Maine 60 3.09 -17%
Wisconsin 366 3.09 -17%
Arkansas 195 3.08 -17%
Mississippi 170 2.99 -19%
Missouri 414 2.99 -19%
Montana 51 2.89 -22%
Alabama 316 2.89 -22%
Tennessee 503 2.79 -25%
West Virginia 89 2.73 -26%
Minnesota 333 2.71 -27%
Kentucky 272 2.71 -27%
Iowa 180 2.61 -30%
Idaho 106 2.59 -30%
Utah 225 2.36 -36%
North Dakota 40 2.34 -37%
Vermont 5 0.796 -79%
Wyoming – – –

State counts come from the Social Security Administration's state files, which omit any state-year with fewer than five babies of a name, so small states can undercount slightly.

The story of Anthony

Anthony is a top-50 name for boys in the United States, ranked #46 in 2025 with 5,967 babies given the name. It is currently declining compared with a decade ago.

Since 1880, 1,495,156 American babies have been named Anthony. Its peak came in 1990, when 25,188 newborns received the name, the signature sound of the 1990s.

The chart above shows the full history: the popularity view (births per 1,000 babies) is the honest comparison across generations, since total US births have changed enormously since 1880. Switch to the rank view to see where Anthony stood among all boys' names in any year, or use the compare tool to plot it against other names.

How old are people named Anthony?

The median living Anthony is about 38 years old; half are between 24 and 56. An estimated 1.2 million people named Anthony are alive in the United States today.

median 38 020406080100

Estimated from births per year and Social Security period life tables; an approximation of the living age distribution, by age in years.

Anthony year by year

Every year since 2001, and five-year steps back to 1880. Rank is within each sex.

Year Girls Girls rank Boys Boys rank
2025 10 #9,515 5,967 #46
2024 – – 6,353 #44
2023 9 #10,404 6,277 #46
2022 7 #12,360 6,607 #44
2021 5 #15,498 6,792 #43
2020 9 #10,334 7,037 #41
2019 6 #13,990 7,725 #38
2018 5 #15,926 8,048 #38
2017 9 #10,782 8,877 #33
2016 11 #9,477 9,900 #30
2015 13 #8,505 10,664 #25
2014 18 #6,744 11,613 #21
2013 15 #7,786 12,295 #19
2012 15 #7,848 13,228 #15
2011 24 #5,563 14,290 #11
2010 27 #5,117 15,511 #10
2009 26 #5,395 16,327 #11
2008 28 #5,159 18,417 #7
2007 30 #4,824 19,639 #7
2006 26 #5,248 19,413 #9
2005 27 #4,845 19,387 #8
2004 56 #2,854 19,613 #11
2003 38 #3,669 20,149 #10
2002 45 #3,154 19,590 #12
2001 40 #3,372 19,737 #11
2000 52 #2,782 19,656 #17
1995 87 #1,685 20,482 #19
1990 100 #1,533 25,088 #15
1985 199 #819 22,104 #20
1980 161 #926 17,604 #24
1975 136 #932 16,489 #21
1970 143 #913 21,176 #22
1965 111 #983 20,326 #22
1960 97 #1,092 19,499 #25
1955 57 #1,335 14,170 #31
1950 23 #2,006 8,612 #36
1945 10 #2,923 5,686 #46
1940 19 #1,847 4,769 #46
1935 25 #1,484 3,909 #52
1930 30 #1,405 4,674 #44
1925 25 #1,700 5,041 #39
1920 32 #1,409 4,944 #43
1915 24 #1,477 4,722 #36
1910 6 #2,155 980 #37
1905 – – 490 #48
1900 – – 406 #67
1895 – – 221 #86
1890 – – 189 #91
1885 – – 153 #95
1880 – – 130 #103

Famous people named Anthony

The most globally famous bearers of the name, ranked by fame across Wikipedia editions (Pantheon project, MIT).

  1. 1 Anthony Bourdain Anthony Bourdain American chef and travel documentarian (1956–2018) Contemporary
  2. 2 Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins American actor (1932–1992) Contemporary
  3. 3 Anthony Hopkins Anthony Hopkins Welsh actor (born 1937) Contemporary
  4. 4 Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis American singer (born 1962) Contemporary
  5. 5 Anthony Fauci Anthony Fauci American immunologist (born 1940) Contemporary
  6. 6 Anthony Eden Anthony Eden Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957 1897–1977 · 19th century
  7. 7 Anthony Quinn Anthony Quinn Mexican-American actor (1915–2001) Contemporary
  8. 8 Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua Portuguese Catholic saint (1195–1231) Medieval
  9. 9 Anthony Blunt Anthony Blunt British art historian and Soviet spy (1907–1983) Contemporary
  10. 10 Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella British playwright and filmmaker (1954–2008) Contemporary
  11. 11 Anthony Burgess Anthony Burgess English writer and composer (1917–1993) Contemporary
  12. 12 Anthony Daniels Anthony Daniels British actor and mime artist (born 1946) Contemporary
  13. 13 Anthony the Great Anthony the Great Egyptian Christian monk and hermit (died 356) 251–356 · Antiquity
  14. 14 Anthony Quayle Anthony Quayle British actor (1913–1989) Contemporary
  15. 15 Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope English novelist (1815–1882) 19th century
  16. 16 Anthony van Dyck Anthony van Dyck Flemish Baroque artist (1599–1641) 16th century
  17. 17 Anthony Dawson Anthony Dawson Scottish actor (1916–1992) Contemporary
  18. 18 Anthony Giddens Anthony Giddens British sociologist (born 1938) Contemporary
  19. 19 Anthony Mann Anthony Mann American film director (1906–1967) Contemporary
  20. 20 Anthony Fokker Anthony Fokker Dutch aviation pioneer (1890–1939) 19th century

Portraits from Wikipedia (Wikimedia Commons).

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about Anthony, drawn from the same Social Security data as the charts above.

How old is the average Anthony?

The median living Anthony is about 38 years old. Half of all living Anthonys are between 24 and 56 years old.

How many people named Anthony are alive today?

An estimated 1.2 million people named Anthony are alive in the United States, based on 1,495,156 recorded births and Social Security life tables.

What does the name Anthony mean?

From Latin Antōnius, name of a Roman gens (with excrescent -h- suggested by an unetymological association with Ancient Greek ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”)).

How popular is the name Anthony in 2025?

Anthony ranked #46 among boys' names in the United States in 2025, with 5,967 babies given the name, according to Social Security Administration data.

How many people are named Anthony?

1,495,156 babies have been named Anthony in the United States since 1880, based on Social Security card applications.

When was the name Anthony most popular?

Anthony peaked in 1990, when 25,188 newborns received the name.

Is Anthony a boy or girl name?

Anthony is overwhelmingly a boy's name: 100% of babies with the name.

Is the name Anthony rising or falling?

Anthony is declining, less popular now than a decade ago.

Will Anthony become more popular?

Anthony is trending downward. If the recent trend holds, we project roughly 5,376 boys named Anthony in 2030, which would rank around #57. Forecasts assume the current trend continues and become less certain further out.

Who are famous people named Anthony?

Well-known people named Anthony include Anthony Bourdain (writer), Anthony Perkins (actor), Anthony Hopkins (actor).

Names like Anthony

Names that sound and feel close to Anthony: shared sounds, similar era, similar popularity. Each links to its full history.

Compare Anthony with similar names → More names starting with A →