The Most Common First Names of U.S. Presidents and Founding Fathers: 100 Statistics
James is the most common of all presidents’ first names: five presidents went by it, and a sixth, Jimmy Carter, was born James Earl Carter. John follows with four, then George and William with three each. Among the Founding Fathers the order changes, because William leads the 89 men who signed the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. Yet the names that once defined the republic have grown rarer in the nursery: in 1880, 30% of newborn boys were named John, William, James, George or Thomas, and in 2025 just 2.4% were.
Below are 100 statistics on the first names of presidents and Founding Fathers, drawn from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Census Bureau and Social Security records, with our own index of all 45 presidents.
At a glance
Key takeaways
- James is the most common presidential first name, with 5 presidents by the name used and 6 by the name at birth.
- James, John, George and William account for 15 of the 45 presidents.
- 32 different first names have been used by the 45 presidents.
- Five presidents went by their middle name, from Ulysses S. Grant to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- 17 presidents had no middle name, but every president since 1909 has had one.
- Four names, John, George, William and Thomas, tie at 6 each among the 56 signers of the Declaration.
- William leads the 39 signers of the Constitution and the 89 signers of either document.
- 17.5 million Americans share a first name with a president, led by John and James.
- 8 first names, from Grover to Barack, peaked in the year their president was elected or took office.
- Theodore reached its highest count ever in 2025, ranking 4th among boys.
The Presidential First Name Index
Our index counts the first name each president used in office and, separately, the name on his birth record. The difference matters: several presidents were known by a middle name, and one by a name he adopted after college.
James, John, William and George
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Presidents’ first names statistics at a glance
- 1.
James is the most common first name among the 45 men who have served as president as of 2026: five presidents went by it, James Madison, James Monroe, James K. Polk, James Buchanan and James A. Garfield.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 2.
Counted by the name on the birth record, James rises to 6, because Jimmy Carter was born James Earl Carter; John rises to 5 and William to 4 on the same basis, as of 2026.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress and Miller Center data
- 3.
John is second, with 4 presidents by the name they used (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler and John F. Kennedy); a fifth, Calvin Coolidge, was born John Calvin Coolidge in 1872.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress and Miller Center data
- 4.
George and William follow with 3 presidents each as of 2026: George Washington and the two Presidents Bush, father and son, and William Henry Harrison, William McKinley and William Howard Taft.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 5.
The 45 presidents have used 32 different first names through 2026; 26 of them belong to a single president, from Zachary and Millard to Barack and Donald.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 6.
Four names, James, John, George and William, account for 15 of the 45 presidents (33%) by the name they used; by birth name, the same four cover 18 (40%) as of 2026.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
James, John and the early republic
- 7.
Andrew and Franklin are the only other names used twice: Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson, then Franklin Pierce and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office 80 years apart, in 1853 and 1933.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 8.
Eight of the first 20 presidents were named James or John, from Washington’s successor in 1797 to Garfield in 1881; of the 25 presidents since, only one, John F. Kennedy, has gone by either name.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 9.
The most recent president born James was Jimmy Carter, inaugurated in 1977, while the most recent John, John F. Kennedy, took office in 1961.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress and Miller Center data
- 10.
J is the most common initial among presidents’ first names, shared by 11 of 45 as of 2026 (five Jameses, four Johns, Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden); G and W follow with 5 each.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 11.
John also leads the vice presidency: 5 of the 50 vice presidents through 2025 were named John, among them John Adams, John C. Calhoun and John Nance Garner; Thomas, George, Richard and Charles have 3 each.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of U.S. Senate data
The index, presidents 1 to 23
No. President Name used Born as Americans with the name, 2020 Boys named, 2025 1 George Washington George — 631,924 2,848 2 John Adams John — 3,125,123 8,027 3 Thomas Jefferson Thomas — 1,506,606 6,917 4 James Madison James — 2,996,421 11,945 5 James Monroe James — 2,996,421 11,945 6 John Quincy Adams John — 3,125,123 8,027 7 Andrew Jackson Andrew — 1,075,513 4,497 8 Martin Van Buren Martin — 271,877 1,009 9 William Henry Harrison William — 2,240,114 10,545 10 John Tyler John — 3,125,123 8,027 11 James K. Polk James — 2,996,421 11,945 12 Zachary Taylor Zachary — 435,262 1,646 13 Millard Fillmore Millard — 4,529 10 14 Franklin Pierce Franklin — 78,051 909 15 James Buchanan James — 2,996,421 11,945 16 Abraham Lincoln Abraham — 84,024 1,664 17 Andrew Johnson Andrew — 1,075,513 4,497 18 Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses Hiram 9,490 169 19 Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford — 355 fewer than 5 20 James A. Garfield James — 2,996,421 11,945 21 Chester A. Arthur Chester — 35,868 107 22, 24 Grover Cleveland Grover Stephen 6,509 24 23 Benjamin Harrison Benjamin — 606,324 9,762
The index, presidents 24 to 47
No. President Name used Born as Americans with the name, 2020 Boys named, 2025 25 William McKinley William — 2,240,114 10,545 26 Theodore Roosevelt Theodore — 141,175 13,355 27 William Howard Taft William — 2,240,114 10,545 28 Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Thomas 8,852 102 29 Warren G. Harding Warren — 87,424 1,471 30 Calvin Coolidge Calvin John 124,765 2,710 31 Herbert Hoover Herbert — 71,489 49 32 Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin — 78,051 909 33 Harry S. Truman Harry — 138,544 329 34 Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David 49,320 46 35 John F. Kennedy John — 3,125,123 8,027 36 Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon — 7,982 65 37 Richard Nixon Richard — 1,575,998 1,505 38 Gerald R. Ford Gerald Leslie 258,431 168 39 Jimmy Carter Jimmy James 173,056 291 40 Ronald Reagan Ronald — 689,843 438 41 George H. W. Bush George — 631,924 2,848 42 Bill Clinton Bill William 77,823 18 43 George W. Bush George — 631,924 2,848 44 Barack Obama Barack — 317 6 45, 47 Donald J. Trump Donald — 715,624 395 46 Joe Biden Joe Joseph 275,876 230
Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th) and Donald J. Trump (45th and 47th) are listed once. Living namesakes from the Census Bureau’s 2020 first-names file; births from the Social Security Administration’s 2025 file.
Names at birth, middle names and nicknames
A president’s name is often a family story in itself. Several men changed the order of their names, two took a stepfather’s surname, and one carried a middle initial chosen to honor both grandfathers.
Presidents born with another first name
- 12.
Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant in 1822; the congressman who nominated him to West Point wrote his name as Ulysses Simpson Grant, and he signed it that way thereafter.
- 13.
Grover Cleveland was born Stephen Grover Cleveland, and he is still the only president besides Donald J. Trump to serve two non-consecutive terms, from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897.
- 14.
Woodrow Wilson was born Thomas Woodrow Wilson on December 28, 1856, and later dropped his first name.
- 15.
Calvin Coolidge was born John Calvin Coolidge on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.
- 16.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower and was called Dwight from an early age to avoid confusion with his father, David Jacob Eisenhower; he took office in 1953.
- 17.
Gerald R. Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska, and after college he officially changed his name to Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.
- 18.
Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, and took his stepfather’s family name in high school.
Nicknames and middle names
- 19.
Five presidents went by their middle name as of 2026: Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower; two more, Ford and Clinton, took a different surname.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress and Miller Center data
- 20.
Jimmy Carter was the first president to take the oath with a nickname, “Jimmy” instead of “James,” at his inauguration in 1977.
- 21.
Three presidents have governed under a short form of their given name: Jimmy Carter from 1977, Bill Clinton from 1993 and Joe Biden, born Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., from 2021.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress and Miller Center data
- 22.
17 of the 45 presidents had no middle name as of 2026, including all of the first five; 14 of the first 17, through Andrew Johnson in 1865, had none.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of The White House (archived) data
- 23.
John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, was the first with a middle name; born in 1767, he was named for his great-grandfather, Colonel John Quincy, who died two days after his birth.
- 24.
Every president since William Howard Taft, inaugurated in 1909, has had a middle name or middle initial; Theodore Roosevelt, who took office in 1901, was the last without one.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of The White House (archived) data
Namesakes in the early census
- 25.
The “S” in Harry S. Truman is not short for a longer name: his parents entered his middle name as simply S when he was born in 1884.
- 26.
Truman’s single initial honored two grandfathers at once, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young, as he explained himself; he took office in 1945.
- 27.
The 1850 Census counted 171 men named John Q. Adams, a measure of how widely Americans named sons after the sixth president.
What this means for families. Presidents, like everyone else, inherited names chosen to honor a grandfather or a father. A personal monogram can hold that choice in three letters, the middle initial included.
Presidential initials and monograms
Initials are the oldest form of a personal mark, and the founders and presidents used them on seals, silver and correspondence. Their initials repeat more often than one might expect.
The initials of presidents
- 28.
Four presidents had matching first and last initials, the most graphic of all monograms: Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan, all of them in office between 1913 and 1989.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 29.
Six two-letter monograms belong to two presidents each as of 2026: J.A. (John Adams and John Quincy Adams), J.M. (Madison and Monroe), A.J. (Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson), W.H. (William Henry Harrison and Warren G. Harding), J.B. (James Buchanan and Joe Biden) and G.B. (the two Presidents Bush).
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
- 30.
H and T tie as the most common last-name initial of presidents, with 5 each as of 2026: H covers the two Harrisons, Hayes, Harding and Hoover, and T covers Tyler, Taylor, Taft, Truman and Trump.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Library of Congress data
The initials of the founders
- 31.
J is also the most common first initial among the 56 signers of the Declaration in 1776, with 10; G, W and T follow with 6 each.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 32.
J.H. is the most common monogram among the Declaration’s signers, shared in 1776 by John Hancock, John Hart and Joseph Hewes.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 33.
J leads the 39 signers of the Constitution as well, with 10 first initials in 1787, among them Jonathan Dayton, the youngest delegate, and John Dickinson.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
What this means for a monogram. Matching initials such as C.C. or R.R. give a designer a natural symmetry, while shared pairs such as J.A. show why a family monogram often adds a middle initial. Our bespoke monograms begin with exactly that question.
The first names of the Founding Fathers
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution carry the signatures of 89 different men. Their first names, drawn largely from English and Scripture, show how few names a colonial family had to choose from.
William and John lead the signers
Signers of the Declaration, 1776
- 34.
56 delegates eventually signed the Declaration of Independence, although not all of them were present on August 2, 1776.
- 35.
Four names tie as the most common among the Declaration’s 56 signers: John, George, William and Thomas, with 6 signers each (10.7%) in 1776.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 36.
Those four names belong to 24 of the 56 signers (43%) of 1776; Samuel, Benjamin and Francis follow with 3 each.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 37.
Only 3 of the 56 signers wrote a middle name on the Declaration in 1776: Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lightfoot Lee and Robert Treat Paine.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 38.
John Hancock, president of the Congress, signed first, with a bold signature centered on a parchment measuring 24¼ by 29¾ inches, in 1776.
- 39.
The story that Hancock signed large to taunt the King is a myth, according to the National Archives, though his 1776 signature remains one of the most famous in American history.
Signers of the Constitution, 1787
- 40.
Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signer, at 70, and Edward Rutledge and Thomas Lynch Jr. were the youngest, at 26, in 1776.
- 41.
70 men were appointed to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, 55 attended its sessions and 39 signed the Constitution.
- 42.
William is the most common first name among the 39 signers of the Constitution, with 5 in 1787; John has 4, and George and James 3 each.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 43.
Among all 55 delegates who attended the Convention, William leads with 9 (16.4%) in 1787, ahead of John with 6 and George with 5.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 44.
6 men signed both the Declaration and the Constitution: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman and James Wilson, in 1776 and 1787.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 45.
Roger Sherman is the only person to have signed all four of the most significant documents of the founding era, from the Articles of Association of 1774 to the Constitution of 1787.
Signatures and founding families
- 46.
Across the 89 men who signed the Declaration or the Constitution, William leads with 11, followed by John with 10, Thomas with 8 and George with 7 (1776–1787).
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of National Archives data
- 47.
George Washington signed the Constitution as “G°. Washington,” “Presidt and deputy from Virginia,” in 1787; many signers abbreviated their names, as in “Wm. Saml. Johnson” and “Jona: Dayton.”
- 48.
John Adams and Samuel Adams were second cousins who shared a great-grandfather, as John Adams wrote in 1815.
- 49.
Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration, was the father of President William Henry Harrison, whose grandson Benjamin became president in 1889.
Americans who share a president’s first name
The 2020 Census, whose first-names file was released in April 2026, lets us count how many living Americans carry each president’s first name. Two names, John and James, account for more than a third of the total.
The 15 largest presidential namesakes
The census count
- 50.
The five most common first names in the 2020 Census were Michael, John, James, David and Robert; two of them, John and James, are the two most common presidential first names.
- 51.
3,125,123 Americans were named John in the 2020 Census, the 2nd most common first name in the country and the most common one ever held by a president.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 52.
2,996,421 Americans were named James in 2020, ranking 3rd, while William ranked 6th with 2,240,114 people.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 53.
17.5 million Americans share a first name with a president, about 5.8% of the 302 million people whose first names were recorded in the 2020 Census, counting the 32 first names the presidents used.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 54.
David, Eisenhower’s name at birth, was the 4th most common first name in 2020, with 2,813,017 people; no president has ever gone by Michael, the most common name (3,476,721).
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 55.
George ranked 64th in the 2020 Census, with 631,924 people, far below its place among newborns of the 1880s, when it was 4th.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau and Social Security Administration data
Rare names and changing names
- 56.
Barack is the rarest presidential first name in the 2020 Census, with 317 people, followed by Rutherford (355) and Millard (4,529).
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 57.
Joseph outnumbers Joe almost six to one: 1,600,667 Americans were recorded as Joseph in 2020 and 275,876 as Joe; William outnumbers Bill 29 to one.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 58.
Madison is now a woman’s name: 98.7% of the 360,351 Americans named Madison in 2020 were female, as were 91% of those named Kennedy.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 59.
Founders’ first names remain widespread: the 2020 Census counted 606,324 Benjamins, 566,085 Samuels and 556,757 Alexanders.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
- 60.
Gouverneur and Gunning, the first names of two Constitution signers, do not appear in the 2020 Census list of names held by at least 100 people; Elbridge, Gerry’s first name, was held by 213.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Census Bureau data
Presidential names on the birth certificate
Social Security records begin in 1880, when one boy in three received a name that a president had already carried. The data also show something else: a president’s first name often reaches its peak in the year he wins or takes office.
A century and a half of classic names
Baby names today
- 61.
Liam and Olivia were America’s most popular baby names in 2025, the seventh consecutive year both names held the top spot.
- 62.
James ranked 6th and William 9th among boys’ names in 2025, while Theodore, Theodore Roosevelt’s first name, ranked 4th and John and George were no longer in the top 10.
- 63.
James is the No. 1 boys’ name of the past 100 years, given to 4,505,076 babies from 1926 to 2025; John ranks 3rd and William 6th.
- 64.
In the 1880s, John, William, James and George were the four most popular boys’ names in America, in that order, with 89,949 Johns.
- 65.
James was the most popular boys’ name of the 1950s, given to 843,768 babies.
From 1880 to 2025
- 66.
29.7% of boys born in 1880 were named John, William, James, George or Thomas; by 2025 the five names covered 2.36% of newborn boys.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 67.
George fell from 5th place in 1880 to 126th in 2025, when 2,848 boys received the first president’s name.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 68.
John ranked 23rd among boys in 2025, with 8,027 babies; it had been No. 1 in 1880.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 69.
Theodore reached its all-time high in 2025, with 13,355 boys and a rank of 4th, more than a century after Theodore Roosevelt left office in 1909.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
The presidential peak
- 70.
8 presidents’ first names hit their all-time peak in the year the president was elected or took office: Grover (1884), Warren (1921), Calvin (1924), Herbert (1928), Franklin (1933), Dwight (1953), Lyndon (1964) and Barack (2009).
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 71.
Franklin peaked in 1933, the year Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, with 5,363 boys, the name’s best rank ever (33rd).
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 72.
Calvin peaked in 1924, the year Calvin Coolidge won a full term, with 4,918 boys; Herbert peaked in 1928, Hoover’s election year, with 8,065.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 73.
29.9 million boys born from 1880 to 2025, 15.7% of all boys in the Social Security files, received one of the 32 first names used by presidents.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 74.
Oliver, the first name of Declaration signer Oliver Wolcott, ranked 3rd among boys in 2025, with 14,939 babies; Benjamin ranked 11th and Samuel 18th.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 75.
Social Security’s files leave out any name given to fewer than 5 babies in a year, to protect privacy, so the rarest presidential names can vanish from the 2025 data.
Names that peaked with their president
Name President Peak year Boys in peak year Best rank Boys in 2025 Grover Grover Cleveland 1884 802 20th 24 Warren Warren G. Harding 1921 7,798 24th 1,471 Calvin Calvin Coolidge 1924 4,918 44th 2,710 Herbert Herbert Hoover 1928 8,065 25th 49 Franklin Franklin Pierce 1933 5,363 33rd 909 Dwight Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953 2,698 122nd 46 Lyndon Lyndon B. Johnson 1964 515 345th 65 Barack Barack Obama 2009 71 1975th 6
Peak year is the year with the most boys given the name in the Social Security files, 1880–2025; in each case it is also the year of the name’s best rank.
What this means for parents. Naming a child after a figure of national history is an old American custom, and it has never been confined to one party or one century. For families who wish to mark such a name, a family crest can carry it for generations.
Presidents’ surnames as first names
Since the late twentieth century, parents have turned to presidents’ surnames as first names, especially for girls. Madison, Kennedy and Reagan were once rare as given names.
Presidential surnames in the 2025 nursery
Surnames for girls and boys
- 76.
Madison, the fourth president’s surname, rose to No. 2 among girls’ names in 2001, its peak year, with 22,166 girls; in 2025 it ranked 40th.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 77.
Lincoln ranked 69th among boys in 2025, with 4,703 babies, below its 2017 peak of 8,202.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 78.
Jackson was given to 6,582 boys in 2025, ranking 36th, ahead of Carter and Lincoln.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 79.
Carter ranked 45th among boys in 2025, with 6,024 babies, after peaking in 2015 at 10,814.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 80.
Kennedy ranked 85th among girls in 2025, with 2,933 babies, after a 2015 peak of 4,523.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
Rising and fading surnames
- 81.
Reagan was given to 1,244 girls in 2025, ranking 248th; the name peaked in 2016 with 3,097.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 82.
Monroe reached its all-time high among girls in 2025, with 658 babies, and Quincy did the same, with 335.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 83.
Hayes ranked 162nd among boys in 2025, with 2,240 babies, close to its 2024 peak of 2,255.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 84.
Harrison was given to 3,072 boys in 2025, ranking 116th, while Tyler, which reached No. 5 in 1993, fell to 219th.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
- 85.
Washington, as a boy’s first name, reached its best rank in 1884 and its peak count, 60 babies, in 1921; in 2025 it fell below Social Security’s 5-baby reporting threshold.
— Gustavo Athayde analysis of Social Security Administration data
Washington’s Birthday and Presidents’ Day
The February holiday most Americans call Presidents’ Day still carries a single name in federal law. Its history began, appropriately, with the first president.
The federal holiday
- 86.
The federal holiday’s legal name is still “Washington’s Birthday,” observed on the third Monday in February under the U.S. Code as of 2026.
- 87.
In 2027 the holiday falls on Monday, February 15, and the federal government lists it under its statutory name.
- 88.
President Rutherford B. Hayes signed the holiday into law on January 31, 1879, at first only for federal workers in the District of Columbia.
- 89.
In 1885 the holiday was extended to federal workers in all 38 states, making Washington’s Birthday the first federal holiday to honor an individual’s birth date.
The Monday holiday
- 90.
A 1968 law moved the observance to the third Monday of February, starting in 1971, and it named Washington’s Birthday with no mention of Lincoln.
- 91.
The holiday can never fall on February 22, since the third Monday always lands between February 15 and 21, as Rep. Richard Poff of Virginia noted in the 1968 House debate.
- 92.
President Nixon did not rename the holiday by proclamation, despite a widely circulated story; the National Archives addressed the claim in 2004.
- 93.
Every year since 1896, a senator has read Washington’s Farewell Address on the floor of the Senate to mark his birthday.
Seals, signatures and heraldry of the founders
The founders understood the power of a mark. They spent six years on the nation’s seal, and they used personal seals and family arms on their own letters.
The Great Seal
- 94.
Congress asked Franklin, Jefferson and Adams to design a national seal on July 4, 1776, the same day it adopted the Declaration; their design was tabled.
- 95.
The Great Seal was officially adopted on June 20, 1782, six years after Congress appointed its first seal committee.
- 96.
The State Department affixes about 3,000 Great Seals a year to official documents, with the Secretary of State as custodian as of 2026.
- 97.
The number 13 runs through the Great Seal of 1782, from the 13 letters of E Pluribus Unum to the 13 arrows and 13 stars.
Personal seals and family arms
- 98.
Thomas Jefferson’s personal seal carried the motto “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God”; the first known intact impression is on a letter of April 1790.
- 99.
The Washington family arms show two red bars and three red stars on silver, which Washington confirmed in a 1792 letter to the College of Arms in London; a 1790 carriage order sketched the crest above the initials GW.
- 100.
The gold and citrine watch seal George Washington ordered in 1771 is cut with the family coat of arms in reverse, so that it could stamp wax.
What this means for heirlooms. Washington’s watch seal and Jefferson’s cipher were working objects, used to close and authenticate letters. A custom wax seal or a signet design continues that tradition.
Methodology
Our Presidential First Name Index lists the 45 individuals who have served as president, as counted by the Library of Congress, with Grover Cleveland and Donald J. Trump each counted once. For each man we recorded the first name used in office and the first name at birth, taken from the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, presidential libraries and archived White House biographies; middle names follow the official list.
How we counted the names
Founding Fathers’ names come from the National Archives lists of the 56 signers of the Declaration and the 39 signers of the Constitution; the six men who signed both are counted once in combined totals. Living namesakes come from the Census Bureau’s 2020 file of first names reported at least 100 times, released in April 2026. Baby name figures come from the Social Security Administration’s national files for 1880 to 2025, which list names given to at least five babies of one sex in a year; shares are of all boys listed.
A name’s peak year is the year with the most boys given the name; the coincidence of a peak with a presidential election or inauguration is descriptive and does not by itself show cause. Figures are counts of names, not of people named in honor of a president.
About the author
Gustavo Athayde — Founder & Creative Director, GUSTAVO ATHAYDE
Gustavo Athayde is the founder and creative director of GUSTAVO ATHAYDE, a bespoke monogram atelier based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A graphic designer by training, he creates monograms, personal and family crests, heraldic emblems, signet designs and wax seals for individuals, families, couples and brands across the United States. Every commission is refined line by line into a symbol meant to be kept, used and passed down.
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Frequently asked questions
- What is the most common first name of U.S. presidents?
- James. Five presidents went by James, from Madison to Garfield, and Jimmy Carter was born James Earl Carter, which makes six by the name at birth.
- How many presidents were named John?
- Four went by John: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler and John F. Kennedy. Calvin Coolidge, born John Calvin Coolidge, makes a fifth by birth name.
- What was the most common first name among the Founding Fathers?
- Among the 56 signers of the Declaration, John, George, William and Thomas tie with six each. Across the 89 men who signed the Declaration or the Constitution, William leads with 11.
More about presidents’ names
- Which presidents went by their middle name?
- Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose first names at birth were Hiram, Stephen, Thomas, John and David.
- What does the S in Harry S. Truman stand for?
- It is not short for a longer name. His parents recorded the middle name simply as S, and Truman said it honored both of his grandfathers.
- Is Presidents’ Day the official name of the holiday?
- No. Federal law still calls it Washington’s Birthday, observed on the third Monday in February, which falls on February 15 in 2027.
Cite this page
Source: Gustavo Athayde, "The Most Common First Names of U.S. Presidents and Founding Fathers", https://gustavoathayde.com/presidents-first-names/Feel free to use these statistics and charts — we just ask for a link back to this page.
Sources
- 5 U.S. Code § 6103, Holidays (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School)
- Background Information: Limitations of the Baby Names Data (Social Security Administration)
- Calvin Coolidge: Life Before the Presidency (Miller Center, University of Virginia)
- Chronological List of Presidents, First Spouses, and Vice Presidents of the United States (Library of Congress)
- Coat of Arms (George Washington's Mount Vernon, Digital Encyclopedia)
- Constitution of the United States: A Transcription (National Archives)
- Declaration of Independence: A Transcription (National Archives)
- Eisenhower family (Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, National Archives)
- Federal Holidays (U.S. Office of Personnel Management)
- Frequently Asked Questions (Harry S Truman National Historic Site, National Park Service)
- Frequently Occurring First Names in the 2020 Census by Sex, Names2020_FirstNames_Sex.xlsx (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026)
- Frequently Occurring First Names in the 2020 Census, C2020BR-13 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2026)
- Gerald Ford: Life Before the Presidency (Miller Center, University of Virginia)
- Great Seal (Ben's Guide, U.S. Government Publishing Office)
- Grover Cleveland: Life Before the Presidency (Miller Center, University of Virginia)
- Historic Figures in the Faulkner Declaration Mural (National Archives)
Census, Social Security and holiday sources
- Inauguration of Jimmy Carter (White House Historical Association)
- Jimmy Carter: Life Before the Presidency (Miller Center, University of Virginia)
- John Adams to Joseph Delaplaine, 30 December 1815 (Founders Online, National Archives)
- John Quincy Adams, 1767–1848 (Adams National Historical Park, National Park Service)
- Meet the Framers of the Constitution (National Archives)
- Most Popular Names of the 1950s (Social Security Administration)
- National baby name data, names.zip, 1880–2025 (Social Security Administration)
- Olivia and Liam Are America's Most Popular Baby Names for 2025 (Social Security Administration, 2026)
- Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States (National Archives)
- Personal Seal (Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, Thomas Jefferson Foundation)
- Popular Names of the 1880s (Social Security Administration)
- Presidential surnames (Vita Brevis, American Ancestors / New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2020)
- Presidents of the United States (The White House, archived)
- Presidents' Day: Washington's Birthday, Historical Notes (The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara)
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence (National Archives)
Presidential and archival sources
- Sometimes an S is just an S (The Text Message, National Archives)
- The Declaration of Independence: A History (National Archives)
- The Great Seal (National Museum of American Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State)
- Top Names Over the Last 100 Years (Social Security Administration)
- Ulysses S. Grant: Life Before the Presidency (Miller Center, University of Virginia)
- Vice Presidents of the United States (U.S. Senate)
- Washington's Birthday: Celebrating America's First President (Prologue Magazine, National Archives, 2004)
- Washington's Farewell Address (U.S. Senate)
- Watch Seal with Washington Coat of Arms (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)
- William Henry Harrison Papers: Timeline (Library of Congress)
- William J. Clinton biography (The White House, archived)
- Woodrow Wilson: Life Before the Presidency (Miller Center, University of Virginia)