Can't Remember His Name? Guess Michael.

It happens to the best of us.

You're at a party, and it's a whirlwind of new faces. Then it's time to go, and you're shaking hands with a new acquaintance, and you want to tell them "Nice to meet you," only...

Oh no.

You've forgotten their name.

What should you do?

According to the data... guess "Michael."

Most Popular Living Names

The Social Security Administration has the most fun data. (Add that to the list of sentences I never thought I'd say.)

By combining the SSA's published life expectancy data with the SSA's published birth name data, we can get a picture of how many people are alive with a given name. If we assume that the published life expectancies are always accurate, then the names for men and women with the most living people are:

So next time you forget someone's name... just guess "Michael." (Or "Jennifer.")