Head to head · Boys' names
Hudson vs Leo
#17 vs #19 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Hudson is a whisker ahead (#17 vs #19 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Hudson leads 4 measures of 6; Leo leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Hudson #813, Leo #82 — Leo higher
- 1890s: Hudson #861, Leo #45 — Leo higher
- 1900s: Hudson #944, Leo #44 — Leo higher
- 1910s: Hudson #1008, Leo #48 — Leo higher
- 1920s: Hudson #1163, Leo #53 — Leo higher
- 1930s: Hudson #1366, Leo #86 — Leo higher
- 1940s: Hudson #1477, Leo #135 — Leo higher
- 1950s: Hudson #1784, Leo #177 — Leo higher
- 1960s: Hudson #2407, Leo #247 — Leo higher
- 1970s: Hudson #2995, Leo #335 — Leo higher
- 1980s: Hudson #2036, Leo #397 — Leo higher
- 1990s: Hudson #1022, Leo #462 — Leo higher
- 2000s: Hudson #336, Leo #281 — Leo higher
- 2010s: Hudson #81, Leo #102 — Hudson higher
- 2020s: Hudson #27, Leo #25 — Leo higher
Leo stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Leo took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Hudson | Leo |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #813 | #82 |
| 1890s | #861 | #45 |
| 1900s | #944 | #44 |
| 1910s | #1008 | #48 |
| 1920s | #1163 | #53 |
| 1930s | #1366 | #86 |
| 1940s | #1477 | #135 |
| 1950s | #1784 | #177 |
| 1960s | #2407 | #247 |
| 1970s | #2995 | #335 |
| 1980s | #2036 | #397 |
| 1990s | #1022 | #462 |
| 2000s | #336 | #281 |
| 2010s | #81 | #102 |
| 2020s | #27 | #25 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Hudson
- Canada#27
- England & Wales#42
- Scotland#46
Leo
- Canada#4
- England & Wales#5
- Scotland#7
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Hudson
"son of Hudd" — Hudd being a medieval English pet name
The surname itself is straightforward: Hudd plus -son. What Hudd stood for is where scholars part ways. The usual reading takes it as a medieval short form of Hugh, from a Germanic root meaning "heart, mind, spirit." A second reading links Hudd to Richard, which produced its own crop of medieval pet forms. Both are seriously held, and the surname was likely formed more than once in different parts of England.
Hugh → Hudd → Hudson
How it traveled
The name grew out of medieval England, where a man known as Hudd's son eventually became simply Hudson, and the label stuck to the family line. English speakers then carried it across the Atlantic, where it attached itself to a river, a bay and a stretch of New York countryside — and, in the twentieth century, to an American car marque.
Leo
Lion
Straight from Latin leo, itself borrowed from Greek leon. The same word gives us the constellation and zodiac sign.
Leon (Greek) → Leo (Latin) → Leo
How it traveled
The word came into Latin from Greek leon and was in use as a Roman personal name by late antiquity. Christianity did most of the carrying: the popes named Leo, beginning in the fifth century, kept the name in continuous official use for some fifteen hundred years, and Byzantine emperors bore it too.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Hudson
HUD-sun
Two syllables, stress on the first. The vowel is the one in "mud." It sounds the same in American, British, Canadian and Australian English, and the spelling gives no one trouble.
- Hud — The main short form in English, informal, used within families and among friends.
- Huds — Casual and mostly spoken rather than written; common among schoolmates and on sports teams.
- Huddy — A diminutive used with small children; tends to be dropped as the child gets older.
Leo
LEE-oh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said the same way in English, German and Dutch; French adds a light accent, Léo, without changing the sound much.
- Lee — The main informal trim, and a long-established given name in its own right in the US.
- Leo — Most often it works the other way round: Leo is the everyday form for Leonardo, Leonard, Leopold and Leonidas, and stands alone as a full legal name just as readily.
Who has carried each name
Hudson
No documented entry for Hudson yet.
Leo
Leo XIV (b. 1955) — First American pope
Leo XIII (b. 1810) — Pope whose 1891 encyclical championed workers' rights
Leo I (b. 390) — Leo the Great — talked Attila the Hun out of sacking Rome
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Hudson if you want…
- a name that feels very nowHudson is climbing the charts fast
Choose Leo if you want…
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 70% for Hudson
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Hudson
Strengths
- The spelling is already familiar to nearly everyone in the English-speaking world through the river, the bay and the valley, so it rarely needs repeating or correcting.
- Pronunciation is fixed and obvious from the page — no regional variants, no first-day-of-school negotiation.
- It also charts in Canada, England & Wales and Scotland, so it travels without translation.
To consider
- This name's rise is recent and steep. Nearly everyone carrying it is a child, so for now it reads distinctly young — and it will always mark the era your child was born in.
- It sits in a crowded family of surname names ending in -son and -on. Expect it to be grouped, and occasionally confused, with several similar-sounding classmates.
- The geographic pull is strong: for many Americans the first association is the river or the valley rather than a person. That fades once they meet a Hudson, but it is the first thought.
Leo
Strengths
- Four letters that spell themselves — almost nobody will ask you to repeat it or write it down twice.
- Recognized across English, German, Italian, Spanish, French and Greek, with only small changes at the edges.
- An unbroken written record from Roman antiquity through the papacy to the present, so it has never needed reviving.
To consider
- It is rising quickly. Older generations knew relatively few Leos; the children being named now are joining a much larger group, so expect classmates.
- It sits in a crowded sound family — Leon, Milo, Theo, Leonardo — and people who half-hear it sometimes reach for the wrong one.
- Almost nothing to shorten. If you like a formal long name with a casual everyday version, Leo is already the casual version.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Hudson
70%chance Hudson feels dated by 2040
Hudson is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Leo
12%chance Leo feels dated by 2040
Leo has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Hudson and Leo in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Hudson and Leo?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Gorgeous — and about to be everywhere
- all guides
Every list here names both Hudson and Leo — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Hudson or Leo — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Hudson or Leo?
- Hudson, in 2025: Hudson ranked #17 with 8,583 babies; Leo ranked #19 with 8,173 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Hudson or Leo?
- Hudson. Over the last five years Hudson moved up 26 places; Leo moved up 17 places.
- Which is the older name, Hudson or Leo?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Hudson and Leo?
- About 112,000 people named Hudson are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 149,000 people named Leo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Hudsons or Leos in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 8 classrooms will have a child named Hudson. Roughly 1 in 8 classrooms will have a child named Leo.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Hudson, Leo and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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