Anderson
Masculine · “son of Anders (Andrew)”
Anderson is given to both — 33,991 boys and 1,655 girls since 1880. See Anderson as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Anderson began as a patronymic — the son of Anders, which is the Scandinavian Andrew. It is one of the commonest surnames in Scotland and, spelled Andersson or Andersen, across Sweden, Denmark and Norway, so the sound has been in millions of mouths for centuries before it was ever a first name. Three syllables, stress on the first, and two ready-made short forms already waiting inside it.
How old is the name Anderson?
Anderson was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Anderson alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 28,000 people named Anderson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anderson most popular?
Anderson peaked in 1882, reaching #215 nationally. Today it ranks #363, 148 places below that high. See the whole 1882 chart.
Where it comes from
From Andreas to Anderson
The story of Anderson
Andrew, the apostle, became the patron saint of Scotland, and his name spread through Scotland and Scandinavia so widely that patronymics built on it turned into permanent surnames: Anderson in Scotland and northern England, Andersson in Sweden, Andersen in Denmark and Norway. Scots and Scandinavian emigration carried all three spellings to North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where Anderson became one of the most frequently borne surnames in the country. The move from surname to first name followed the long American habit of promoting family names to the front — the same road walked by Jackson and Harrison. Its use for girls belongs to that surname tradition too, not to a separate root.
Meaning
son of Anders (Andrew) — ultimately from Greek 'man'
Anders is the Scandinavian form of Andreas, which comes from Greek anēr, andros, 'man'. The -son is the plain patronymic ending shared with Johnson, Jackson and Robertson.
How the name formed
- Andreas
- Andrew
- Anders
- Anderson
Related forms: Andersson · Andersen · Andersen · Anders · Andreas · Andrew
Pronouncing Anderson
AN-der-sun
Three syllables, stress on the first. The middle syllable often flattens in fast American speech to something closer to AN-dur-sun. No competing pronunciations to explain to anyone.
Nicknames for Anderson
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20161,162 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #215reached in 1882
- Change vs 2022
- −10.3%898 in 2025, from 1,001
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Anderson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Andersson in Swedish — spelling variant
- Andersen in Danish — spelling variant
- Andersen in Norwegian — spelling variant
- Anders in Swedish/Norwegian/Danish — related form
- Andreas in Greek — related form
- Andrew in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Andersons among us
people named Anderson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,902 born in 2025 was named Anderson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Anderson sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Anderson is headed
Anderson should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Anderson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anderson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling almost everyone in the US already knows from surnames, so it rarely needs to be spelled out twice.
- Two established short forms, Andy and Anders, one informal and one usable as a full name.
- Recognizable across Scottish, English and Scandinavian settings, where the Andersson and Andersen spellings are household-common.
- A long unbroken life as a surname before it was a first name, which gives it a record no recent coinage can match.
- The -son ending means, literally, 'son of'. For a girl it works exactly as Madison and Addison do — as a surname, not a statement — but it is worth knowing that the etymology says son.
- It will sometimes be read as a last name on forms and rosters, and a first-name-last-name mix-up is a lifelong small nuisance rather than a real problem.
- Many families already have Andersons among their in-laws, neighbors or classmates' surnames, so the name can feel doubled up in some circles.
- Andy points to Andrew for a lot of people, so expect an occasional 'Andrew?' before the correction lands.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Anderson
Masculine · #363 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Andersons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 28,000 people named Anderson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Anderson in 2025?
- Anderson ranks #363 among US boy names in 2025, with 898 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anderson?
- About 1 in every 1,902 US boys born in 2025 was named Anderson — 898 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anderson with classmates?
- Anderson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anderson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kaizen#364 · Cristian#362 · Onyx#365 · Jaylen#361 · Erick#366 · Spencer#360 · Franklin#359 · Kyaire#367
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anderson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anderson and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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