Carson
Masculine
Carson is given to both — 132,774 boys and 8,113 girls since 1880. See Carson as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Carson began as a family name in Galloway, in southwest Scotland, carried by Ulster settlers to America and eventually planted on the map of Nevada. It is two clean syllables that land the same way in every accent, with the same -son ending that made Jackson and Mason travel so easily. A surname long enough in first-name use to feel entirely at home there.
How old is the name Carson?
Carson was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Carson alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 127,000 people named Carson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Carson most popular?
Carson peaked in 2018, reaching #70 nationally. Today it ranks #124, 54 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Where it comes from
From Corsan / Acarson (medieval Galloway surname) to Carson
The story of Carson
Carson is a Scottish surname, concentrated in Galloway before it spread, and it crossed to Ulster with Scots settlers in the seventeenth century. From Ulster it came to America in large numbers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which is why it turns up so thickly in American place names and institutions — Carson City, Nevada, takes its name from the nineteenth-century frontiersman Kit Carson. Like Mason, Jackson and Hudson, it moved from last name to first name in the American habit of promoting family surnames, and it has been recorded as a given name on US birth records since the earliest years those records exist.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Nobody has settled what the surname originally meant. What is documented is the name itself: Carson, with earlier spellings such as Corsan and Acarson, appears in records of Galloway in southwest Scotland from the medieval period. Reference works on Scottish surnames call the origin obscure; the familiar guesses — a Norman personal name behind an 'Acarson', or a link to Curzon — remain guesses rather than findings.
How the name formed
- Corsan / Acarsonmedieval Galloway surname
- CarsonScottish and Ulster Scots surname
- CarsonAmerican surname
- Carsongiven name
Pronouncing Carson
KAR-suhn
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with parson. Non-rhotic accents will soften the r, but the name is read the same way on sight in every English-speaking country.
Nicknames for Carson
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
- 20075,120 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #70reached in 2018
- Change vs 2022
- −15.4%2,883 in 2025, from 3,408
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.
Carson in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Pennsylvania, California.
Carsons among us
people named Carson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 592 born in 2025 was named Carson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Carson
- #124
- Carson on the 2025 chart
- #103
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Carson went to 2,883 boys in 2025, but Karson is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 3,580, which makes it the 103rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 21 places above the chart.
- Carson2,883
- Karson690
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 477 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 592 for Carson itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Tommy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Carson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tommy climbed just as high around 1944, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tommy's path sketches the road Carson is walking now.
Carson is coming down from a big peak (#70 in 2018). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Carson is headed
Carson is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Carson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Carson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads correctly on first sight for almost anyone who speaks English — no pronunciation lesson required, at school or over the phone.
- A spelling already familiar from maps, institutions and well-known surnames, so it rarely needs to be repeated letter by letter.
- Identical in form for a boy or a girl; nothing about the name has to change.
- Continuous presence on American birth records from the very beginning of that record, rather than a recent invention.
- Karson and Carsen both circulate, so the occasional spelling check is part of the deal — though this version is the one most people will assume.
- As a surname first and foremost, it can be read as a last name on lists and forms, and roll-call confusion happens more than with a traditional given name.
- The girls' side of this spelling is very small. A girl named Carson will often be assumed male on paper before anyone meets her — manageable, but worth knowing in advance.
- It sits inside a large family of -son surname names in current use, so the sound is familiar even where the specific name is not.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Carson
Masculine · #124 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Carsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 127,000 people named Carson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Carson?
- Carson is the most-used spelling in US records — 2,883 of the 3,580 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Karson.
- How popular is the name Carson in 2025?
- Carson ranks #124 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,883 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Carson?
- About 1 in every 592 US boys born in 2025 was named Carson — 2,883 in all.
- Will my child share the name Carson with classmates?
- Carson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Carson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dean#125 · Giovanni#123 · Sawyer#122 · George#126 · Landon#127 · Emmett#121 · Graham#120 · Jonah#128
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Carson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Carson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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