Judson
Masculine · “son of Judd”
Judson began as a surname — the son of a man called Judd — and crossed into first-name use in America, where families gave it as a whole name rather than an inherited one. It has been on the books here since record-keeping began and has never dropped away entirely. Two syllables, both of them plain: it lands the same way every time it is said.
How old is the name Judson?
Judson was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Judson alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 9,700 people named Judson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Judson most popular?
Judson peaked in 1880, reaching #299 nationally. Today it ranks #934, 635 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Where it comes from
From Jordan to Judson
The story of Judson
Judson formed in medieval England as a patronymic surname, from the personal name Judd — a short form that stuck hard enough to spawn its own family names. It traveled to North America with English settlers and stayed a surname for generations before American parents began using it up front, in the nineteenth-century habit of turning respected family and public surnames into first names. The Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson, whose work in Burma made his surname widely known in American churches in the nineteenth century, is a documented part of why it spread as a given name. It has been used quietly and continuously ever since, without a fashionable spike to date it.
Meaningscholars disagree
son of Judd
The surname itself is straightforward: Judson means "son of Judd." What Judd meant is the open question. The most widely accepted reading takes it as a medieval English pet form of Jordan, the given name English families brought home from the river of that name. A second reading connects it to Jude or Judah, from the Hebrew for "praised." Both are serious; neither has won.
How the name formed
- Jordan
- Judd
- Judson
Pronouncing Judson
JUD-sun
Stress on the first syllable, which rhymes with mud. There is no second pronunciation to correct; most people read it right the first time.
Nicknames for Judson
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
- 2022279 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #299reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- −9.7%252 in 2025, from 279
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.
Judson in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Alabama, Georgia.
Judsons among us
people named Judson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,778 born in 2025 was named Judson
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
Judson 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 Judson is headed
Judson 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.
Judson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Judson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads and spells itself on the first try for most English speakers — two syllables, no silent letters, no competing pronunciations.
- Comes with short forms that already exist independently: Jud, Judd and Jude are all in real use.
- A documented surname line reaching back to medieval England, and unbroken use as a given name in America since records were kept.
- Familiar in shape without being duplicated — a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- It sits one letter away from Hudson, which is heavily used right now. Expect the occasional mishearing over the phone and on roll call, and expect Judson to be repeated once before it lands.
- Written down, Jud and Judd both look natural, so the short form will be spelled two ways by different people unless the family settles on one early.
- The -son ending marks it clearly as a boy's name in American use; there is no established girls' tradition behind it.
- Its use is more common in some parts of the country than others, so how familiar it sounds will depend on where a child grows up.
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Judson
Masculine · #934 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Judsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,700 people named Judson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Judson in 2025?
- Judson ranks #934 among US boy names in 2025, with 252 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Judson?
- About 1 in every 6,778 US boys born in 2025 was named Judson — 252 in all.
- Will my child share the name Judson with classmates?
- Judson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Judson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Massimo#935 · Syaire#935 · Jairo#935 · Krue#935 · Kreed#935 · Dillon#929 · Isa#929 · Agastya#929
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Judson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Judson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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