Lawson
Masculine · “son of Law”
Lawson is given to both — 18,533 boys and 605 girls since 1880. See Lawson as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Lawson began as a plain English patronymic — a family called themselves after Law, the medieval everyday form of Lawrence. It has the same easy two-beat shape as the surnames-turned-first-names that English speakers have been borrowing for generations, and it puts the whole long history of Lawrence behind a name that sounds unmistakably modern in a classroom.
How old is the name Lawson?
Lawson was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lawson is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 16,000 people named Lawson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lawson most popular?
Lawson peaked in 2020, reaching #357 nationally. Today it ranks #381, 24 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lawson appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Laurentius to Lawson
The story of Lawson
Lawson is a hereditary surname from medieval England and the Scottish borders, formed the same way as Jackson and Wilson: a pet form of a father's name plus -son. The father's name here was Lawrence, clipped in ordinary speech to Law, and the Latin Laurentius behind it had traveled through the church into English by the Middle Ages. The surname spread widely across northern England and later throughout the English-speaking world. Its use as a first name belongs to the American habit of promoting family surnames to the front of the name — a practice with deep roots here, and one that has drawn Lawson forward only quite recently.
Meaning
son of Law, a medieval short form of Lawrence
Lawrence itself goes back to Latin Laurentius, meaning a man from Laurentum, a town whose name was linked to the laurel.
How the name formed
- Laurentius
- Laurence
- Lawrence
- Law
- Lawson
Related forms: Lawrence · Lorenzo · Laurent · Lorenz · Lourenço · Lorenzo
Pronouncing Lawson
LAW-sun
Stress on the first syllable. The spelling gives the sound away on sight, in English and in most other languages that use the Latin alphabet.
Nicknames for Lawson
Moderate
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
- 2019870 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #357reached in 2020
- Change vs 2022
- +5.6%830 in 2025, from 786
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.
Lawson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lawrence in English — related form
- Lorenzo in Italian — related form
- Laurent in French — related form
- Lorenz in German — related form
- Lourenço in Portuguese — related form
- Lorenzo in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, North Carolina.
Lawsons among us
people named Lawson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,058 born in 2025 was named Lawson
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Javon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lawson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Javon climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Javon's path sketches the road Lawson is walking now.
Lawson 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 Lawson is headed
Lawson 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.
Lawson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lawson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds: most people write it correctly on the first hearing, even if they have never met one.
- Carries the full history of Lawrence and its European relatives — Lorenzo, Laurent, Lorenz — without sounding like any of them.
- A real, long-established surname, so it reads as a family name to anyone who hears it that way, and as a given name to anyone who doesn't.
- Familiar in shape but rarely doubled up: a child named Lawson is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- Best represented across Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas, where surname first names have the deepest local tradition.
- It sits close to Dawson, Lawton and Larson, and gets swapped with them regularly in speech and on rosters. Repeating the name once, slowly, becomes routine.
- The -son ending is very much of this moment, and its bearers skew young. A Lawson born now will likely read as belonging to this generation for life — as Gary or Dennis do for theirs.
- Lawson is also a large Japanese convenience-store chain and the name of a British band, so search results are mixed rather than personal.
- As a surname-style name it can feel formal on a toddler; the short form Law fills that gap easily, and most families arrive at it on their own.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lawson to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lawson
Masculine · #381 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lawsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,000 people named Lawson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lawson in 2025?
- Lawson ranks #381 among US boy names in 2025, with 830 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lawson?
- About 1 in every 2,058 US boys born in 2025 was named Lawson — 830 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lawson with classmates?
- Lawson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lawson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Winston#381 · Ricardo#380 · Stephen#383 · Daxton#379 · Khalil#384 · Clark#377 · Hugo#377 · Cesar#385
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lawson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lawson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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