Macon
Masculine
Macon is given to both — 2,105 boys and 209 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Macon is a Georgia city named for a North Carolina congressman, and behind him a French town on the Saône with a Gaulish name — Mâcon, from the Matisco of the Romans. The American name is therefore three removes from anything Gaulish, and most bearers mean the city in Georgia.
How old is the name Macon?
Macon first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Macon alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 1,400 people named Macon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Macon most popular?
Macon peaked in 1904, reaching #966 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 6,228 places below that high. See the whole 1904 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Matisco to Macon
The story of Macon
Southern American naming has long used city and county names — Macon, Austin, Dallas, Memphis, Camden, Marion — and the practice sits alongside the surname habit rather than separate from it, since most of those cities were themselves named for people. Macon is a good example of the loop: a French town names a Huguenot family, the family names a congressman, the congressman names a city, and the city names children. Its 1904 American peak places it in the middle of that Southern pattern.
Meaningnot established
From a Gaulish place name of uncertain meaning
French Mâcon descends from Matisco, recorded in Roman sources for a settlement of the Aedui. Its Gaulish meaning is not recoverable. The Georgia city was named in 1823 for Nathaniel Macon, a congressman whose surname is of French Huguenot origin. Nothing in the chain supplies a usable meaning.
How the name formed
- Matisco
- Mâcon
- Macon
Related forms: Mâcon
Pronouncing Macon
MAY-kun
Two syllables with the stress on the first, said as the Georgia city is. French Mâcon is mah-KOHN with a nasal ending and final stress — a genuinely different word.
Nicknames for Macon
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
- 1898
- Most boys named
- 201548 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #966reached in 1904
- Change vs 2023
- −52.2%11 in 2025, from 23
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.
Macon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mâcon in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina.
Macons among us
people named Macon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Macon
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
Macon 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
Macon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Macon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mac is an easy, entirely conventional short form.
- It is short, two syllables, and unmistakable once heard.
- The Southern city association is specific and warm for many families.
- No meaning can be given; the Gaulish original is lost.
- The French and American pronunciations are unrelated.
- It will be read as a respelling of Mason, which is much more common.
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Macon
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Macons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Macon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Macon in 2025?
- Macon ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Macon?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Macon — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Macon with classmates?
- Macon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Macon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Landis#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Macon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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