Payson
Masculine · “son of Payne”
Payson is given to both — 1,443 boys and 1,169 girls since 1880. See Payson as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Payson is an English surname meaning son of Payne, and Payne is a name with a surprising history: it began as the Latin word for a country-dweller and then, in Christian usage, for someone who had not converted.
How old is the name Payson?
Payson first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Payson alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,400 people named Payson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Payson most popular?
Payson peaked in 2015, reaching #1870 nationally. Today it ranks #3240, 1,370 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
From paganus to Payson
The story of Payson
Paganus was a real medieval given name in England and France, given without any sense of insult — the religious meaning had not driven out the older one. Sons of a Payn became Payson and Paynson, and the surname survives in East Anglia and in New England, where a colonial family carried it. Its use as a given name is recent and American, and there are towns named Payson in Utah and Arizona that reinforce it.
Meaningscholars disagree
son of Payne
The surname is patronymic, formed on the medieval given name Payn or Payne, from Latin paganus. That word meant a villager or country-dweller before Christians used it for those outside the faith, and medieval usage kept both senses. Some readings instead take the first element as a form of Peter.
How the name formed
- paganus
- Payn
- Payson
Related forms: Paine · Payen
Pronouncing Payson
PAY-suhn
Two syllables, first stressed. It rhymes exactly with Mason and Jason.
Nicknames for Payson
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 201578 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1870reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −28.0%36 in 2025, from 50
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.
Payson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Paine in English — related form
- Payen in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Arizona, Texas, Utah.
Paysons among us
people named Payson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was named Payson
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 Devron test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Payson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Devron climbed just as high around 1990, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Devron's path sketches the road Payson is walking now.
Payson 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 Payson is headed
Payson should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Payson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Payson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented English surname with an unusually interesting word behind it.
- It rhymes with several very familiar names, so it never sounds out of place.
- Read correctly on sight by any English speaker.
- Peyton and Payson are close enough to be confused in speech and on paper.
- The word behind it eventually came to mean pagan, which he will discover.
- Payson, Peyson and Paysen all appear and none is dominant.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Payson
Masculine · #3240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Paysons 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 Payson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Payson in 2025?
- Payson ranks #3240 among US boy names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Payson?
- About 1 in every 47,447 US boys born in 2025 was named Payson — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Payson with classmates?
- Payson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Payson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenio#3240 · Pace#3240 · Stoney#3240 · Dany#3240 · Rasheed#3240 · Abdirahman#3240 · Mykah#3240 · Lowell#3240
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Payson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Payson and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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