Prescott
Masculine · “the priest's cottage”
Prescott is given to both — 1,718 boys and 169 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Prescott is the priest's cottage. Old English put its landscape and its institutions into place-names with the same plainness, and this one describes a specific building: the house the parish priest lived in.
How old is the name Prescott?
Prescott first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Prescott alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 1,400 people named Prescott are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Prescott most popular?
Prescott peaked in 1962, reaching #1625 nationally. Today it ranks #2941, 1,316 places below that high. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From preost cot to Prescott
The story of Prescott
English parishes housed their priests in a cottage beside the church, and a settlement that grew around one could take the name. Families from those places carried it away as a surname, and Prescott reached New England early. It became a given name in America in the nineteenth century through the usual route of a family surname moved forward, and it carries a distinct New England flavor for that reason, alongside Winslow, Everett and Chandler.
Meaning
the priest's cottage
Old English preost, 'priest', with cot, 'cottage, hut, shelter' — the small dwelling attached to a church. Prescot in Lancashire and Prescott in Gloucestershire are both recorded in that form. The reading is documented. Preost itself is a very early borrowing into English from Latin presbyter, 'elder', by way of Greek.
How the name formed
- preost cot
- Prescot
- Prescott
Pronouncing Prescott
PRESS-kut
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. There is no ambiguity in the sound; the only question is how many t's the spelling gets.
Nicknames for Prescott
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 202542 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1625reached in 1962
- Change vs 2023
- +82.6%42 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.
Prescott in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California.
Prescotts among us
people named Prescott are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 40,668 born in 2025 was named Prescott
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 Leeman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Prescott's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leeman climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leeman's path sketches the road Prescott is walking now.
Prescott 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 Prescott is headed
Prescott should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Prescott beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Prescott in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Pres and Scott are both ready short forms and Scott is a full name of its own.
- A documented English place-name with a plain and traceable meaning.
- Two syllables and phonetic spelling, with nothing silent to explain.
- Prescott and Prescot are both in use and the doubled t gets dropped in writing.
- It carries a strong New England and old-money flavor, which is either the appeal or the drawback.
- It is unmistakably a surname and will be read as one on forms.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Prescott
Masculine · #2941 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Prescotts 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 Prescott are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Prescott in 2025?
- Prescott ranks #2941 among US boy names in 2025, with 42 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Prescott?
- About 1 in every 40,668 US boys born in 2025 was named Prescott — 42 in all.
- Will my child share the name Prescott with classmates?
- Prescott will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Prescott
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kwame#2941 · Michelangelo#2941 · Jahan#2941 · Kairi#2941 · Yonah#2941 · Nihal#2941 · Lakai#2941 · Reyes#2941
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Prescott? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Prescott and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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