Richardson
Masculine
The -son surnames draw a Viking map. Johnson, Robinson, Richardson and Wilson cluster in the north and east of England, where Norse settlement was heaviest and where Old Norse used -son as a live patronymic — while the south used -s or nothing at all.
How old is the name Richardson?
Richardson first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Richardson alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 600 people named Richardson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Richardson most popular?
Richardson peaked in 1928, reaching #2387 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 5,292 places below that high. See the whole 1928 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ric-hard to Richardson
The story of Richardson
The two English patronymic systems split geographically and the split is still visible in surname distribution maps. Scandinavian settlement in the ninth and tenth centuries covered Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the East Midlands and Cumbria, and Old Norse marked descent with -son and -dóttir, a system Iceland still uses live, generating a new surname every generation. English in those regions adopted the -son ending as surnames fixed. Wales and the south-west used the genitive -s instead, and southern England often used no marker at all. So Richardson and Richards are the same name formed under two different conventions. The American given name peaks in 1928.
Meaning
Germanic "son of the powerful ruler"
Richard is Germanic ric, ruler or power, plus hard, brave or strong. The -son ending is a patronymic, marking the bearer as that man's son. Its distribution in England is northern and eastern, matching the Danelaw, because Old Norse formed patronymics that way and Icelandic still does. Southern and Welsh naming preferred the genitive -s, giving Richards, Williams and Jones.
How the name formed
- ric-hard
- Richard
- Richardson
Related forms: Richards · Rikardsen
Pronouncing Richardson
RICH-urd-sun
Three syllables, stress on the first, with the last two unstressed. The pattern matches Anderson, Harrison and Jefferson.
Nicknames for Richardson
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
- 1919
- Most boys named
- 200016 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2387reached in 1928
- Change vs 2023
- −28.6%10 in 2025, from 14
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.
Richardson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Richards in English — related form
- Rikardsen in Norwegian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida.
Richardsons among us
people named Richardson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Richardson
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
Richardson 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
Richardson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Richardson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The underlying name has settled Germanic elements.
- Rich and Rick are immediate short forms.
- It is substantial and immediately recognizable.
- It is overwhelmingly a surname rather than a given name.
- Three syllables means it will be shortened in daily use.
- The 1920s peak dates a bearer strongly.
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Richardson
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Richardsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Richardson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Richardson in 2025?
- Richardson ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Richardson?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Richardson — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Richardson with classmates?
- Richardson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Richardson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Richardson? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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