Sampson
Masculine · “of the sun”
Sampson is the older English spelling of Samson, the judge whose strength was in his hair. The name is Hebrew and it points at the sun.
How old is the name Sampson?
Sampson was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Sampson alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 2,500 people named Sampson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sampson most popular?
Sampson peaked in 1898, reaching #409 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 2,970 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Where it comes from
From Shimshon to Sampson
The story of Sampson
Samson's story fills four chapters of Judges and is one of the strangest in the Hebrew Bible — riddles, a lion, a jawbone, and a collapse of pillars. Greek wrote him Sampson with an inserted p, which is how the name came into Latin and then into medieval English; the p-less Samson is the later correction. Both spellings have been in continuous English use, and Sampson also became a common surname.
Meaning
of the sun
From Hebrew Shimshon, built on shemesh, the sun, with a diminutive ending; the town Beth Shemesh, house of the sun, stood near Samson's home territory.
How the name formed
- Shimshon
- Sampson
Related forms: Samson · Shimshon · Sansón · Shamshun
Pronouncing Sampson
SAMP-suhn
Two syllables, first stressed. The p is fully sounded, which is the only difference from Samson.
Nicknames for Sampson
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
- 201651 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #409reached in 1898
- Change vs 2022
- −19.0%34 in 2025, from 42
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.
Sampson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Samson in English — spelling variant
- Shimshon in Hebrew — same name
- Sansón in Spanish — same name
- Shamshun in Arabic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, North Carolina, Texas.
Sampsons among us
people named Sampson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Sampson
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
Sampson 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 Sampson is headed
Sampson is easing off slowly — about 18% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Sampson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sampson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning and a documented record measured in thousands of years.
- Sam is available immediately as an entirely ordinary short form.
- The p spelling has been in English use since the Middle Ages, so it is not a modern invention.
- Samson is the more common modern spelling and will be written for him.
- The biblical Samson comes to a violent end, and the story is well enough known to follow the name.
- Sampson is also a common surname, which occasionally causes confusion.
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What they receive
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Sampson
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sampsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Sampson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sampson in 2025?
- Sampson ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sampson?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Sampson — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sampson with classmates?
- Sampson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sampson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Mika#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sampson? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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