Simpson
Masculine · “son of Simon”
Simpson is a surname that went onto American certificates as a first name in the nineteenth century, and it had an advantage most surnames lack: there is already a first name inside it. The doctor who shares it found the anaesthetic that made surgery and childbirth survivable by trying it on himself.
How old is the name Simpson?
Simpson first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Simpson alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 200 people named Simpson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Simpson most popular?
Simpson peaked in 1884, reaching #520 nationally. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Simon to Simpson
The story of Simpson
James Young Simpson had been trying ether on patients and disliked it, so he and two colleagues spent evenings at his Edinburgh house inhaling whatever volatile liquids a chemist could supply, in a dining room, after dinner, with their wives and a niece present. One night they tried a heavy sweet-smelling liquid a pharmacist had suggested almost as an afterthought. All three were on the floor within minutes and one of them woke up under a chair still trying to talk. He was using it on patients within days and published before the month was out. The opposition that followed came partly from surgeons, who thought pain was diagnostically useful, and partly from clergy who held that pain in childbirth was ordained; he answered the second group in print by pointing out that God had put Adam to sleep before removing the rib.
Meaning
son of Simon
The surname is built on a familiar form of Simon — Simme or Sim — with the patronymic ending. The p in the middle is not in Simon: it is a sound English mouths insert automatically between an m and an s, the same thing that happens in Thompson and Sampson.
How the name formed
- Simon
- Simme
- Simpson
Pronouncing Simpson
SIMP-sun
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The p is genuinely pronounced, and it got into the spelling because English speakers were saying it long before anyone wrote it down.
Nicknames for Simpson
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 191822 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #520reached in 1884
- Change vs 1989
- −44.4%5 in 1992, from 9
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.
Simpsons among us
people named Simpson are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Simpson sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Sim comes off it as a short form that is itself an old first name.
- Two syllables with front stress is the plainest shape English has.
- Everybody can spell it after hearing it once.
- One television family has owned the surname in popular culture for decades.
- Simson and Simpkins will both be written for it.
- It reads unmistakably as a surname, which suits some settings and not others.
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Simpson
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Simpsons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Simpson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Simpson in 2025?
- Simpson is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Simpson with classmates?
- Simpson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Steven#271 · Stephen#383 · Samuel#18 · Scott#534 · Sean#489 · Shawn#681 · Stanley#863 · Steve#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Simpson? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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