Thurston
Masculine · “Thor's stone”
Thurston has a god in it. The Norse name Thorsteinn joins Thor to the word for a stone, and it was given freely in the Viking age — there were a great many Thorsteinns, and the name survived the conversion to Christianity without anybody apparently minding that it named a god they no longer worshipped. It became an English surname and then, in America, a first name again.
How old is the name Thurston?
Thurston first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Thurston alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 1,800 people named Thurston are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Thurston most popular?
Thurston peaked in 1913, reaching #667 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,341 places below that high. See the whole 1913 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Þórsteinn to Thurston
The story of Thurston
Norse settlers brought the name to England, where it survived in the north and east and hardened into surnames — Thurston, Thurstan, Thruston. A Thurstan was archbishop of York in the twelfth century, which shows how completely the pagan element had stopped registering as one. In America the surname moved to the front of the name in the late nineteenth century, in the same wave that produced Clifford and Winston, and it has stayed rare since. For many Americans it now carries a comic association from a television castaway, which is the fate of any name a popular show attaches to a millionaire.
Meaning
Thor's stone
From Old Norse Þórsteinn: the god Thor and steinn, a stone. What the stone referred to is not certain — an altar, a boundary marker, a standing stone — but the two elements themselves are not in doubt. Names built on Thor were among the commonest in Norse society.
How the name formed
- Þórsteinn
- Thurstan
- Thurston
Related forms: Þórsteinn · Torsten · Thorsten · Þorsteinn
Pronouncing Thurston
THURS-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. The th is the soft one, as in thumb rather than as in this. Nothing in the spelling misleads an English reader.
Nicknames for Thurston
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 192067 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #667reached in 1913
- Change vs 2022
- −44.4%5 in 2025, 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.
Thurston in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Þórsteinn in Old Norse — same name
- Torsten in Swedish — same name
- Thorsten in Danish — same name
- Þorsteinn in Icelandic — same name
Thurstons among us
people named Thurston are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Thurston
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
Thurston 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
Thurston beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Thurston in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries a Norse god and a documented thousand-year history in eight letters.
- Thor is available as a short form and is unusually strong for one.
- The spelling and the saying agree exactly, which surnames of this length often do not.
- A long-running American sitcom attached the name to a comic millionaire, and older Americans will hear that first.
- It reads as a surname before it reads as a first name.
- It belongs to an older register and will sound formal on a small child, at least until he grows into it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Thurston to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Thurston? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Thurston
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Thurstons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Thurston are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Thurston in 2025?
- Thurston ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Thurston?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Thurston — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Thurston with classmates?
- Thurston will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Thurston
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Thurston? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Thurston and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle