Tyson
Masculine · Old French roots · “Either "firebrand" or "son of Dye”
Tyson is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 48,395 boys against 318 girls since 1880.
Tyson began as an English surname — one carried in the north of England for centuries before anyone thought to hand it to a baby — and it crossed into first-name use in America the quiet way, long before it was fashionable. Two clean syllables, a long i at the front and a soft landing, with the ready-made short form Ty already built in. It has been on American birth records for generations without ever crowding a classroom.
How old is the name Tyson?
Tyson first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Tyson alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 46,500 people named Tyson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tyson most popular?
Tyson peaked in 2009, reaching #237 nationally. Today it ranks #531, 294 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Tyson appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From tison (Old French, "firebrand") to Tyson
The story of Tyson
The name arrives in England with the Normans and settles in the north — Cumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire — as a hereditary surname spelled Tyson, Tison and Tisone in early records. Like thousands of British surnames it traveled to North America with emigrant families and stayed a family name for generations. The move to a first name is an American habit: surnames given as forenames, sometimes from a mother's maiden line, sometimes simply for the sound. Tyson made that crossing early in the twentieth century and has never fully left American birth records since.
Meaningscholars disagree
Either "firebrand" or "son of Dye"
Surname scholars give two serious readings. One traces it to Old French tison, a firebrand or burning log, used in medieval England as a nickname. The other reads it as "son of Dye" — Dye being a medieval pet form of the woman's name Dionysia — which makes it a cousin of the surname Dyson. Neither has won outright, and both are well attested.
How the name formed
- tisonOld French, "firebrand"
- Tison / Tysonmedieval English surname
- TysonAmerican given name
Related forms: Tison · Dyson
Pronouncing Tyson
TY-sun
Stress on the first syllable, which rhymes with "eye". The second syllable is unstressed and swallowed, closer to -sun than -son. Spelled exactly as it sounds, so it rarely needs repeating.
Nicknames for Tyson
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 20101,472 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #237reached in 2009
- Change vs 2023
- −30.2%565 in 2025, from 809
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.
Tyson in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tison in French — spelling variant
- Dyson in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Tysons among us
people named Tyson are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,023 born in 2025 was named Tyson
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 Huey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tyson's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Huey climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Huey's path sketches the road Tyson is walking now.
Tyson 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 Tyson is headed
Tyson should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Tyson beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tyson in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Comes with Ty already attached — a short form in real, independent use, so the child has a one-syllable option from day one.
- Phonetic spelling with no silent letters or variant traps; heard once, it is usually written correctly.
- Follows the well-worn American pattern of surnames used as first names, so it never sounds like an invention.
- In continuous use on US birth records across many generations, and still given every year — familiar without being common in any one classroom.
- The best-known Tyson in America is a heavyweight boxer who carries it as a surname, and for many adults that is the first association. It fades quickly in a child's own generation, but it is there.
- Tyson Foods puts the word on supermarket shelves nationwide, which some families find funny and some would rather avoid entirely.
- Ty is shared with Tyler, Tyrone and Tyrell, so the nickname will not single your child out the way the full name does.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Tyson to the vote.
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What they receive
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Tyson
Masculine · Old French roots · #531 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tysons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 46,500 people named Tyson are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tyson in 2025?
- Tyson ranks #531 among US boy names in 2025, with 565 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tyson?
- About 1 in every 3,023 US boys born in 2025 was named Tyson — 565 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tyson with classmates?
- Tyson will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tyson
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Troy#532 · Rio#532 · Ridge#529 · Azriel#529 · Scott#534 · Kendrick#535 · Philip#527 · Mohamed#527
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tyson? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tyson and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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