Langston
Top 1000
About Langston
The great African-American Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes put this one on the map, while actor Laurence Fishburne adopted it for his now grown son, born in 1987. Despite these popular associations, the name didn't make it into the US Top 1000 until 2013, and while it has remained in the charts, it has stayed towards the latter end.
Hughes was born James Mercer Langston Hughes, Langston being his mother's maiden name. The name itself derived from an Old English place name, that could be interpreted to mean "tall man's town", though "long stone" is an equally likely meaning.
Some similar choices are Lanford, Landon, Langford and Langley, while Kingston and Landon are more familiar options.
Pronounced LANG-stun..
As of October 2026, Langston ranked #1000 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #652 in 2016.
Editor's take: The name Langston is a boy's name of English origin meaning "tall man's town; long stone".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #748 | 317 | 165 |
| 2015 | #689 | 365 | 190.4 |
| 2016 | #652 | 405 | 213.4 |
| 2017 | #677 | 375 | 202.6 |
| 2018 | #682 | 359 | 197.7 |
| 2019 | #678 | 379 | 211.2 |
| 2020 | #693 | 367 | 212.6 |
| 2021 | #742 | 343 | 196.1 |
| 2022 | #793 | 318 | 182.1 |
| 2023 | #892 | 261 | 152.6 |
| 2024 | #909 | 256 | 148.6 |
| 2025 | #1,000 | 227 | 132.9 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Langston.
- Thaddeus
- Allister
- Dace
- Prescott
- Vaughn
- Merritt
- Landry
- Monroe
- Leland
- Warner
- Campbell
- Burke
- Abbott
- Collins
- Kent
- Conway
- Blair
- Holland
- Reeve
- Wylie
Langston on lists
Famous Langstons
- (James Mercer) Langston Hughes
American poet
- Langston Galloway
American basketball player
- Langston Branden Walker
American football player
- Langston Moore
American football player
- Langston Fishburne
son of actor Laurence Fishburne
Langston in pop culture
- Langston Graham
character on TV's "Chuck"
- Chester Langston
character on TV's "American Gothic"
- Langston Wilde
female character on American soap "One Life to Live"