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Hudson

English place-name and surname
"Hugh's son"
Clare Green
By Clare Green
Updated Mon Jul 14 2025

Hudson Origin and Meaning

The name Hudson is a boy's name of English origin meaning "Hugh's son".

Hudson has risen quickly up the charts over the past 30 years, getting a lot of its style value from New York's Hudson River. That makes it a nature name and a place name that's also got the fashion gloss of New York City.

The Hudson River was named for 17th century British explorer Henry Hudson, who also gave him name to Canada's Hudson Bay. Hudson has long been a prominent surname. Along with Henry, there was also heartthrob Rock, director Hugh, the musical Hudson brothers, and Kate Hudson today.

As a first name, Hudson has been given to several celebrity children, including the sons of Robert Herjavec, Marcia Gay Harden, Gena Lee Nolan, and Drew Lachey.

Hudson literally means 'son of Hudd', which was a nickname for both Hugh and Richard in the Middle Ages. Streamlined spelling Hud was the name of the macho title character of an iconic Paul Newman film; John Mellencamp has a son named Hud.

James Barbour pulled a gender switch when he named his daughter Hudson in 2008.

Along with its popularity in the US, Hudson also ranks in the Top 100 in other English-speaking countries. Its popularity has not, however, extended to other European countries, many of which have laws against using surnames as first names.

# 22 in the US

Hudson Rank in US Top 1000

# 206 on Nameberry

Hudson Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name Hudson

20 Names Similar to Hudson

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Hudson.

Famous People Named Hudson

  • Hudson David Yang
    American actor
  • Hudson Lowe
    Anglo,Irish Governor of St. Helena and "jailer" of Napoleon Bonaparte
  • (James) Hudson Taylor
    English missionary to China
  • Hudson Stuck
    British,American mountain climber
  • Hudson Felipe Gonçalves
    Brazilian footballer
  • Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos
    Brazilian footballer
  • Hudson Santos de Souza
    Brazilian middle distance runner
  • Hudson Maxim
    American inventor of smokeless gunpowder
  • (Wilmot) Hudson Fysh
    Australian aviator and businessman
  • Henry Hudson
    English explorer
  • (Hudson) Riley Hawk
    son of skateboarder Tony Hawk
  • Hudson Scheel Harden (b. 2004)
    son of actress Marcia Gay Harden and Thaddaeus Scheel; twin of sister Julitta Dee Scheel
  • Hudson Oliver
    son of comedian Jonn Oliver
  • Hudson Lee Hulse (b. 2006)
    son of actress Gena Lee Nolin and ice hockey player Cale Hulse
  • Hudson Kirk (b. 2010)
    son of actress Greer Robson and Scott Kirk
  • Hudson Nicholas Lachey (b. 2010)
    son of singer Drew Lachey
  • Hudson Stone (b. 2011)
    son of Lindsay Price and chef Curtis Stone
  • Hudson Evangelista (b. 2011)
    son of actor Allen Evangelista
  • Hudson James Sebastian
    son of singer Guy Sebastian
  • Hudson Sawa (b. 2014)
    son of actor Devon Sawa
  • Hudson Harold Hardwick
    son of NFL player Nick Hardwick
  • Hudson Fromm
    son of beauty queen Beth Hood and songwriter Andrew Fromm
  • Hudson Robert Herjavec (b. 2018)
    son of TV personalities Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson; twin of sister Haven Mae
  • Jake Hudson Cropper
    son of musician Jason Cropper of Weezer
  • Hudson Fasching
    American ice hockey player

The name Hudson in Pop Culture

  • "Hudson Hawk
    " 1991 film and its main character
  • Hudson Thomas
    character in The Sims series
  • Finn Hudson
    character in "Glee"
  • Hudson
    song by the band Vampire Weekend
  • Hudson
    New York, city
  • Hudson Taylor
    Irish/English band
  • Hudson River
    in New York
  • Hudson Bay
    large body of water in North,Eastern Canada
  • The Fabulous Hudson Hornet
    character in Disney Pixar's 'Cars'

The name Hudson in Nameberry Blog Posts