Here’s A New Way to Honor Grandpa

Here’s A New Way to Honor Grandpa

Once upon a time, a lot of baby boys were named after their dads. But while some families still follow this tradition, there are many fewer juniors around than there used to be. One new twist on patronymics: son names, such as Harrison and Jackson.

Of course, most Harrisons and Jacksons aren’t the sons of guys named Harry and Jack. But we can’t help feeling that in some unconscious way, the son names have caught on because they suggest family tradition, the passing down of a name from father to, well, son….or sometimes daughter.

Popular son names for girls include Madison, Addison, Allison and Emerson. And some of the trendiest of the group don’t really feel like son names: Jason, Mason, Tyson, and Crimson would fit in this category.

Here, some great son names you may not have thought of. They stand on their own merits, but you might want to consider them as a way to honor an ancestral Carl or James.

(And a reminder that with  our search function, when you search by letter you’re not limited to ONE letter – you can search for all names that end in –son or –ley, for instance.)

ANDERSON

ANSON

BENSON

BRANSON

BRYSON

CARLSON

CHANSON

DAVISON

DAWSON

DENNISON

DODSON

EDISON

ELLISON (we see this one for girls, as an update of Allison)

ERICSON

FERGUSON

GARRISON

GARSON

GIBSON

GRAYSON

HENDERSON

HUDSON

IVERSON

JAMESON

JEFFERSON

JENSON

JUDSON

LARSON

MORRISON

NELSON

NICHOLSON

ORSON

PARSON

PATTERSON

PIERSON

ROBINSON

ROBSON

SAMPSON

SIMPSON

TENNYSON

THOMPSON

VINSON

WATSON

WILSON

WOODSON

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About the Author

Pamela Redmond

Pamela Redmond

Pamela Redmond is the cocreator and CEO of Nameberry and Baby Name DNA. The coauthor of ten groundbreaking books on names, Redmond is an internationally-recognized baby name expert, quoted and published widely in such media outlets as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, CNN, and the BBC. She has written about baby names for The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and People.

Redmond is also a New York Times bestselling novelist whose books include Younger, the basis for the hit television show, and its sequel, Older. She has three new books in the works.