the best of the masculine -son names

Hudson

English place-name and surname

"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…

Jackson

English

"son of Jack"

Jackson is one of those names that's much more popular than you think, coming in near the top of our annual Playground Analysis, which ranks names by grouping all their spellings together. Last year,…

Mason

English occupational name

"worker in stone"

Mason is an occupational surname that ranked among the Top 10 name for boys throughout the 2010s, after its choice as one of the first Kardashian baby names. It remained a Top 10 choice in the US…

Grayson

English

"the son of the bailiff"

Grayson, which you might think of as a Jason-Mason substitute, has been rising through the US Top 1000 since 1984 and has ranked in the Top 100 since 2011. That makes Grayson a modern classic boys'…

Harrison

English

"son of Harry"

Harrison, a name made viable by Harrison Ford, is increasingly popular with parents who want an H name that's more formal than Harry or Hank but doesn't veer into the stiff Huntington-Harrington…

Carson

English and Scottish surname

"son of the marsh dwellers"

Carson is one of the most long-running popular androgynous baby names , with a dash of the Wild West via the legendary Missouri frontiersman Kit Carson. Dating back to when it was the name of Nancy…

Stetson

English surname

"cattle dealer"

Best known as a popular brand of Western hats, this surname gives off rugged, cowboy vibes and a sense of confident coolness. A name on the rise, Stetson entered the US Top 200 in 2023 when it was…

Jameson

English

"son of James"

This is a strong new James varietal, sometimes shared by girls. An original way to honor Grandpa Jim, Jameson is swiftly moving up the charts, entering the Top 100 for the first time ever in 2017.…

Greyson

English

"son of the steward"

Greyson and Grayson, nephews of Jason, are both on the fast track. Both variations have made their way all the way up to the Top 100 since 2016. Gray/Grey makes a nice nickname. The name of the child…

Jason

Greek

"to heal"

Jason, the Number 3 name for the entire decade of the 1970s -- thus the title of our original baby-naming book, Beyond Jennifer & Jason -- is more likely to be dad's name now than baby's, but it's…

Emerson

English

"son of Emery"

Emerson is a dignified, somewhat serious name associated with transcendental thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson. Much more popular now for girls since Desperate Housewife Teri Hatcher used it for her…

Colson

English surname

"son of Nicholas"

Author Colson Whitehead introduced this surname-name to the lexicon, perfect for a son or grandson of a Nicholas, a Nicole, or a Colin. Or anyone else who likes the sound for that matter, since there…

Anderson

English from Scandinavian

"son of Anders"

Rugged and tough, Anderson shot up quite a bit on the pop list in the 2000's, no doubt in large part due to the prominence of white-haired cable newsman Anderson Coopers, more recently, it has…

Lawson

English

"son of Lawrence"

Appealing way, à la Dawson, to honor an ancestral Lawrence. Lawson is also an English pop rock band. Lawson has history or use that dates far back, but it fell off of the charts in 1950. The name…

Kyson

English

"son of Kyle"

An update of Tyson for parents who prefer the Ky nickname to Ty. It was the middle name of a character on Heroes .

Samson

Hebrew

"sun"

With the prevailing popularity of Samuel, some parents are considering this more (literally) powerful biblical name, which shares the desirable nickname of Sam. Samson was, of course, the…

Tyson

English

"firebrand"

As parents were finding too many Tylers at the neighborhood playground, they began looking to Tyson as an alternative, no longer concerned with possible connections to Mike Tyson or Tyson chicken.

Kason

Modern invented name

Jason with a K or Kase with an N or Karson without the R. Kason is one of many similar names that are extremely popular right now. Kayson is the most popular of the bunch, but besides Kason, there's…

Nelson

English

"son of Neil"

Nelson is a rather stiff and dated surname name that is sometimes used to honor distinguished South African activist Nelson Mandela, as Celine Dion did for one of her twin boys. Other notable…

Edison

English

"son of Edith or Adam"

This rhythmic last-name-first-name projects the creativity and inventiveness of Thomas Edison. It's an English surname deriving from either Adam or Eda, a medieval diminutive of Edith. Q. Why is it…