There's a suffix running through the top 100 boys names that's hard to ignore once you see it.
Jackson. Mason. Grayson. Hudson. Carson. Bryson. Dawson. Emerson. Anderson. Edison. These aren't random — they share the same DNA: Old English and Scandinavian occupational or patronymic surnames ending in -son, meaning "son of." They became given names through the same surname-crossover wave that produced Carter and Cooper, but the -son ending has gone deeper and wider than almost any other naming pattern in American history.
The data: -son names in the top 500, 2024
| Name | 1994 Rank | 2004 Rank | 2014 Rank | 2024 Rank | 2024 Babies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason | #502 | #345 | #4 | #23 | 10,831 |
| Jackson | #218 | #99 | #25 | #24 | 10,744 |
| Grayson | ~#1,500 | #540 | #103 | #40 | 7,893 |
| Hudson | #527 | #289 | #71 | #57 | 6,141 |
| Carson | #178 | #178 | #100 | #113 | 3,107 |
| Bryson | #729 | #346 | #134 | #130 | 2,857 |
| Emerson | #1,100 | #592 | #302 | #177 | 2,054 |
| Dawson | #574 | #193 | #209 | #340 | 916 |
| Edison | — | — | #760 | #466 | 614 |
| Anderson | #1,200 | #820 | #568 | #499 | 575 |
Mason: from obscurity to #4 in 20 years
Mason — Boys #23, 10,831 babies in 2024.
Mason's rise is one of the most dramatic in SSA history. It was essentially unknown as a given name in the early 1990s — a stonemason surname that hadn't crossed over to first name use.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | #502 | 386 |
| 2000 | #228 | 1,604 |
| 2004 | #345 | 1,036 |
| 2008 | #90 | 5,038 |
| 2011 | #2 | 17,304 |
| 2014 | #4 | 14,222 |
| 2020 | #10 | 12,456 |
| 2024 | #23 | 10,831 |
Mason's acceleration from 2006 to 2011 was extraordinary — it went from outside the top 300 to the #2 name in America in just five years. The 2011 peak at #2 coincides with Mason Disick (Kourtney Kardashian's son, born 2009) entering public consciousness; celebrity baby names can accelerate an already-rising trend. Mason is now declining slowly from its peak but remains firmly in the top 25.
Jackson: the most stable of the -son names
Jackson — Boys #24, 10,744 babies in 2024.
Jackson is the most durable name in this set — it has never had a sharp peak-and-crash cycle because it rose more gradually.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | #218 | 1,424 |
| 2000 | #140 | 2,750 |
| 2004 | #99 | 4,811 |
| 2010 | #31 | 10,243 |
| 2014 | #25 | 11,068 |
| 2018 | #19 | 12,116 |
| 2020 | #22 | 10,980 |
| 2024 | #24 | 10,744 |
Jackson peaked around 2018 and is holding near that level. It benefits from presidential association (Andrew Jackson), musical association (the Jackson 5, Jackson Browne), and the simple appeal of "Jack" as a nickname — you get both the strength of a traditional name and the coolness of a surname.
The spelling Jaxon has also risen, claiming about 3,000 additional babies per year at its own rank (#89 in 2024). Combined, the Jackson/Jaxon cluster accounts for nearly 14,000 babies annually.
Grayson: the fastest climber
Grayson — Boys #40, 7,893 babies in 2024.
Grayson barely existed as a given name in the 1990s. It was a Yorkshire village surname meaning "son of the gray-haired one."
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | ~#1,500 | ~45 |
| 2000 | #789 | 250 |
| 2004 | #540 | 408 |
| 2010 | #248 | 1,572 |
| 2014 | #103 | 4,261 |
| 2018 | #55 | 6,373 |
| 2022 | #37 | 7,942 |
| 2024 | #40 | 7,893 |
Grayson's rise has been more sustained than Mason's — it started later and hasn't peaked yet, or is very near its peak. The appeal is partly phonetic (the "gray" element feels modern and color-adjacent, see color-names) and partly that it hasn't yet accumulated the generational saturation that slows older names.
Hudson: the geography name that slipped in
Hudson — Boys #57, 6,141 babies in 2024.
Hudson is technically a geography name (Henry Hudson, the Hudson River, Hudson Bay) as much as a patronymic. But it rides the -son wave and fits perfectly in the category.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | #527 | 371 |
| 2000 | #361 | 771 |
| 2004 | #289 | 1,079 |
| 2010 | #115 | 3,339 |
| 2014 | #71 | 5,626 |
| 2020 | #63 | 5,592 |
| 2024 | #57 | 6,141 |
Hudson is still climbing slightly in 2024, which puts it in a different phase of the -son curve than Mason or Jackson. It could crack the top 50 in the next few years. The "Hud" nickname is cool without being silly, and the name has a rugged outdoors association that fits current tastes.
Carson: the one that never peaked massively
Carson — Boys #113, 3,107 babies in 2024.
Carson is interesting for what it didn't do. Despite fitting the -son pattern perfectly, it never shot up to the top 50. It's been hovering in the #100-200 range for three decades.
| Year | Rank | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | #178 | 1,705 |
| 2004 | #178 | 2,067 |
| 2014 | #100 | 4,367 |
| 2020 | #112 | 3,152 |
| 2024 | #113 | 3,107 |
Carson may be held back slightly by its primary association (Carson City, Johnny Carson) being more dated cultural references. It also competes with its nearly identical cousin Mason for the same niche. Still, 3,000+ babies a year is solid.
What comes next
The -son suffix is still producing new names. Watch these:
- Beckett — not strictly a -son name but same surname energy, #121 and rising fast
- Anderson — still climbing from the low 400s
- Edison — rising sharply on the inventor association
- Leighton / Weston — adjacent -ton endings following the same pattern
The -son wave shows no sign of stopping. It just keeps generating new names as older ones accumulate generational associations and slow down.
See er-ending-names for the parallel occupational surname wave, and surname-names for the broader first-name-from-surname trend.