Surname Baby Names: Harper #12, Hudson #22, Mason, Carter, Avery, and the Last-Name-First Trend

One of the defining shifts in American baby naming over the past 30 years: last names became first names. Names that were traditionally surnames — Mason, Carter, Hudson, Harper, Avery, Addison — are now in the top 50 for both sexes.

The trend started quietly in the 1980s, exploded in the 2000s, and is still going. Here's the full picture from SSA data.

The girls' side: Madison starts it all

Madison — Girls #46 (4,563 babies). Madison's story is the first domino of the surname trend for girls, and it starts with a mermaid.

In the 1984 film Splash, Tom Hanks plays a man who falls in love with a mermaid. When the mermaid picks a name for herself, she looks up at a street sign: Madison Avenue, New York City. She names herself Madison.

Before 1984, essentially no girl was named Madison. After Splash:

Madison hit #2 in 2005 — second only to Emily — before beginning its slow decline. It was the first great surname-to-first-name cross for girls, and it opened the door for everything that followed.

Harper — the most dramatic girls' surname rise

Harper — Girls #12 (7,370 babies). A harper is one who plays the harp; Harper is an English occupational surname. In 1990, Harper was #7,028 — essentially unused as a first name.

Harper rose faster than any other surname-turned-girls'-name. Several drivers:

• Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), gave the surname a literary-heroic association
• Victoria Beckham and David Beckham named their daughter Harper Seven Beckham in 2011 — one of the highest-profile celebrity baby name moments of the 2010s
• Go Set a Watchman (2015), Harper Lee's long-awaited second novel, put Lee back in the news at exactly the moment Harper was climbing

At #12, Harper is now more popular than Emma was in the 1990s. The occupational surname has become a mainstream first name within one generation.

Avery, Riley, and the girls' surname wave

Avery — Girls #31 (5,632 babies). English surname, from Old French Aubri (elf ruler). Avery went from #803 in 1990 to #31 in 2024.

Riley — Girls #42 (4,644 babies). Irish surname Ó Raghallaigh. Riley was #826 for girls in 1990. It's now #42. Riley also runs as a boys' name (#229) — see gender-neutral names.

Addison — Girls #68 (3,327 babies). English: "son of Adam." Addison was #1,923 for girls in 1990. It hit #11 in 2010 — possibly boosted by the character Dr. Addison Montgomery in Grey's Anatomy (2005–2012) — and is now at #68.

Kennedy — Girls #89 (2,881 babies). Irish surname Ó Cinnéide (descendant of the ugly-headed one). Kennedy was nearly unused for girls in 1990 (#2,983) but climbed to #58 in 2015, driven by the lasting positive cultural association with the Kennedy political family.

Emerson — Girls #151 (1,965 babies). "Son of Emery." Not in girls' data in 1990 or 2000; emerged in the 2010s and has been climbing steadily. Ralph Waldo Emerson gives it an intellectual New England association.

Collins — Girls #257 (1,237 babies). "Son of Colin." Completely unused as a first name before 2005. The character Collins in Rent (1996 musical) may have introduced the name; it has been climbing steadily as a purely modern surname-name.

Sawyer — Girls #297 (1,062 babies). "One who saws wood." Tom Sawyer is the Mark Twain protagonist; Sawyer is also a character on Lost (TV, 2004–2010). Sawyer went from #5,777 for girls in 1990 to #297 in 2024 — the Tom Sawyer name has become a girls' name.

The boys: Mason, Hudson, and the surname wave

Mason — Boys #42 (6,471 babies). A mason is a craftsman who works with stone (Latin machio, from Frankish makjon). Mason went from #208 in 1990 to its peak of #3 in 2015 — nearly the most popular boys' name in America — before beginning its decline to #42.

The driver: Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick named their son Mason Dash Disick in 2009. The combination of a rising surname-name trend and immediate celebrity visibility pushed Mason to the top of the chart.

Hudson — Boys #22 (7,990 babies). The English navigator Henry Hudson explored the Hudson River and Hudson Bay in the early 1600s. As a surname, Hudson connotes American exploration and the New York region. It was #1,535 in 1990 and is #22 now — still rising.

Carter — Boys #45 (6,267 babies). English occupational surname: one who transports goods by cart. Carter was #549 in 1990 and reached #24 in 2015 before settling at #45. President Jimmy Carter and Jay-Z's birth name (Shawn Corey Carter) kept it in the cultural conversation.

Jackson — Boys #35 (6,876 babies). "Son of Jack." Jackson hit #17 in 2015 at its peak. Michael Jackson's 2009 death, Andrew Jackson's complicated historical legacy, and Jackson Hole (Wyoming) all maintain different associations with the name.

Cooper — Boys #50 (5,699 babies). "One who makes barrels." Essentially unused in 1990 (#706) and now top-50. Cooper works as a surname-name because it's short, punchy, and sounds nothing like a traditional given name.

Brooks — Boys #67 (4,793 babies). From Old English broc (a stream). Brooks is still climbing — it was #92 in 2020 and is #67 in 2024. Country singer Garth Brooks may have played a role in early adoption; now it has the rugged outdoor aesthetic that's driving similar names (Walker, Weston, Colton).

Walker — Boys #82 (4,023 babies). "One who walks cloth." Walker was #844 in 1990 and is still climbing — #206 in 2020, #82 in 2024. The surname-to-first crossover happened slowly and is still accelerating.

Beckett — Boys #166 (2,186 babies). Samuel Beckett, the Nobel Prize-winning playwright (Waiting for Godot). Beckett didn't exist as a first name in 1990 and is now #166. It has a distinctly literary, intellectual character — parents who name their son Beckett are aware of the playwright.

Lincoln — Boys #73 (4,567 babies). "Lake colony" in Old English, Lincoln, England. Abraham Lincoln made this surname a patriotic given name. Lincoln peaked at #40 in 2020 and is at #73 in 2024.

Why surnames became first names

Several forces drove the trend:

Distinctiveness without invention. Surnames feel distinctive without being made-up. A parent who wants their child to be "unique" but doesn't want to invent a name (like Zayden or Brylee) can use an established surname that just isn't used as a first name yet. See the -aiden names.

Gender neutrality. Many surnames work across both sexes (Riley, Logan, Parker, Blake) — giving parents flexibility and breaking from traditional sex-linked naming. See gender-neutral names.

The Scrabble constraint. When every traditional given name feels either "too common" or "too weird," the surname pool offers a middle path — names that feel fresh but come from recognizable cultural or family heritage.

Celebrity adoption. Celebrities drove several key moments: Splash (Madison, 1984), Victoria Beckham (Harper, 2011), Kourtney Kardashian (Mason, 2009). Each celebrity birth put a specific surname-name into parents' consideration.

The occupational angle

Many of the most popular surname-first-names are occupational surnames — names that once described what a medieval ancestor did for work:

See also occupational names for the full analysis.

Where it's heading

The surname-first-name trend shows no signs of stopping. New surnames are still entering the chart: Collins, Emerson, Sawyer, Harlow. The pipeline is deep — there are thousands of common English surnames that haven't yet made the crossover.

The constraint is differentiation: as Mason, Harper, and Carter become mainstream top-50 names, they lose their "distinctive" quality and parents move to the next tier of surnames. The trend feeds on itself.

Explore: Harper · Hudson · Mason · Carter · Avery · Riley · Kennedy · Madison

Data: SSA 1990 and 2024 US releases.