220+ Boy Names That End in -son
Updated Sun Sep 29 2024
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Boy names that end in son are among the oldest and most classic male names around.
The top boy name ending in -son is Mason, which ranks in the Top 10. Along with Mason, boy names ending in son in the US Top 100 include Jackson, Grayson, Carson, Jameson, Bryson, and Jason.
Unique boy names ending in son include Hodgson and Babson. You can also fashion a unique son-ending name from an ancestral female first name, such as Marson for Mary, Marie, or Margaret.
Originally patronyms, names that end in son are based quite literally on the name of the father, so that Jackson is the son of Jack, Harrison is the son of Harry, and so on.
Today, of course, boy names ending in son are trending apart from their relationship to family names. Names ending in son for boys sound like (and often are) surnames, a stylish class all its own. And some people feel that boys' names with son at the end sound more like real names, buttoned-up and classy, but also lending themselves to cute short forms.
Of course there are a handful of popular girl names that end in son too, notably Madison, Addison, and Alison. But the son ending is usually attached to boy names. Here are the choices, ordered by their current popularity on Nameberry.
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- Emerson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Emery"Description:
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 daughter, it is definitely still a viable boys name.
- Carson
Origin:
English and Scottish surnameMeaning:
"son of the marsh dwellers"Description:
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 Drew's Dad, Carson is still steadily in the Top 200 baby names.
- Hudson
Origin:
English place-name and surnameMeaning:
"Hugh's son"Description:
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.
- Orson
Origin:
Latin and EnglishMeaning:
"bear cub"Description:
In the past, Orson has felt like a one-person moniker, tied to film director Orson Welles, who dropped his given name of George in favor of his more distinctive middle. While the Citizen Kane creator seemed to own the name during his lifetime, it's now an interesting possibility for any parent seeking an unusual yet solid name. It's started to appear to the celeb set too -- both Paz Vega and Lauren Ambrose have little Orsons.
- Harrison
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Harry"Description:
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 territory.
- Grayson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"the son of the bailiff"Description:
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.
- Mason
Origin:
English occupational nameMeaning:
"worker in stone"Description:
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.
- Jackson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Jack"Description:
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, nearly 17,000 baby boys were named Jackson -- along Jaxon, Jaxson, Jaxxon, Jaxen, Jaxyn, Jaxsen, and Jaxsyn -- which counted together makes it the Number 3 boys' name.
- Jason
Origin:
GreekMeaning:
"to heal"Description:
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 still a widely used name.
- Jameson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of James"Description:
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. Jameson is one of the hottest boy names starting with J, still the most popular first initial for boys' names. One small caveat: Jameson is also a brand of whiskey.
- Samson
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"sun"Description:
With the prevailing popularity of Samuel, some parents are considering this more (literally) powerful biblical name, which shares the desirable nickname of Sam.
- Dawson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of David"Description:
Dawson was scarcely heard as a first name before the debut of Dawson's Creek in 1998, at which point it leaped up more than 550 places in one year. The character Dawson Leery, played by James Van Der Beek, was a teen favorite until the show's demise in 2003.
- Edison
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Edith or Adam"Description:
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.
- Stetson
Origin:
English surnameMeaning:
"cattle dealer"Description:
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 given to nearly 2000 boys.
- Benson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Ben"Description:
Benson has outgrown its long association with a wisecracking TV butler. Parents may see it as an alternate route to nickname Ben, very different in image than the biblical Benjamin. Benson also carries the patronymic theme made popular by Jackson, Harrison, and Jefferson. More recently, Olivia Benson of Law and Order: SVU has reclaimed this as a surname. On a less salubrious note, Benson is still connected to the cigarette brand Benson and Hedges.
- Arson
Origin:
Word nameMeaning:
"deliberately setting fire to property"Description:
Sure, Arson is a crime, but anecdotally, many of the parents who choose this name do so because Arson = "our son."
- Tyson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"firebrand"Description:
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.
- Madison
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Matthew"Description:
Madison was at one time a strictly boys' presidential name, reaching as high as Number 311 at the end of the nineteenth century. That all changed in 1985 when it entered the girls' list, zooming up quickly until it reached the Number 2 spot, with more than 22,000 female babies given the name in 2001. As is so often the case, its use for boys has dropped precipitously.
- Greyson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of the steward"Description:
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 in The Nanny Diaries is Grayer, and actor Tyler Christopher opted for the unusual spelling of Greysun for his son. Some parents are considering Grayson -- or Gracen or Gracyn -- for girls as an androgynous spin on Grace.
- Addison
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Adam"Description:
Despite its origin as a patronymic meaning "son of Adam", Addison really caught on for baby girls in the US around the turn of the millennium, following in Madison's footsteps to peak at #11 in 2007 and again in 2010.