Anson
Anson was given to 94 boys in 2025, #1,728 among boys’ names; 7,937 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,750 Americans named Anson and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 10 and 38.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Anson by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Anson mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Anson is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
Also “an English surname transferred from the given name meaning “son of Agnes”.”
From Ann + -son (the former word is a diminutive).
/ˈæn.sən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Anson?
#1,728 among boys’ names, 2025
Anson fell from #804 in 2015 to #1,728 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.15 to 0.06 per 1,000.
302 babies in 2016, the peak
Anson peaked in 2016, when 302 boys were given it, #785 among boys’ names. The 94 births of 2025 are 31% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 94 | #1,728 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 135 | #1,387 | 0.08 |
| 2023 | 148 | #1,294 | 0.09 |
| 2022 | 158 | #1,246 | 0.09 |
| 2021 | 152 | #1,254 | 0.09 |
| 2020 | 189 | #1,058 | 0.11 |
| 2019 | 218 | #978 | 0.12 |
| 2018 | 246 | #885 | 0.14 |
| 2017 | 295 | #789 | 0.16 |
| 2016 | 302 | #785 | 0.16 |
Every recorded year (134)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 287 | #804 | 0.15 |
| 2014 | 282 | #809 | 0.15 |
| 2013 | 205 | #974 | 0.11 |
| 2012 | 159 | #1,151 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 156 | #1,152 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 141 | #1,245 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 167 | #1,105 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 181 | #1,049 | 0.09 |
| 2007 | 146 | #1,206 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 132 | #1,265 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 136 | #1,169 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 137 | #1,144 | 0.07 |
| 2003 | 111 | #1,276 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 98 | #1,343 | 0.05 |
| 2001 | 101 | #1,294 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 81 | #1,493 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 69 | #1,577 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 62 | #1,663 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 70 | #1,496 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 57 | #1,668 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 48 | #1,797 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 48 | #1,790 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 47 | #1,787 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 45 | #1,815 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 53 | #1,584 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 58 | #1,481 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 49 | #1,610 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 71 | #1,201 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 72 | #1,132 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 64 | #1,187 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 68 | #1,124 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 72 | #1,053 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 63 | #1,130 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 71 | #1,083 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 93 | #934 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 105 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 62 | #1,137 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 90 | #908 | 0.05 |
| 1977 | 123 | #767 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 92 | #873 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 63 | #1,042 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 47 | #1,215 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 40 | #1,312 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 46 | #1,210 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 26 | #1,745 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 46 | #1,222 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 45 | #1,168 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 25 | #1,576 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 44 | #1,117 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 35 | #1,282 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 45 | #1,108 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 41 | #1,198 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 24 | #1,627 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 21 | #1,759 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 33 | #1,388 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 19 | #1,859 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 26 | #1,559 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 30 | #1,419 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 32 | #1,389 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 25 | #1,568 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 31 | #1,370 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 25 | #1,527 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 13 | #2,190 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 28 | #1,431 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,055 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 13 | #2,115 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 18 | #1,755 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 16 | #1,883 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 20 | #1,698 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 16 | #1,816 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 22 | #1,407 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 27 | #1,285 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 19 | #1,637 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 30 | #1,270 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 25 | #1,334 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 22 | #1,435 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 18 | #1,579 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 14 | #1,903 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 14 | #1,915 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 21 | #1,464 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 20 | #1,542 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 15 | #1,861 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,214 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 9 | #2,648 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 15 | #1,930 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 12 | #2,300 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 23 | #1,523 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,051 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 26 | #1,471 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 31 | #1,300 | 0.03 |
| 1925 | 23 | #1,587 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 29 | #1,381 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 24 | #1,552 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 30 | #1,337 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 41 | #1,103 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 21 | #1,700 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 29 | #1,323 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 27 | #1,374 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 27 | #1,324 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 31 | #1,177 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 33 | #1,125 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 20 | #1,344 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 15 | #1,367 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 16 | #1,175 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,038 | 0.05 |
| 1910 | 5 | #1,599 | 0.03 |
| 1905 | 13 | #666 | 0.10 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,011 | 0.05 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,170 | 0.04 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,068 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 6 | #981 | 0.05 |
| 1894 | 9 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1893 | 8 | #770 | 0.07 |
| 1892 | 6 | #960 | 0.05 |
| 1891 | 10 | #603 | 0.10 |
| 1889 | 6 | #884 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 6 | #824 | 0.06 |
| 1886 | 8 | #700 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 9 | #645 | 0.08 |
| 1884 | 10 | #614 | 0.09 |
| 1883 | 9 | #647 | 0.09 |
| 1882 | 9 | #653 | 0.08 |
| 1881 | 9 | #598 | 0.09 |
| 1880 | 10 | #603 | 0.09 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Anson a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Anson has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 134 years of records.
Girls and boys named Anson: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Anson, and how old are they?
6,750 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 7,937 Americans ever recorded as Anson. The median Anson alive today is 18 years old; half are between 10 and 38.
The 2020 Census counted 5,978 people named Anson (84 women and girls, 5,894 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,076 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 73 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 303 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 834 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 928 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,920 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,690 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Anson born?
The states with the most babies named Anson are California, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 15 | #1,247 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 15 | #1,298 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | #918 | 0.4× |
Where Anson is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Anson is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 3.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Anson with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 8,220 babies since 1880, Anson is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 94 of their 104 babies (90%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Anson
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Anson and names like it
- Compare Anson and AnsenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sAnson peaked in 2016.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Anson since 1910.
- The top names of 2016The year the most babies were named Anson.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Anson alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.