Carson
Carson was given to 2,883 boys in 2025, #124 among boys’ names; 140,887 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 135,000 Americans named Carson and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 9 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Carson by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Carson mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Carson is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “Carr” (name) and “Carra” (or) and “rock” (meaning).
Also “a female given name transferred from the surname.”
Could originate from the Gaelic name “Carr” or “Carra”, meaning “rock” or “fort,” combined with “son”, thus “son of Carr.”.
/ˈkɑɹ.sən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Carson?
#124 among boys’ names, 2025
Carson fell from #89 in 2015 to #124 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 2.5 to 1.7 per 1,000.
5,466 babies in 2018, the peak
Carson peaked in 2018, when 5,466 babies were given it (5,259 boys, #70 among boys’ names). The 3,080 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 56% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,883 | #124 | 1.7 |
| 2024 | 2,901 | #124 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 3,210 | #112 | 1.9 |
| 2022 | 3,408 | #110 | 2.0 |
| 2021 | 3,777 | #97 | 2.2 |
| 2020 | 4,196 | #84 | 2.4 |
| 2019 | 4,522 | #82 | 2.5 |
| 2018 | 5,259 | #70 | 2.9 |
| 2017 | 4,766 | #83 | 2.6 |
| 2016 | 4,931 | #81 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (145)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 4,761 | #89 | 2.5 |
| 2014 | 4,625 | #91 | 2.4 |
| 2013 | 4,540 | #90 | 2.4 |
| 2012 | 4,597 | #87 | 2.4 |
| 2011 | 4,927 | #85 | 2.6 |
| 2010 | 5,098 | #82 | 2.7 |
| 2009 | 4,997 | #88 | 2.5 |
| 2008 | 5,127 | #89 | 2.5 |
| 2007 | 5,120 | #91 | 2.5 |
| 2006 | 5,012 | #87 | 2.4 |
| 2005 | 4,354 | #101 | 2.2 |
| 2004 | 4,379 | #101 | 2.2 |
| 2003 | 4,861 | #89 | 2.5 |
| 2002 | 3,600 | #105 | 1.9 |
| 2001 | 3,943 | #95 | 2.0 |
| 2000 | 3,239 | #119 | 1.6 |
| 1999 | 2,347 | #156 | 1.2 |
| 1998 | 1,471 | #218 | 0.77 |
| 1997 | 1,047 | #268 | 0.56 |
| 1996 | 1,010 | #275 | 0.53 |
| 1995 | 893 | #297 | 0.47 |
| 1994 | 833 | #314 | 0.43 |
| 1993 | 699 | #346 | 0.36 |
| 1992 | 662 | #358 | 0.33 |
| 1991 | 537 | #421 | 0.27 |
| 1990 | 471 | #455 | 0.23 |
| 1989 | 377 | #490 | 0.19 |
| 1988 | 283 | #547 | 0.15 |
| 1987 | 250 | #574 | 0.13 |
| 1986 | 252 | #561 | 0.14 |
| 1985 | 256 | #548 | 0.14 |
| 1984 | 221 | #571 | 0.12 |
| 1983 | 185 | #627 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 189 | #633 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 164 | #675 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 156 | #697 | 0.09 |
| 1979 | 154 | #689 | 0.09 |
| 1978 | 137 | #717 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 135 | #737 | 0.08 |
| 1976 | 140 | #701 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 123 | #750 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 103 | #786 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 101 | #790 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 103 | #788 | 0.06 |
| 1971 | 84 | #887 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 104 | #798 | 0.06 |
| 1969 | 80 | #856 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 87 | #796 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 71 | #849 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 79 | #821 | 0.04 |
| 1965 | 89 | #786 | 0.05 |
| 1964 | 85 | #816 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 87 | #813 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 85 | #823 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 106 | #749 | 0.05 |
| 1960 | 90 | #804 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 98 | #772 | 0.05 |
| 1958 | 99 | #739 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 108 | #719 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 113 | #693 | 0.05 |
| 1955 | 126 | #653 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 136 | #631 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 141 | #610 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 121 | #637 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 150 | #558 | 0.08 |
| 1950 | 120 | #625 | 0.07 |
| 1949 | 133 | #586 | 0.07 |
| 1948 | 117 | #625 | 0.07 |
| 1947 | 135 | #584 | 0.07 |
| 1946 | 131 | #557 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 98 | #611 | 0.07 |
| 1944 | 69 | #746 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 122 | #572 | 0.09 |
| 1942 | 115 | #580 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 97 | #609 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 106 | #577 | 0.09 |
| 1939 | 117 | #531 | 0.11 |
| 1938 | 87 | #642 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 99 | #579 | 0.09 |
| 1936 | 89 | #618 | 0.09 |
| 1935 | 84 | #648 | 0.08 |
| 1934 | 84 | #658 | 0.08 |
| 1933 | 71 | #722 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 111 | #560 | 0.11 |
| 1931 | 86 | #638 | 0.08 |
| 1930 | 105 | #584 | 0.10 |
| 1929 | 72 | #744 | 0.07 |
| 1928 | 101 | #608 | 0.09 |
| 1927 | 105 | #609 | 0.09 |
| 1926 | 113 | #586 | 0.10 |
| 1925 | 103 | #617 | 0.09 |
| 1924 | 132 | #549 | 0.12 |
| 1923 | 108 | #611 | 0.10 |
| 1922 | 120 | #586 | 0.11 |
| 1921 | 97 | #656 | 0.09 |
| 1920 | 99 | #632 | 0.09 |
| 1919 | 103 | #594 | 0.11 |
| 1918 | 103 | #605 | 0.10 |
| 1917 | 90 | #624 | 0.10 |
| 1916 | 113 | #540 | 0.13 |
| 1915 | 95 | #583 | 0.11 |
| 1914 | 96 | #500 | 0.15 |
| 1913 | 47 | #652 | 0.09 |
| 1912 | 45 | #611 | 0.10 |
| 1911 | 37 | #482 | 0.16 |
| 1910 | 24 | #582 | 0.12 |
| 1909 | 22 | #558 | 0.13 |
| 1908 | 12 | #787 | 0.08 |
| 1907 | 15 | #674 | 0.10 |
| 1906 | 13 | #681 | 0.10 |
| 1905 | 12 | #705 | 0.09 |
| 1904 | 10 | #769 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 14 | #601 | 0.12 |
| 1902 | 17 | #525 | 0.14 |
| 1901 | 11 | #642 | 0.10 |
| 1900 | 16 | #628 | 0.11 |
| 1899 | 10 | #669 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 16 | #525 | 0.13 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,087 | 0.04 |
| 1896 | 8 | #836 | 0.07 |
| 1895 | 10 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1894 | 12 | #600 | 0.10 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,063 | 0.04 |
| 1892 | 12 | #607 | 0.10 |
| 1891 | 7 | #779 | 0.07 |
| 1890 | 8 | #756 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 7 | #810 | 0.06 |
| 1888 | 9 | #712 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 14 | #463 | 0.14 |
| 1886 | 8 | #709 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 9 | #654 | 0.08 |
| 1884 | 13 | #525 | 0.11 |
| 1882 | 14 | #495 | 0.12 |
| 1881 | 6 | #801 | 0.06 |
| 1880 | 9 | #644 | 0.08 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Carson a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 140,887 Americans recorded as Carson, 6% are girls and 94% boys. In 2025 it went to 197 girls and 2,883 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Carson: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Carson, and how old are they?
135,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 140,887 Americans ever recorded as Carson. The median Carson alive today is 16 years old; half are between 9 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 110,436 people named Carson (6,930 women and girls, 103,506 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 115,553 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 341 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,470 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,690 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 8,400 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 67,200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 55,700 |
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 Carson born?
The states with the most babies named Carson are Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 217 | #190 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 189 | #61 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 188 | #126 | 0.8× |
| California | 178 | #222 | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 164 | #74 | 1.4× |
| North Carolina | 145 | #93 | 1.5× |
| New York | 123 | #163 | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 121 | #106 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 115 | #79 | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 107 | #86 | 1.5× |
Where Carson is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Carson is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 1.7 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 Carson 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 175,551 babies since 1880, Carson is the most given (80% of them). In 2025 it was given to 3,080 of their 4,033 babies (76%), 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 Carson
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 Carson and names like it
- Compare Carson and KarsonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sCarson peaked in 2018.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Carson since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Carson: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2018The year the most babies were named Carson.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Carson alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with CMost given first.