Addison
Son of Adam, a masculine name of English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 155,483 living Americans carry the first name Addison. It sits at #68 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (91.6% of registrations). The average person named Addison today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Addison births was 2007 (12,290 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Haley (155,392).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Addison. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Addison with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Addison started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Addison is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
155K
~ 1 in 2,204 Americans
Peak year
2007
12,290 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#68
Tracked since 1880
Census
Addison in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 128,861 people with the first name Addison, which placed it at #438 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#438
National first-name rank
People counted
129K
128,861 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
42.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Addison
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Addison is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Addison described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Addison at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.1% · 107,035
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 8,745
- Two or more races5.1% · 6,570
- Black or African American3.3% · 4,243
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 1,507
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 761
Gender
Gender distribution for Addison
Addison leans heavily female at 91.6% of total registrations, but 13,363 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Addison as a male name
- Ranked #1,930 in 2024
- 81 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (445 births)
Addison as a female name
- Ranked #68 in 2024
- 3,327 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (11,949 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Addison leans strongly female. 118,913 people counted with this name were female (92.3%), compared with 9,953 male bearers (7.7%).
Popularity
Addison: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Addison from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 72,485 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Addison by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Addison during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Addisons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Addison, while District of Columbia, Hawaii, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,010 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Addison
The name Addison has its origins in the Old English language and is derived from the surname Addison, which means "son of Addy". Addy itself is a diminutive form of the name Adam, derived from the Hebrew name meaning "earth" or "ground". The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with early recorded instances found in English parish records dating back to the 13th century.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Addison Arundell, an English nobleman who lived in the 14th century and served as Lord Chancellor of England under King Edward III. Another notable historical figure was Addison Pratt, an early leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who lived from 1802 to 1872 and played a significant role in the establishment of the church's presence in the Pacific Islands.
In the literary world, the name is perhaps most famously associated with Joseph Addison, the 17th-century English essayist, poet, and playwright. Addison, who lived from 1672 to 1719, co-founded the influential literary publication The Spectator and is considered one of the foremost practitioners of the English essay.
Moving forward in time, Addison Gillespie was an American baseball player who played for the Washington Senators in the early 20th century, appearing in the 1924 and 1925 World Series. In the field of aviation, Addison Bain was a pioneering American aeronautical engineer who made significant contributions to the development of aircraft design during the early 20th century.
Throughout history, the name Addison has been borne by individuals from various fields, including politics, literature, sports, and science. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its distinctive sound and its connection to a rich historical and cultural heritage.
People
Addison + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Addison as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Addison: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Addison?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 155,483 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Addison going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,204 US residents.
Is Addison a common name?
We classify Addison as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 159,245 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Addison most popular?
The single biggest year for Addison was 2007, when 12,290 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Addison is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Addison in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 128,861 people with the name Addison, or 42.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #438 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Addison in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Addison?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Addison leans strongly female. 118,913 people counted with this name were female (92.3%), compared with 9,953 male bearers (7.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Addison?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Addison is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.8%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Addison most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Addison in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.1% (107,035 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Addison in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Addison a female name?
Yes, 91.6% of people registered as Addison in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Addison still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Addison in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Addison can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Addison as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.