Guston
A masculine name of English origin derived from the surname Guston.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Guston. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Guston today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Guston births was 2008 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Guston. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Guston. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2008
5 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2008 SSA rank
#13,224
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Guston: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Guston 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 Guston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Guston
The name Guston has its origins in the Old English language, dating back to the 5th century CE. It is derived from the Old English words "gust," meaning "guest" or "stranger," and "tun," meaning "town" or "settlement." The name likely referred to someone who had come from another town or was a newcomer to a particular area.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Guston can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Gustun," referring to a village in Kent, England.
In the Middle Ages, the name Guston was closely associated with the Guston family, a prominent noble family in Kent. Sir John Guston, born in 1320, was a renowned knight who fought alongside Edward III in the Hundred Years' War against France.
During the Renaissance, the name Guston gained some popularity among the English gentry. Sir William Guston (1472-1544) was a renowned courtier and diplomat who served under King Henry VIII. He played a crucial role in negotiating the Treaty of Greenwich, which established an alliance between England and the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 17th century, the name Guston was carried by John Guston (1615-1676), an English clergyman and scholar who served as the Master of Caius College, Cambridge. He was known for his contributions to theology and his extensive writings on church history.
Another notable bearer of the name Guston was Philip Guston (1913-1980), an influential American painter and printmaker. Born Phillip Goldstein in Montreal, Canada, he adopted the surname Guston as a nod to his family's roots in Guston, Kent. Guston's work spanned various styles, including abstract expressionism and figurative art, and he is celebrated for his unique artistic vision and contributions to modern art.
While the name Guston is not as common today as it once was, it remains a distinctive and historically significant name with roots in Old English and a rich tapestry of notable individuals who have borne it throughout the centuries.
People
Guston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Guston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Guston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Guston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Guston 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Guston a common name?
We classify Guston as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Guston most popular?
The single biggest year for Guston was 2008, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Guston is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Guston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Guston a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Guston in the SSA data are male. 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 Guston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Guston 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 Guston 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Guston?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.