Houston
A masculine name derived from an English surname meaning "the town's settlement".
Name Census estimates that about 12,939 living Americans carry the first name Houston. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Houston today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Houston births was 2021 (468 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Houston. 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
- • Although Houston is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 425 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,490 Americans
Peak year
2021
468 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#702
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Houston
Houston leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 425 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Houston as a male name
- Ranked #702 in 2024
- 381 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (439 births)
Houston as a female name
- Ranked #7,715 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (29 births)
Popularity
Houston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Houston 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 2,721 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Houston remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Houston 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 Houston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Houstons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Alabama recorded the most babies named Houston, while New Mexico, Wisconsin, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 369 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Houston
The name Houston is an English given name derived from the surname Houston, which originated in Scotland. The surname is thought to have its roots in the Old English words "hūs" meaning "house" and "tūn" meaning "settlement" or "farm," suggesting the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near a particular homestead or village.
In terms of historical references, the name Houston appears in Scottish records dating back to the 12th century. One of the earliest recorded instances is a charter from the reign of King William the Lion (1165-1214), which mentions a person named Hugh de Paduinan, whose name later evolved into Houston.
Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Houston. One of the earliest was Sir John Houston (c. 1378-1430), a Scottish nobleman and diplomat who served as the Lord Chancellor of Scotland under King James I. Another prominent figure was Samuel Houston (1793-1863), an American soldier and politician who served as the President of the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1838 and later as a U.S. Senator.
In the realm of literature, the name Houston is associated with the American writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), whose works explored the rich cultural heritage of African Americans in the southern United States. The name also has ties to the world of sports, with notable athletes such as Whitney Houston (1963-2012), a legendary American singer and actress, and Dwight Houston (1942-2022), a former professional basketball player who spent several seasons in the NBA.
Another influential figure with the name Houston was Charles Hamilton Houston (1895-1950), a prominent African American lawyer and civil rights activist who played a pivotal role in laying the legal groundwork for the eventual dismantling of racial segregation in the United States. His contributions were instrumental in the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.
While the name Houston has its roots in Scotland, it has gained popularity and recognition around the world, particularly in the United States, where it has been associated with various notable figures across different fields, from politics and literature to sports and entertainment.
People
Houston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Houston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Houston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Houston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,939 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Houston 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 26,490 US residents.
Is Houston a common name?
We classify Houston as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,124 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Houston most popular?
The single biggest year for Houston was 2021, when 468 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Houston is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Houston a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Houston 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.
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.