Judson
Son of Jude, a name derived from the Hebrew name Judah.
Name Census estimates that about 9,611 living Americans carry the first name Judson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Judson today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Judson births was 2023 (281 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Judson. 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.
People living today
9.6K
~ 1 in 35,663 Americans
Peak year
2023
281 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#956
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Judson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Judson 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 2,069 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Judson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Judson 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 Judson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Judsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, Alabama recorded the most babies named Judson, while South Dakota, Wisconsin, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 222 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Judson
The name Judson is an English given name derived from the surname Judson, which originated as a patronymic name meaning "son of Judd." The name Judd is believed to have derived from the Hebrew name Judah, meaning "praised" or "celebrated." The name Judah has its roots in the biblical figure Judah, the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob and the founder of the Israelite tribe of Judah.
The earliest recorded use of the name Judson dates back to the 16th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Judson Judson, an English clergyman born in 1586. He served as the Vicar of Piddington in Oxfordshire and was known for his religious writings.
In the 17th century, a notable figure named Judson was Judson Brett, an English landowner and member of Parliament who lived from 1620 to 1697. He represented the constituency of Gloucestershire in the House of Commons during the reign of King Charles II.
The name Judson gained significant prominence in the early 19th century due to the life and work of Adoniram Judson, an American Baptist missionary born in 1788. Judson is considered the first significant American Protestant missionary to work in Burma (now Myanmar). He spent nearly 40 years in Burma, translating the Bible into Burmese and establishing several Baptist churches.
Another notable bearer of the name was Judson Kilpatrick, an American soldier who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was born in 1836 and is remembered for his role in several significant battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg and the Atlanta Campaign.
In the field of literature, Judson Mitcham was an American author and academic who lived from 1929 to 2004. He is best known for his novels and short stories exploring themes of Southern culture and the human condition.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the given name Judson, reflecting its English origins, biblical roots, and diverse uses across various fields and contexts over the centuries.
People
Judson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Judson as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Judson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Judson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,611 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Judson 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 35,663 US residents.
Is Judson a common name?
We classify Judson as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,627 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Judson most popular?
The single biggest year for Judson was 2023, when 281 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Judson is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Judson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Judson 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.