Morrison
Scottish place name meaning "marshy land" or "of the moor".
Name Census estimates that about 1,468 living Americans carry the first name Morrison. It is a predominantly male name (93.4% of registrations). The average person named Morrison today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Morrison births was 2018 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Morrison. 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 Morrison with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 233,484 Americans
Peak year
2018
90 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,653
Tracked since 1911
Census
Morrison in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,355 people with the first name Morrison, which placed it at #10,003 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
#10,003
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,355 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Morrison
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Morrison is White at 68.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.5%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Morrison 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 Morrison at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.2% · 924
- Black or African American12.5% · 169
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 140
- Two or more races5.4% · 73
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Morrison
Morrison leans heavily male at 93.4% of total registrations, but 128 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Morrison as a male name
- Ranked #3,653 in 2024
- 31 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (81 births)
Morrison as a female name
- Ranked #13,006 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Morrison leans strongly male. 1,204 people counted with this name were male (88.8%), compared with 152 female bearers (11.2%).
Popularity
Morrison: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Morrison from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 656 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Morrison remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Morrison 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 Morrison during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Morrisons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Colorado, Texas recorded the most babies named Morrison, while Ohio, Indiana, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Morrison
The given name Morrison originates from the medieval Scottish surname Morrison, derived from the Gaelic personal name "Muireach" or "Muireadhach." Muireach potentially means "a mariner" or "navigator," stemming from the Gaelic word "muir," meaning "the sea." The name's origins can be traced back to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, where the name was commonly found among maritime communities.
Morrison as a first name gained popularity during the 19th century, largely due to the influence of prominent figures bearing the name. One of the earliest recorded instances of Morrison as a first name can be found in the birth records of Morrison Remick Waite, an American lawyer and politician who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1874-1888).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the first name Morrison. Among them is Morrison Ricker Waite (1816-1888), the aforementioned Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Another prominent figure was Morrison Remick "Morie" Remick (1909-1976), an American theatre producer and co-founder of the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Florida.
In the literary world, Morrison Heady (1916-1973) was an American author and journalist best known for his novel "The Wanderers." Morrison Lamotte Hay (1856-1927) was a Scottish-American painter and illustrator renowned for his murals and portraits.
The name Morrison also has religious connections. Morrison Remick Hubbard (1810-1892) was an American Congregationalist minister and educator who served as the 16th president of Bowdoin College in Maine.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the first name Morrison throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields, from politics and law to the arts and literature. The name's Scottish roots and maritime associations have contributed to its enduring legacy and appeal across generations.
People
Morrison + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Morrison as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Morrison: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Morrison?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,468 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Morrison 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 233,484 US residents.
Is Morrison a common name?
We classify Morrison as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,945 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Morrison most popular?
The single biggest year for Morrison was 2018, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Morrison is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Morrison in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,355 people with the name Morrison, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,003 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 Morrison 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 Morrison?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Morrison leans strongly male. 1,204 people counted with this name were male (88.8%), compared with 152 female bearers (11.2%). 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 Morrison?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Morrison is White at 68.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.5%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Morrison most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Morrison in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.2% (924 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 Morrison in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Morrison a male name?
Yes, 93.4% of people registered as Morrison 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 Morrison still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Morrison 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 Morrison 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 are named Morrison?
See how many people share the name Morrison on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.