Wesson
An English surname transferred to masculine given name of unknown meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 2,945 living Americans carry the first name Wesson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wesson today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wesson births was 2021 (306 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wesson. 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 Wesson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Wesson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 116,385 Americans
Peak year
2021
306 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#949
Tracked since 2004
Census
Wesson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,589 people with the first name Wesson, which placed it at #8,945 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
#8,945
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,589 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wesson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wesson is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Wesson 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 Wesson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.6% · 1,424
- Two or more races4.5% · 71
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 54
- Black or African American1.1% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Wesson
Out of the 2,966 babies given the name Wesson since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Wesson as a male name
- Ranked #949 in 2024
- 240 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (306 births)
Wesson as a female name
- Ranked #17,837 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2019 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wesson leans strongly male. 1,568 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 18 female bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Wesson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wesson from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,559 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wesson 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 Wesson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Wessons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Wesson, while North Dakota, Massachusetts, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wesson
The given name Wesson is an Old English name derived from the combination of the elements "Wes" and "sunu," meaning "son of Wes." The name's origins can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period, between the 5th and 11th centuries AD, when it was common to identify individuals by their patronymic relationship.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Wesson can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings and properties in England, compiled in 1086 on the orders of William the Conqueror. In this historical document, several individuals bearing the name Wesson are mentioned, suggesting its widespread use during the Norman period.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Wesson was Sir William Wesson, a prominent English knight who fought in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. His bravery and prowess on the battlefield earned him recognition from King Henry V, who granted him lands and titles for his service.
Another individual of note was John Wesson, a 16th-century English scholar and theologian. Born in 1520, Wesson was a fellow at Oxford University and authored several influential works on religious doctrine and philosophy. His writings contributed significantly to the intellectual discourse of the time.
In the realm of literature, the name Wesson was immortalized by the 19th-century American author and poet James Wesson Lowell. Born in 1819, Lowell was a highly acclaimed figure in the Fireside Poets movement and is best known for his works such as "The Vision of Sir Launfal" and "The Biglow Papers."
Moving into the 20th century, one cannot overlook the impact of Samuel Wesson, an American entrepreneur and co-founder of the iconic firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson. Born in 1808, Wesson's innovative designs and contributions to the firearms industry have left an indelible mark on American history.
While the name Wesson may have evolved and taken on various forms over the centuries, its roots can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period, reflecting the rich cultural heritage and linguistic traditions of the English language.
People
Wesson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wesson as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wesson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wesson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,945 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wesson 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 116,385 US residents.
Is Wesson a common name?
We classify Wesson as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,966 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wesson most popular?
The single biggest year for Wesson was 2021, when 306 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wesson is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wesson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,589 people with the name Wesson, or 0.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,945 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 Wesson 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 Wesson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wesson leans strongly male. 1,568 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 18 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Wesson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wesson is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Wesson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wesson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (1,424 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 Wesson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wesson a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Wesson 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 Wesson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wesson 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 Wesson 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 the name Wesson?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Wesson, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.