Austin
Meaning
great, magnificent
The story
Austin began as a medieval contraction of Augustine, from the Roman name Augustus, great or venerable. Saint Augustine of Hippo gave the full form enormous weight in Christian history, while Austin made it brisk and English. The same spelling also became a surname and, through Stephen F. Austin, the name of the Texas capital, adding a strong American place association. The US curve stays near the floor through the 1970s, first registers in the 1980s, climbs fast in the 1990s, peaks in the 2000s, and then falls in the 2010s and 2020s. That wave made Austin sound less like a medieval saint and more like a contemporary American boy or a creative Texas city. Both histories remain true, which is the name's trick: old Latin dignity hidden inside a relaxed two-syllable form.
Austin around the world
One shared root links 7 names across 5 languages.
Shared root: from Latin augustus "exalted, venerable", the imperial title behind Augustus, Augustine, and their kin
The constellation
More branches
Austin in song
Austin (Boots Stop Workin')
Dasha (2023)
A boot-scooting kiss-off to a man named Austin that went from a TikTok line dance to the Billboard charts.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Austin peaked in the 2000s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
149 people · the #31,238 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 12
Among people named Austin living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 39 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Austin
Most people given the name Austin in the United States were born between 1990 and 2009. The Austin you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Austin deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Austin truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Austin fits with your family’s names and surname.
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