Houston
Meaning
surname/place name meaning 'Hugh's town'
The story
Houston comes from a Scottish surname meaning "Hugh's town", says Behind the Name: the original Houston is in Scotland near Glasgow, and the Texas city was named after the Texas president Sam Houston, who lived from 1793 to 1863. The American record kept the name working for a full century: about 185 boys in the 1890s, about 1,580 in the 1920s, a midcentury easing to about 480 in the 1970s, then the return, about 2,300 in the 1990s, about 2,620 in the 2010s, and about 2,330 so far this decade. A Scottish village at the root, a Texas statesman in the middle, and a name that reads as a place to most ears while quietly staying a first name all along.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Houston peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
51 people · the #65,741 first name in Brazil · median age 35
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Houston
Most people given the name Houston in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Houston deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Houston 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 Houston fits with your family’s names and surname.
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