Houston
Torn between Houston and another name? Compare them side by side →
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.
How popular is Houston around the world?
In the United States, 2,434 babies were named Houston between 2020 and 2025.
Houston is on the official records of the United States, Canada and Brazil.
United States
1 in 9,000
In the United States, 2,434 babies were named Houston between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Houston peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Houston has stayed between 482 and 2,723 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 33,000
In Canada, 11 boys named Houston were born in 2024, ranked 1,817th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 51 people in Brazil were named Houston, ranked 65,741st, with a median age of 35.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
England and Wales
last on record 2024
Houston is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
South Australia
last on record 2015
Houston is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
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.
Keep exploring
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.
Does Houston fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Houston to your family’s tree →