Houston
Houston is ranked 702nd among boys in 2024 (381 births). Its best rank was 319th, in 1901.
- Rank in 2024
- #702down 13 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 3810.02% of boys
- Peak year
- 2021439 births
- Best rank
- #319in 1901
- Since 1880
- 18,124people given the name
The story in the numbers
17,699 boys have been named Houston in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2021, with 439 births.
This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1990, and the 2010s alone account for 15%. It has spent 127 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 425 girls have also been given it, 2.3% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Houston | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 162 | |
| 1890s | 185 | |
| 1900s | 305 | |
| 1910s | 1,117 | |
| 1920s | 1,579 | |
| 1930s | 1,097 | |
| 1940s | 1,093 | |
| 1950s | 839 | |
| 1960s | 634 | |
| 1970s | 482 | |
| 1980s | 1,164 | |
| 1990s | 2,302 | |
| 2000s | 2,198 | |
| 2010s | 2,619 | |
| 2020s | 1,923 |
In 2021, its biggest year
Houston was the 627th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 2021 were Liam, Noah, Oliver, Elijah and James. See all of 2021.
Names that rose and fell with Houston
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Felixpeak 2024
- Solomonpeak 2016
- Lucienpeak 2024
- Hamptonpeak 2024
- Colemanpeak 1997
- Fletcherpeak 2024
- Palmerpeak 2023
- Murphypeak 2024
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.