Hobson

Boys' name

Son of Hob

Hobson has been given to 436 babies in the U.S. since 1898. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1898, with 38 recorded.

Babies named Hobson, 2021

1 in 678,000

Hobson over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hobson: meaning, origin, and history

Son of Hob

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Hobson means

Hobson means “son of Hob”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Hobson is used in English (Rare).

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈhɑb.sən/ and /ˈhɒb.sən/ for Hobson.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 436 boys were recorded with the name Hobson between 1898 and 2021. Its highest annual count was 38 in 1898; its best national rank was #311 in 1898.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Hobson?

Hobson had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2021, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2021: 1 in 678,000; 5 of 3,389,958 births
Among boys only: 1 in 350,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2021: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 469,949 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Hobson sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2021 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 469,949 children born in 2021 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hobson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hobsons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hobson was born before 1927 — so the typical Hobson is around 98 today.

Median birth year: 1927; About 98 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 25.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 9.2%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 89; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 25.7% of all recorded uses (112).

Is Hobson rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1898 (38)
Years since peak: 127; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 14.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #311; 1898

Spellings of Hobson

Hobson is not the most common spelling — Hudson is, with 71.9% against Hobson's 0.27%.

Hudson71.9%114,287
Houston11.4%18,104
Colson6.1%9,729
Gibson3.4%5,410
Orson1.7%2,714
Kolson1.3%2,084
Hanson1.2%1,839
Holton0.67%1,060

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Hobson is used

Across 1910–2025, Hobson was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 497,397 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Alabama1 in 100,000
2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Hobson has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hobson by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #311; 1898
Peak year: 1898; 38 that year
First recorded: 1898
Last recorded: 2021
All-time count: 436
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Hobson

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Paxson Winson Jeison Ranson Herson Nilson Hasson Kenson Henson Masson Jahson Alison Aceson Daxson Jaeson Adison Yeison Jeyson Khyson Rayson Maeson Hutson Reason Taison

Sibling names for Hobson

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Meta Hulda Bess Lulu Maud Maude Golda Lauretta

For a brother

Dewey Will Grover Gustave Garfield Waldo Orrin Winfield

Explore around Hobson

Top names of 1898, Hobson's peak year The 1890s in full Other names that peaked in 1898 Boys' names starting with H