Patterson
#11,650 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Patterson has been given to 560 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #11,650 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2013, with 16 recorded.
Babies named Patterson, 2025
1 in 553,000
Patterson over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Patterson?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 553,000
- 6 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 285,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #11,650
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 382,984 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Patterson sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Patterson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Pattersons were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Patterson was born before 1969 — so the typical Patterson is around 56 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2010s
- 20.6% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 37.0%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 371
- People you could plausibly meet
2010s — 20.6% of all recorded uses (111).
Is Patterson 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
- −4,279
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −5,979
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 0.38×
- Fewer babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 37.5%
- Peak was 2013 (16)
- Years since peak
- 12
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 39.1% average annual change
Spellings of Patterson
Patterson is not the most common spelling — Peterson is, with 60.3% against Patterson's 39.7%.
- Peterson60.3%819
- Patterson39.7%540
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.
Patterson around the world
Where Patterson ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.
- South Australia2012–2012#771in 2012
Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Patterson by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Patterson
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Patterson
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.