Payson
#3,291 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Payson has been given to 2,612 babies in the U.S. since 1917. In 2025 it ranked #3,291 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2015, with 78 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 55% boys, 45% girls all-time.
Babies named Payson, 2025
1 in 92,100
Payson 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Payson over time
In 2025, Payson went to 57% girls and 43% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Payson?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 92,100
- 36 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 47,400
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #3,291
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 63,832 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Payson 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 63,832 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Payson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Paysons were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Payson was born before 2012 — so the typical Payson is around 13 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2010s
- 42.5% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 87.0%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 1,421
- People you could plausibly meet
2010s — 42.5% of all recorded uses (613).
Is Payson 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
- −633
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- −757
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −1,406
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 0.46×
- Fewer babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 46.2%
- Peak was 2015 (78)
- Years since peak
- 10
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Shifting
- 23.1% average annual change
Spellings of Payson
Payson is not the most common spelling — Jason is, with 44.0% against Payson's 0.06%.
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 Payson is used — boys
Across 1910–2025, Payson was most concentrated in Arizona — about 1 in 14,286 boys, against 1 in 192,388 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 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. Payson has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Where Payson is used — girls
Across 1910–2025, Payson was most concentrated in Arizona — about 1 in 25,000 girls, against 1 in 407,490 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).
Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Payson has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Payson around the world
Where Payson 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.
- Canada2014–2014#2,134in 2014
Popularity data from Statistics Canada. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Payson by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Payson
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Payson
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.