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Sampson

#3,434 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly sun, through Samson

Sampson has been given to 3,901 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #3,434 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2017, with 61 recorded.

Babies named Sampson, 2025

1 in 97,500

Sampson over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sampson: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly sun, through Samson

Hebrew

What Sampson means

Sampson belongs to the name family reached through Sampson → Samson → Sampson → Σαμψών → שִׁמְשׁוֹן. Its meaning is “sun”.

Origin, language, and formation

Sampson is used in English and Middle English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Samson, Sampson, Σαμψών and שִׁמְשׁוֹן.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Sampson is pronounced /ˈsæmp.sən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,901 boys were recorded with the name Sampson between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 61 in 2017; its best national rank was #415 in 1898.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,362 in 2020 to #3,434 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,322 in 2015 to #3,434 in 2025.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Sampson?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 97,500
34 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 50,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,434
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
67,586 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sampson 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 2025 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 67,586 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sampson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sampsons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sampson was born before 1969 — so the typical Sampson is around 56 today.

Median birth year
1969
About 56 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
11.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
26.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,495
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 11.4% of all recorded uses (445).

Is Sampson 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
+10
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,072
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,112
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.60×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
55.7%
Peak was 2017 (61)
Years since peak
8
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
13.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#415
1898

Spellings of Sampson

Sampson is not the most common spelling — Jameson is, with 59.0% against Sampson's 3.7%.

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 Sampson is used

Across 1910–2025, Sampson was most concentrated in South Carolina — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 221,887 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1South Carolina1 in 33,333
  2. 2New Mexico1 in 50,000
  3. 3Alabama1 in 100,000
  4. 4California1 in 100,000
  5. 5Georgia1 in 100,000
  6. 6Mississippi1 in 100,000
  7. 7North Carolina1 in 100,000
  8. 8Arkansas1 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. Sampson has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Sampson around the world

Where Sampson 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.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #3,256
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1999–2009
    #2,692
    in 2009
  • South Australia
    1948–2012
    #514
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Sampson

People whose public names include Sampson, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Sampson by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,434
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,072
Best rank ever
#415
1898
Peak year
2017
61 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,901
Count in 2025
34

Names similar to Sampson

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

SamsonSammuelSameerSamarthSamualAllisonPiersonBraysonEllisonColesonJohnsonIversonTreysonMadisonBransonVinsonGersonMaisonPearsonWessonMaysonBronsonRobinsonWoodson

Names with a curve like Sampson

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Sampson, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

CollinsPriceBaxterEnosPascalHamiltonLawtonNilesCaesarHoseaElieDonato

Sibling names for Sampson

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

Explore around Sampson

Top names of 2017, Sampson's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1898Boys' names starting with S