Name Awesome

Washington

Boys' name

Settlement belonging to Wassa's people

Washington has been given to 2,644 babies in the U.S. since 1880. 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 1921, with 60 recorded.

Babies named Washington, 2024

1 in 418,000

Washington over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Washington: meaning, origin, and history

Settlement belonging to Wassa's people

surname transfer and English

What Washington means

Washington means “settlement belonging to Wassa's people”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Washington is used in English, Spanish (Latin American) and Portuguese (Brazilian).

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈwɑʃ.ɪŋ.tən/, /ˈwɒʃ.ɪŋ.tən/, /ˈwa.ʃin.ton/, /ˈwa.sin.ton/, /ˈwa.ʃiŋ.ton/ and /ˈwɔ.ʃĩ.tõ/ for Washington.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Washington (the town in Tyne and Wear, northeast England): probably from the Old English place name Hwæssingatūn (literally “a settlement of the household of *Hwæssa”), from *Hwæssa (a Saxon chieftain's name) + -ing (“belonging to”) + tūn (“homestead, settlement”). It was attested in 1096 as Wasindone. *Hwæssa is of uncertain origin, said to possibly correspond to waþ (“hunt”) + sige (“victory”), or possibly related to hwæte (“wheat”). There are other theories; more on Wikipedia. The surname derives from the town, and most places in the United States are named for George Washington.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Washington (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Washington is used in English and Portuguese. Its origins include surname transfer and English.

Washington is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Washington is pronounced /ˈwɑʃɪŋtən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,644 boys were recorded with the name Washington between 1880 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 60 in 1921; its best national rank was #329 in 1884.

How common is Washington?

Washington had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 418,000
8 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 215,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
289,633 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Washington 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 2024 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 289,633 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Washington. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Washingtons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Washington was born before 1930 — so the typical Washington is around 95 today.

Median birth year
1930
About 95 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
15.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
9.7%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
847
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 15.7% of all recorded uses (415).

Is Washington 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 1921 (60)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#329
1884

Where Washington is used

Across 1910–2025, Washington was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 205,838 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 50,000
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 50,000
  3. 3South Carolina1 in 50,000
  4. 4Georgia1 in 100,000
  5. 5Louisiana1 in 100,000
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 100,000
  7. 7Virginia1 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. Washington has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Notable people named Washington

People whose public names include Washington, 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.

Washington 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
#329
1884
Peak year
1921
60 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
2,644
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Washington

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

CharlestonWellingtonCarringtonBarringtonLivingstonCreightonArlingtonBrightonThorntonLexingtonThurstonCharltonRemmingtonClifftonPrincestonStrattonHarringtonEllingtonPrincetonKarringtonStocktonChristonBraytonCashton

Names with a curve like Washington

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

AllieGeneralOdieThorntonAlmaOlafErnstClemWinfieldVivianAdelbertGarfield

Sibling names for Washington

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 Washington

Top names of 1921, Washington's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1884Boys' names starting with WPortuguese NamesUncommon Portuguese Boy Names