Recorded 1917–2025 · United States
Payson was most popular in 2012, when 171 American babies were given the name — ranking #2,414 that year. In 2025 it ranked #4,004, with 83 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 2,612 people named Payson.
Payson first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1917, which makes it about 108 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 41 of the 109 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 2,612 American births named Payson between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 2,565 are estimated to be alive today.
83 American babies were named Payson in 2025, ranking #4,004 that year.
Payson is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 98 births a year, against 157 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -38% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Payson is a unisex name — 44.8% of the 2,612 Americans given it were girls and 55.2% were boys. It changed hands: since 2025 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 50% girls and 50% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 2,565 Americans named Payson are alive today — 98% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 12 years old, and half are between 7 and 16. That is a narrow band because Payson is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Payson on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org