The name originated from the surname Hudson, which means ‘son of Hugh’. Hudd is a diminutive of Hugh. As a first name, Hudson is in use since the 19th century.
Hudson is a first name typically given to boys, but in rare cases also used as a girls name.
The first name Hudson is one of the top 100 most popular boys names in the US – currently at #56 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Hudson, accounting for approximately 0.40 % of all newborn boys. In the entire USA, approximately 87,420 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Hudson. That is 0.03 % of all living Americans.
The name originated from the surname Hudson, which means ‘son of Hugh’. Hudd is a diminutive of Hugh. As a first name, Hudson is in use since the 19th century.
By the way, the name is associated with the Hudson River, a 315-mile long river that flows from the Adirondack Mountains of New York State through the Hudson Valley into the Atlantic Ocean.
Hudson Mohawke (*1986)
The Scottish-American DJ and composer was born Ross Matthew Birchard but is better known by his stage name Hudson Mohawke. He is an influential DJ and electronic musician of the 21st century. In the late 2000s, he was a leader of the wonky scene, a subgenre of electronic music.
Hudson Leick (*1969)
Known for her role as villainess Callisto in the tv-show Xena: Warrior Princess (1995 2001), Leick starred in many tv-series and films in the 90s and early 2000s. She is also a certified Yoga instructor, offering workshops worldwide.
Hudson Maxim (1853 - 1927)
Maxim was an American inventor and chemist. He invented a variety of explosives, including smokeless gunpowder. In 1912, he gained attention for his book Defenseless America, in which he pointed out the weaknesses of the US defense system.
Hudson Fysh (1895 - 1974)
Fysh was born in Tasmania and served in the Australian Imperial Force in World War I. After the war, he co-founded the airline company Quantas in 1920, which is one of the most successful airline companies in the world. Fysh also worked as an aviation historian.
When you hear the name Hudson, you might first think of people. But did you know that there are also places with the name Hudson? Are you also called Hudson? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...
in the United States bear the name Hudson. They are located, for example, in Colorado, Maine, Kansas, Texas, and South Dakota.
is a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The entrance of the Holland Tunnel, which connects Manhattan with Jersey City, is located here.
is the 315-mile long Hudson River. It drains into the Atlantic Ocean between New York City and Jersey City.
sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large bay in northeastern Canada. It is named after Henry Hudson, the first European to explore it in 1610.
you can find Hudson Island. It is deemed a sensitive location.
is a volcano in southern Chile. It is known for two large eruptions in 1971 and 1991.
#27 - this is the highest rank Hudson has ever achieved. Not many names manage to reach such a high popularity in even one of the 140+ years of recording. The last time Hudson reached this top spot was in 2022 when 7,996 newborn boys were given this name. But as our statistics show, Hudson hasn't always been a popular name: in some years of record, most recently in the year 1903, not a single newborn or less than 5 were named Hudson (a name is only included in the official statistics if it has been given at least 5 times in a year). Nevertheless, the name Hudson has accompanied people in this country for a long time. It turns out that this name fits very well into our time today. From zero to hero - even though it took a while for Hudson to really catch on, it has become a very popular name.
In years where the graph has no value, the name Hudson was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.
The name Hudson may not be in the top rankings of the most popular boys’ names, but it is one of the few male given names, along with only 385 others, that can be found in every single state in the U.S. from Alaska to Florida and from California to New York. Of course, the name occurs more frequently in some states than in others – and Hudson is apparently especially popular in Utah. Although the name is not one of the top 100 most popular men’s names here either, one in 647 men in Utah is called Hudson. In total, that’s 2,104 people who feel addressed when the name Hudson is shouted loudly across Utah and who ensure that their name makes it to #163 in our SmartGenius ranking of the most common male names in this nice state. If you asked all people in the entire U.S. for their first name, you would hear Hudson as the answer a total of 87,420 times. This places Hudson at #311 in our SmartGenius statistics for the most popular male names in the whole of the USA. This is true for all currently living people across all states and age groups – the recent popularity of the name Hudson as a baby name is, of course, a bit different, as you can see from the statistics above.
Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter H is not particularly common as a first letter for boys' names: only 2.9% of all common boys' names in the US begin with an H. The most common first letters for boys' names are J and A, while X and U are the least common first letters of boys' names.
With six letters, the name Hudson is of average length. In fact, 28% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly six letters. 24% of all first names are shorter, while 48% have seven letters or more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.
This means that if 2.9% of all boys' names begin with an H, this initial letter is less common than the other letters on average. Nevertheless, there are of course some names that begin with H and are extremely popular, for example Henry, currently the most common boys’ name with H.
If your name is Hudson and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...
So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Hudson, you can simply say:
Hat
Unicorn
Dinosaur
Sun
Orange
Nut
Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.
Hudson
Hudson
Just use American Sign Language!
These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.
In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.
In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Hudson sounds like this: