Woodson
Son of someone named Wood, a surname derived from an occupational name.
Name Census estimates that about 682 living Americans carry the first name Woodson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Woodson today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Woodson births was 2024 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Woodson. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
682
~ 1 in 502,572 Americans
Peak year
2024
48 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,737
Tracked since 1880
Census
Woodson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 602 people with the first name Woodson, which placed it at #18,028 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#18,028
National first-name rank
People counted
602
602 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Woodson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Woodson is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (24.3%) and Hispanic (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Woodson described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Woodson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.3% · 417
- Black or African American24.3% · 146
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 14
- Two or more races2.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 2
Popularity
Woodson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Woodson from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 187 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Woodson by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Woodson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Woodsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Kentucky, Texas, Missouri recorded the most babies named Woodson, while Arkansas, Missouri, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Woodson
The name Woodson is an English surname that has been adopted as a given name. It is a derivation of the Old English words "wudu" and "sunu," meaning "wood" and "son," respectively. This name likely originated in medieval England and was initially used to refer to someone who lived near a wooded area or worked with wood, such as a woodcutter or carpenter.
While the name Woodson does not have a direct connection to ancient texts or religious scriptures, it reflects the longstanding tradition of using occupational surnames as given names in English-speaking cultures. This practice dates back to the Middle Ages when surnames became more common and were often derived from a person's trade or location.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Woodson can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and property in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Wudusune," referring to an individual or family residing in a wooded area.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Woodson. One of the most famous is Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), an American historian, author, and scholar known as the "Father of Black History." He founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and is credited with establishing Black History Month.
Another prominent figure with the name Woodson is William Woodson (1580-1644), an English colonist who settled in Virginia in the early 17th century and became a prominent landowner and member of the House of Burgesses, the first legislative assembly in the British colonies.
In the arts, there is Jacqueline Woodson (born 1963), an American writer and author of numerous books for children and young adults, including the award-winning "Brown Girl Dreaming." She has received numerous accolades, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition for children's literature.
In the realm of sports, Woodson is the name of former NBA player Mike Woodson (born 1958), who played for several teams in the 1980s and later became a successful head coach, leading the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks.
Lastly, Woodson is also the name of Constance Baker Woodson (1899-1976), an American educator and civil rights activist who played a crucial role in desegregating public schools in South Carolina and promoting equal educational opportunities for African American students.
People
Woodson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Woodson as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Woodson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Woodson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 682 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Woodson going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 502,572 US residents.
Is Woodson a common name?
We classify Woodson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,303 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Woodson most popular?
The single biggest year for Woodson was 2024, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Woodson is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Woodson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 602 people with the name Woodson, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,028 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Woodson in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Woodson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Woodson leans strongly male. 598 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 11 female bearers (1.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Woodson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Woodson is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (24.3%) and Hispanic (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Woodson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Woodson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (417 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Woodson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Woodson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Woodson in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Woodson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Woodson in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Woodson can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Woodson?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Woodson on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.