How popular is the baby name Mason in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Mason.

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Popularity of the baby name Mason


Posts that mention the name Mason

Mason Dixon: Good baby name?

An Ann Landers column from 1995 featured a letter from one Mrs. Dixon, whose husband wanted to name their child Mason — “Mason Dixon” (as in, the Mason-Dixon line).

“I’m afraid our son would be made fun of throughout his life,” Mrs. Dixon said.

Ann agreed: “I’m on your side. To saddle a child with the name Mason Dixon would surely make him a lifelong butt of jokes.”

The reader responses printed a few months later, though, tended to be more supportive.

  • From Rose Rose: “I attribute my sense of humor to the fact that I had such an unusual name.”
  • From Mason Dickson: “Go for it. I’ve had a lot of fun with this name, and people always remember me.”
  • From Janice Mason Jarr, formerly Janice Mason Dixon: “No great improvement.”

Where do you stand on the name Mason Dixon — thumbs up or thumbs down?

Source: “Unusual name is just fine.” Portsmouth Daily Times 19 Jun. 1995: B4.

Popular baby names in Manitoba & Saskatchewan (Canada), 2011

Liam was the most popular baby boy name in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan last year. The other top names in the neighboring Canadian provinces were…

Manitoba:

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Liam
2. Ethan
3. Noah
4. Logan
5. Lucas
6. Benjamin
7. Mason
8. Jayden
9. Carter
10. Jacob/Alexander [tie]		1. Olivia
2. Ava
3. Emily
4. Sophia
5. Emma
6. Hailey/Sophie [tie]
7. Chloe/Isabella [tie]
8. Lily
9. Brooklyn
10. Abigail/Ella [tie]

Saskatchewan:

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Liam
2. Jacob
3. Ethan
4. Mason
5. Lucas
6. Hunter
7. Noah
8. William
9. Carter
10. Cole		1. Emma
2. Ava
3. Sophia
4. Olivia
5. Chloe
6. Emily
7. Hailey
8. Lily
9. Ella
10. Abigail

Sources: Sask. most popular baby names released, Liam top baby name in ‘Toba

Popular baby names in Scotland (UK), 2011

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Scotland’s General Register Office has just announced the top baby names in Scotland for 2011:

Girl Names

  1. Sophie
  2. Lily
  3. Ava
  4. Olivia
  5. Emily
  6. Lucy
  7. Isla
  8. Jessica
  9. Chloe
  10. Ellie

Boy Names

  1. Jack
  2. Lewis
  3. James
  4. Logan
  5. Ethan
  6. Daniel
  7. Ryan
  8. Alexander
  9. Harry
  10. Aaron

Fast-risers outside the top ten include Riley, Mason and Ruaridh for boys and Kara, Sophia and Lilly for girls.

As far as very Scottish names go, there were 192 babies named Eilidh, 15 named Mhairi and 9 named Murdo, but none named Alexina, Angusina, Murdina or Williamina.

One-of-a-kind names include Boo-Tiger (boy), Eniileri (girl), Jesuslovesme (boy), Holly-Madison (girl), Iowa (girl), Laedemi (boy), Legion (boy), Occeanna-Lake (girl), Process (boy), Texas (girl), Thora-Toshihime-Kyoko-Freya (girl) and Willieboy (boy).

To learn more, download the name/data tables at the page Babies’ First Names 2011.

Source: Revealed: Scotland’s most popular baby names

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

NYC Fire Commissioner’s grandson named after Fr. Mychal Judge

New York City Fire Department chaplain Fr. Mychal Judge (1933-2001)
Fr. Mychal Judge

Father Mychal Judge, fire chaplain of the New York City Fire Department, was the first official casualty of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The 68-year-old Roman Catholic priest was killed while assisting firefighters in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. He (and others) were killed by the debris that shot through the North Tower lobby when the South Tower collapsed, just before 10 am.

Three weeks after the attacks, New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen welcomed a grandson.

What did Von Essen’s son — who is also a New York City firefighter — and daughter-in-law name their baby boy?

Mason Judge, middle name in commemoration of Fr. Mychal Judge.

And Mason wasn’t the only baby named with Fr. Judge in mind. According to the U.S. baby name data, the first name Mychal saw an increase in usage in both 2001 and 2002:

  • 2004: 16 baby boys named Mychal
  • 2003: 21 baby boys named Mychal
  • 2002: 58 baby boys named Mychal (6 born in New York, 7 in NJ, 11 in Calif.)
  • 2001: 43 baby boys named Mychal (6 born in New York)
  • 2000: 14 baby boys named Mychal
  • 1999: 20 baby boys named Mychal

How did Mychal Judge come to have his unusually spelled first name?

He was born Robert Judge in Brooklyn in 1933. As a young man, he took the religious name Fallon Michael — a combination of his mother’s maiden name and his father’s first name. Several years later, he changed the order of the names. Later still, he adopted the spelling “Mychal.”

Judge confided to several friends that the new spelling actually derived from seeing the African-American basketball player Mychal Thompson on television. Judge adopted the name as a kind of inside joke, renewed every time some supposedly devout racist piously addressed Judge as “Father Mychal.”

Sources: