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Mason Name Meaning, Origins & History

Mason

Pronunciation: MAY-sun

Meaning Stoneworker Origin surnames Gender Boy
BOYS RANK
#39
TREND
3
GIRLS RANK
#3,153
TREND
8
Peak Years
2011, 2012, 2013
Lowest Years
1891, 1882, 1883
Energy Archetype
Hardworking & Dutiful

Rank shows the name’s position among U.S. baby names for each gender in 2025. Trend shows how many places it rose or fell since 2024. Rank 1 is the most popular. Based on U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) data. Peak and lowest years are based on the number of boys named Mason in the available records.

Fun Facts About the Name Mason

  • Gaining ground: Mason remained in the U.S. top 100 for 29 consecutive years, from 1997 through 2025. In 2025, it gained 3 ranking positions compared with the previous year.
  • More than 345 thousand babies named Mason: U.S. records list 345,848 babies given the name Mason from 1880 through 2025. Even 3,348 girls received the name Mason - about 1 girl for every 102 boys.

What Does the Name Mason Mean?

Mason means "stoneworker" - someone who cuts, shapes, and lays stone. The name is English, and the word behind it entered English from Old French.

Middle English mason came from Old French maçon (also recorded as masson), the ordinary word for a builder in stone. That French word goes back to Late Latin macio (genitive mationis), meaning "mason" or "builder."

The origin of the Latin word is disputed. It is usually traced to a Germanic source, with forms such as Old High German meizan "to cut, hew" and Gothic maitan "to cut" cited as relatives, which would make the early sense a hewer or cutter of stone rather than simply a "maker." Because the pre-Latin source is not settled, the deepest etymology remains uncertain, but the occupational meaning "stoneworker" is not in doubt.

Mason Name History & Origins

Mason is first an English surname, taken from the trade of stonemasonry. As surnames became fixed in England in the later Middle Ages - roughly the 13th and 14th centuries - a man identified by his craft could pass that byname on to his children, and Mason joined other occupational surnames such as Carpenter, Taylor, and Smith.

The word also had a technical guild sense. A "freemason" was historically a stonemason who worked freestone, a fine-grained stone that could be carved in any direction, as opposed to a rough mason who laid rubble or ordinary ashlar. The fraternal order of Freemasons later took its name from this trade vocabulary; that organization is a later development of the word, not the origin of the name.

The surname is found across England and Scotland and was carried to North America by emigrants. George Mason (1725 - 1792), the Virginia planter and delegate, is among its best-known bearers, and the Mason - Dixon line - surveyed by the English astronomer Charles Mason together with Jeremiah Dixon - preserves another.

Mason's use as a first name follows the long English and American habit of turning surnames into given names, a practice especially common in the southern United States. It was uncommon as a first name before the later 20th century, when it became much more frequent in the United States.

The name also appears in fiction, most famously as Perry Mason, the defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner in the 1930s. That is a well-known literary use, not the source of the name.

How Popular is the Name Mason?

Mason recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2011. Mason entered the top 100 U.S. boy names in 1997.

U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.

Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.

Explore Name Lists Featuring Mason

Carl appears in several baby name collections based on U.S. popularity records, naming trends, and name characteristics. Explore these lists to discover other names with similar histories, styles, or features.

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How the Name Mason Shapes Your Personality and Life?

You have psychic power. You can carry on for others with joy. You have a receptive nature and may bear burdens for others. You are pragmatic, thorough, strong-willed, practical and stubborn at times. You are hard working, often martyr to duty. You like home and security above all. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.

Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.

✦ Mason's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Mason's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.
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